Are Diced And Crushed Canned Tomatoes Interchangeable In Recipes?

Canned tomatoes come in tons of varieties: whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and even tomato paste. Whew! With so many similar-sounding products, they've all gotta be basically the same thing, right? Well... not so much. In fact, there's a time and a place for each canned tomato type. But fear not — if a recipe calls for crushed tomatoes and you only have diced tomatoes on hand, you can still make it work, with a few adjustments.

Crushed tomatoes are whole plum tomatoes that have been pulverized and usually mixed with tomato puree and/or tomato juice. Because of this, they tend to be more watery than a puree, but they're chunkier and have more body than a smooth tomato sauce. The diced variety, on the other hand, are cubed tomatoes that are canned and processed with citric acid and calcium chloride to keep their shape.

If a recipe calls for crushed tomatoes and you only have diced, your best bet is to pour the diced ones into a blender (or use an immersion blender) to blend them into a similar consistency to crushed ones. If you don't have a blender, you can cook the tomatoes longer to help them break down a bit more, but due to the aforementioned processing, they'll likely still remain a bit chunky. On the other hand, swapping crushed tomatoes for diced tomatoes wouldn't really work, as recipes that require diced tomatoes usually need the chunky shape that cubed ones have.

Because they have different consistencies, crushed and diced tomatoes are ideal for different types of recipes. Crushed tomatoes, for example, are perfect to use for various types of pasta sauces, like Pomodoro sauce, or as a tomato base in certain curries or soups (like minestrone, which is similar but different from pasta e fagioli). It's also perfect to use when making a quick sauce to add to dishes like chicken parmigiana or eggplant rollatini.

Diced tomatoes, on the other hand, are perfect to use in recipes where you're looking for that chunky texture. This means it's great to use in chilis, like a grass-fed beef chili, or other slow-simmering recipes where you want them to keep their shape, like in a beef stew. In a pinch, you can even drain diced tomatoes and use them for an easy bruschetta or as a building block for salsa. So generally speaking, use diced tomatoes in situations where you want the tomatoes to remain chunky and distinct, and use crushed tomatoes when you're looking to have a smoother end result.