Ranking 11 Tomato Juice Brands from Worst to Best

Love it or hate it, tomato juice is a powerhouse of nutrition, vibrant flavor, and savory possibilities. Whether you’re crafting bloody marys, making an unexpectedly tangy salad dressing, or looking to get more nutrients and antioxidants in, tomato juice is your greatest ally. Few drinks tread between rustic simplicity and classy, cocktail-ready elegance, but this acidic, tart, and salty drink doesn’t play by standard fruit juice’s rules. Tomato juice comes with a plethora of uses around the kitchen, so even if you don’t like to sip it, it’s always worth keeping around when the urge for gazpacho or an easy pasta sauce strikes.

In an epic vegetable — (or are they a fruit?) — fueled conquest, I took on the task of trying 11 different varieties of tomato juice to rank them from worst to best. I found an array of different brands locally and online, from well-known names to more obscure, international varieties, because no juice is safe from this end-all-be-all ranking. So, grab a straw, some hot sauce, and maybe a few antacids for good measure — we’re diving deep into the salty red depths.

Clamato juice may be the most polarizing liquid known to man. In the Southern U.S., folks swear by it, pouring it into beers and cocktails at every barbecue or crawfish boil. We Northerners are a little more wary around this mix of tomato juice, clam broth, and spices, which sounds more like the ingredients in a decadent Italian sauce and not a refreshing beverage.

Clamato is an insult to tomato juice. There, I said it. After sipping on this tomato-clam concoction sans alcohol, it became painfully obvious why it’s usually only reserved for mixing drinks. As a swap for traditional tomato juice in a Michelada or a fishy twist on a bloody mary, it’s a slam dunk. But on its own? The sugariness and the hint of clam flavor combine and become way more prominent than they should be. To make matters worse, tart tomato and salt are used as a completely inappropriate backdrop for these sugary, umami flavors.

Clamato juice has a peppery, celery-like taste (despite containing no celery) that seriously clashes with the sugariness. Meanwhile, its violent red hue looks disturbingly artificial — you can practically taste the Red 40. It’s essentially a mess of pungent, contrasting flavors that can only be brought together with the sharp sting of vodka or the bright earthiness of beer, which is why it earned itself the last place spot in this ranking.

In general, I’m a believer in Walmart’s Great Value house brand. It usually offers quality products that compare to their name-brand counterparts for a fraction of the price. But for some things, it’s worth it to put Great Value on the back burner and splurge for better-known brands. This is certainly the case with its tomato juice, which may be worth scooping up if you’ve been sprayed by a skunk, but that’s just about the only reason to keep it on hand.

I could tell that Great Value’s tomato juice was lackluster as soon as I opened the bottle. I was hit with a metallic, salty-sweet aroma that smelled more like a low-quality pasta sauce than tomato juice. It tasted too salty, covering up any bright tomato flavor, and finished off with a sickly-sweet, chemical-like aftertaste that reminded me of pool water. Gross, I know. Its only saving grace was its consistency, which was pleasantly thick and substantial, without being as hearty as sauce. Great Value tomato juice may be a good option for those who prefer a sweeter drink, but only if they’re not the type to mind when they accidentally get a mouthful of pool water while swimming.

V8 is the standard, most recognizable brand in the world of tomato juice. Although it’s also made with a variety of other veggies, tomato is its base and most prominent flavor, so I felt that it could be comparable to juices that are made with just tomato. I tried three different varieties of the world’s favorite veggie juice for this ranking, and the Spicy Hot was by far the most disappointing.

Oddly enough, the ingredient list for Spicy Hot V8 doesn’t specifically indicate any spicy add-ins — or anything to differentiate it from the original V8 recipe, for that matter. This explains a lot, because the juice isn’t spicy whatsoever. I detected a hint of peppery flavor lingering in the back of my mouth after the first sip, but I’d hesitate to call this flavor spicy. It tasted more like the folks down at the V8 factory had heavy-handed the black pepper in the Spicy Hot compared to the original V8 juice. Maybe they wanted us to just close our eyes and imagine fiery chiles and bottles of hot sauce when we sip this juice to give it its spicy essence. Who knows.

Although the drink is bright and herby, albeit a bit too salty, with a moderate consistency, it landed high on this list for being so deceptive. If it had been sufficiently spicy, it could have earned a spot much closer to the bottom of the list.

Unless you live in Eastern Europe or, like me, in an area of the U.S. with enough of an Eastern European population that there’s a significant presence of the region’s goods in your local supermarket, then there’s a very strong possibility that you don’t have access to Бессарабка (Bessarabka). But, don’t worry, that’s nothing to be upset about. I was excited to try this Ukrainian brand because I have a penchant for any and all international foods. They usually have a little something extra, like a spice or seasoning seldom found in the U.S. that adds character. Bessarabka, however, was mostly run-of-the-mill.

I enjoyed that this tomato juice came in a glass bottle because, hey, now I have a nice glass bottle. It also prevented the juice from taking on a particular flavor from plastic — you know the one. But it couldn’t be saved from a strange aftertaste that was more metallic than plastic-like. Outside of the off-putting aftertaste, Bessarabka is deeply savory with a potent tomato flavor, but it could have benefited from some added sweetness to increase the nuance factor. It tastes like it contains added seasonings, like onion or garlic, although the ingredients don’t indicate that there’s anything besides tomato and salt in this elegant bottle. The salt content is just right, adding to the juice’s rich, savory flavor.

Campbell’s is the tomato juice. I anticipated a tasty, well-rounded juice from the king of condensed soups and sauces, and although it didn’t blow me away, I felt it was deserving of a respectable, middle-of-the-pack spot on this ranking. It has a certain nostalgic flavor, just like the brand’s classic tomato soup. It’s warm and comforting, as opposed to being bright and crisp, with a savory depth and pleasantly thick consistency.

The savoriness of Campbell’s tomato juice would make it an excellent choice for cooking. Try it in your next steak marinade or reduce it for use in an easy-peasy soup or sauce. As a drink, it would be an excellent bloody mary contender, or just add a little hot sauce and a pinch of herbs if you’re looking to get some vitamins and antioxidants in. Its savoriness and thick consistency could carry heat well while letting it blend easily into the juice.

Although it contains about the same amount of sodium as most tomato juice, it has an intensely salty flavor that drowns out some of the tomatoey brightness. If you prefer a saltier drink, Campbell’s could be your next go-to, but for those of us who try to go easy on the salt or prefer to add salt at our leisure, Campbell’s is not for us.

If you’re trying to stretch out a budget at Whole Foods, 365 is the way to go. It’s the store’s house brand, offering everything under the sun made with wholesome ingredients, but for cheaper than big-name brands. As the only organic juice on this list, I expected a potent tomatoey flavor with a bright finish, and overall, the 365 tomato juice didn’t completely disappoint, but I have my qualms.

The 365 tomato juice is all about flavor. It tastes like biting into a plump, garden-fresh heirloom tomato — a rich red one with soft skin, not a waxy, pale pink, mass-produced one. My favorite aspect of this juice was the salt content. It wasn’t minimally salted enough to be considered low sodium, but it didn’t blast my palate with the all-too-familiar tang of a product that’s salted beyond recognition, like a lot of tomato juices do. It has just enough salt to highlight its natural sugars and make it more palatable.

The 365 tomato juice was only lacking in the consistency department. It was too watery, and although the wateriness didn’t affect its flavor, it made it less hearty and robust than tomato juice ought to be. If you like to add ice to tomato-based drinks — forget it. This 365 drink would turn into vegetable-flavored water after only a minute or two in the sun.

V8 is a staple of American food history. It’s been around for nearly a century, boosting the American diet with vitamins and minerals and getting catchy jingles and catch phrases — “I should have had a V8!” — stuck in our heads. Unlike traditional tomato juice, V8 also contains carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress, and spinach.

As a regular V8 drinker, I knew what to expect when I sampled this classic, but while comparing it to the other juices on this list, I was left with a lot to consider. Despite containing other veggies, V8 had a massively predominant tomato flavor. The variety of vegetables gave the juice a depth that the other one-veggie drinks on this list couldn’t compare to. It had an herbaceous quality and subtle sweetness, accentuated by a consistency that was thicker than fruit juice but still leaned thin. Its consistency and flavor make it useful for common cooking applications, like incorporating a juicy, elevated flavor to beef stew while stretching and thinning it out if the stew is too concentrated.

However, like Campbell’s juice, V8 is just too salty. And if you thought the added seven vegetables would make it less acidic than traditional tomato juice, think again. The excessive salt highlights the acidity in the tomato, making it a ticking time bomb for those with palates sensitive to acidic foods.

Tuscanini comes to us from the humble tomato’s metaphorical motherland: Italy. Italy does tomatoes right (ever heard of a little thing called marinara?), so I expected nothing short of greatness here. Overall, it didn’t disappoint, but there are still a few tweaks that would need to be made to make this juice number-one-spot worthy.

After my first sip, I was taken aback by the tart, fresh taste of the Tuscanini tomato juice. It had to have been pressed from vine-ripened, soil-grown tomatoes to taste this rich and juicy. The bold flavor came in an extremely thick package — a little too thick, if you ask me. But I say that a too-thick tomato juice is better than a too-watery one, so I was able to let this (mostly) slide.

In Tuscanni’s tomato juice, I finally found a tomatoey drink on this list that wasn’t incredibly salty. But, lo and behold, it actually wasn’t salty enough. It seems that finding a happy medium salt-wise is a struggle here, but Tuscanini didn’t lose too many points for not being salty. Less sodium is preferred, since you can always add more to suit your taste. But I was looking for the ideal, well-rounded tomato juice — no additions necessary — for the No. 1 spot, so the search continued.

This juice is my go-to when I’m craving a savory drink, but I didn’t let my bias get in the way. V8’s low sodium version of its classic juice is rife with all the savory veggie flavor as its original counterpart, but in a low sodium package for those of us who try to watch our salt intake — or, for those of us who like to load our drinks up with tasty, salty add-ins (guilty). Despite being considered low sodium, I’d say it has the perfect amount of salty tang — enough to give the juice some backbone, but not too much to drown out the flavor of tomato and the other seven veggies.

Although V8’s low sodium juice was a more complex, fresh take on its classic recipe, it just didn’t have the bright, crisp flavor typical of traditional tomato juice that I was looking for. Its taste is deep and rich without being tangy, and it works wonders if you’re adding pickle brine or salty hot sauce, but in its pure, unadulterated state? It doesn’t have the complexity, namely the sweet tartness, of a classic tomato drink.

California is known for producing juicy, sweet, sun-ripened fruit, so I expected great things from this California-born tomato drink. Truthfully, Sacramento was a very close contender for first place for its well-roundedness and heavy body. This is a quintessential tomato juice, plain and simple. It’s full of the bright, sharp taste of garden-fresh tomatoes with a slightly herbaceous undertone that makes it stand out from the other drinks on this list. Its flavor is balanced, with saltiness accentuating the subtle herby flavors and natural tartness of the tomato. It leaned on the salty side, but it never got too overpowering, even after drinking a full glass.

There’s only one reason why Sacramento didn’t snag first place: It’s too thick. I was hunting down the ideal drinking tomato juice, and Sacramento is a better choice for soup or sauce making, or any other uses for tomato juice outside of tossing on ice and sipping away. You could, in theory, use ice or cold water to thin it out, but you’d be compromising some of the juicy tomato flavor and saltiness, and besides, the first place juice should need no alterations, no matter how minor.

And last, but obviously not least, we come to our No. 1 tomato juice: Jaffa is another Ukrainian brand that I tracked down at my local supermarket, made humbly with just tomatoes and sea salt. This limited-ingredient recipe and a cardboard bottle likely contribute to its right-off-the-vine tomato flavor, accentuated by a classy touch of ocean-fresh salt. The tomatoes are grown in Ukraine, which is renowned around the world for its lush, verdant farmland, so I wasn’t completely surprised by this vibrant taste.

Let’s talk about salt. Jaffa gets it right on the money in this juice. It’s far from being low sodium, but it doesn’t come anywhere near the extreme saltiness of the vast majority of the drinks making up this list. It hovers at about 200 milligrams less sodium per 100 milligrams of liquid than the juices on this list that aren’t explicitly low sodium, which I declare the zone of salted perfection.

If you’re looking for a particularly juicy tomato juice, Jaffa needs to be your go-to (if you can track it down). It has a wildly refreshing finish — like you’re finally sipping a glass of ice water after being stranded in the desert all day — that’s exacerbated by its medium consistency: thick enough to be filling, but thin enough to feel hydrating. Its crisp tartness made my mouth pucker just slightly, like a good tomato juice ought to. I love my savory drinks with additional ingredients, but I wouldn’t dare convolute this sweet-and-salty, balanced, crisp tomato drink with even a single drop of hot sauce.

To rank these tomato juices, I focused on the flavor, consistency, and salt content of each. I favored juices that could act as the ideal sipping tomato-based drink over those that would be better suited for soup or sauce making. So, those that were overly thick were pushed toward the top of the list, while more refreshing options found themselves at the bottom. Drinks with a less salty taste were favored, since overly salty drinks are less universally diet-friendly, and additional salt can always be added.

I tried each juice after chilling it overnight. I didn’t add any ingredients, so I could get a full and comprehensive understanding of the flavor of each. I picked drinks for the higher-rated part of the list that were balanced, slightly complex, and refreshing, while those lower-ranking ones tasted too convoluted with salt or other ingredients, or just had a low-quality flavor overall. I compared them based on their general quality and flavor without incorporating any personal preferences, so you can pick the most well-rounded, balanced drink for your next cocktail or vitamin-packed beverage.