Cherry vs. Grape Tomatoes: A Farmer Explains the Difference

Way back in high school, my best friend would often order a salad for lunch in the cafeteria. Every salad had a cherry tomato perched on top, and most times, it would shoot across the room when she tried to spear it with her plastic fork.

That’s what I think of every time I see cherry tomatoes at the store. Or maybe those were grape tomatoes? I’m not sure I know the difference.

The Difference Between Cherry and Grape Tomatoes

I took my burning questions to fourth-generation farmer Paul Mastronardi, the president and CEO of Sunset Produce. Sunset grows all kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and berries, so he's the expert I needed.

“While they can be used interchangeably, there are differences,” he says. Mastronardi added that cherry tomatoes have been around longer than grape tomatoes, which are newer to the North American market. In other words, that was definitely a cherry tomato on my friend's salad.

Both types of tomatoes are relatively small, but look closely and you'll find plenty of differences.

• Shape: Cherry tomatoes are round, while grape tomatoes are more oval-shaped. “Grape tomatoes look more like grapes and are typically smaller in size than cherry tomatoes,” says Mastronardi. Cherry tomatoes are round—like cherries.
• Flavor: Both varieties are sweet, but the flavors and textures vary. “Grape tomatoes tend to be meatier and less juicy than cherry tomatoes,” Mastronardi says. They have a more traditional tomato flavor. “Cherry tomatoes tend to have the juicy burst when bit into,” he adds.
• Color: Cherry tomatoes come in a rainbow of colors, including red, brown, orange, yellow, green, and purple. Grape tomatoes come in shades of red, orange, and yellow.

How To Choose the Right Tomatoes for Your Recipe

Keep the goal of your recipe in mind. “If you want something with less moisture content, say for a salsa, then a grape tomato can be a better choice,” Mastronardi says. “If you want something that bursts a bit more in a dish, then cherry is a great fit.”

He says grape tomatoes are a good choice to toss in a salad or cook with pasta, like this caponata pasta recipe. They’re also good blistered, aka baked until they’ve popped. “Grape tomatoes can be easier to cut up because they are meatier and less juicy than cherry tomatoes,” he says.

Mastronardi likes cherry tomatoes straight as a snack, but also as an addition to pasta or homemade pizza.

In most cases, cherry tomatoes can be substituted for grape tomatoes and vice versa.

“The availability of different varieties—color, flavor, texture—of cherry tomatoes makes them a lot of fun to explore and use for different options,” says Mastronardi.