A lot of gardening sites still repeat a tomato record from 1986. That record has been broken twice since.
The most recent version weighed almost 17 pounds. The biggest tomato in the world right now is not the one most articles quote.
This guide covers the actual current record, verified by Guinness World Records. It also covers how the mark climbed, and how growers pull off a fruit that size.
The short version
The current record holder is Dan Sutherland of Walla Walla, Washington. His tomato weighed 7.661 kilograms, 16 pounds 14.2 ounces, verified on July 19, 2025.
It was a Domingo variety tomato. It was also the first tomato in Guinness World Records history to break the 10 pound barrier.
Before Sutherland, the record belonged to Del and Julie Faust. Their 11.65 pound tomato was verified in 2022.
One grower held an earlier version of the title for close to three decades before that. Some sites still quote his number as current, even though it no longer is.
The current record: nearly 17 pounds
Sutherland’s tomato was grown on his own farm. It weighed in at 16 pounds 14.2 ounces, with a circumference Guinness World Records put at 39 inches.
Officials from the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth handled the verification. The organization’s own record notes describe the fruit as featuring dingleberries, the small outgrowths that show up on extra large tomatoes.
Sutherland had already held the title twice before this attempt. Breaking his own record a third time, and clearing 10 pounds for the first time in the record’s history, made this one genuinely historic.
How the record actually climbed
Many gardening sites still cite a 1986 tomato as the biggest in the world. It belonged to Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma.
According to Oklahoma’s own state agriculture education program, Graham’s Delicious variety tomato weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces. That number held as the commonly cited record for a remarkably long stretch.
It only actually changed in 2022. Del and Julie Faust grew an 11.65 pound tomato that year, verified at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Minnesota.
Sutherland’s 2025 tomato then added another 5 pounds on top of that. In under three years, the record jumped from under 8 pounds to nearly 17.
That pace makes the still common 1986 citation worth double checking wherever it turns up. A fact that was accurate for decades can go stale fast once growers start actively chasing a number.
How growers actually get a tomato that big
Weight like this does not happen by accident. Gordon Graham’s own described method, still referenced by giant vegetable growers today, started with brutal pruning.
He let a single main stem develop and stripped every sucker from it. He pinched off blossoms until the stem itself thickened to roughly a quarter inch at the base.
From there, he let only one or two fruits develop per cluster. Everything the plant produced went into a small handful of tomatoes instead of dozens.
Feeding matched that intensity. Graham fed each plant a full gallon of Miracle Gro, mixed to label strength, every single time he watered.
Other competitive growers, like Colin Bowman, have used specialized feeds applied on a strict weekly and monthly schedule instead. Watering itself gets more careful than casual gardening usually requires.
The common advice among record chasers is to check soil moisture several inches down first. Watering too soon starves the roots of oxygen just as easily as underwatering stresses the plant.
For the everyday version of that same care, see this site’s complete watering guide at https://knowtomato.com/how-often-to-water-tomatoes/.
What a home gardener can actually grow
Nobody needs Gordon Graham’s exact regimen to grow an impressively large tomato. Seed companies sell varieties bred specifically for size.
Big Zac is a hybrid cross between a giant red beefsteak and a large pink heirloom. Seed sellers market it as reaching 4 to 6 pounds under normal home garden conditions.
That is nowhere near a world record. It is still far beyond what an average tomato variety produces without any special effort.
Genetics set the ceiling. Technique, and a willingness to sacrifice every fruit but one or two per plant, closes the gap between a good sized tomato and a record one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the current world record for the biggest tomato?
Dan Sutherland’s 16 pound 14.2 ounce Domingo variety tomato, verified by Guinness World Records on July 19, 2025, in Walla Walla, Washington. It was the first tomato in the record’s history to top 10 pounds.
Is the 1986 tomato record still accurate?
No, though it still gets repeated often. Gordon Graham’s 7 pound 12 ounce Delicious tomato from Edmond, Oklahoma held informal recognition for decades, but the verified record has since climbed past it twice, first in 2022 and again in 2025.
How do growers get tomatoes to grow that large?
Extreme pruning and feeding. Record growers typically strip a plant down to one main stem, limit it to one or two fruits total, and feed it heavily through the entire season.
Can a home gardener grow a tomato anywhere near record size?
Not a record breaker without serious dedication, but a large one, yes. Seed sellers offer varieties like Big Zac, bred from giant parent varieties, that reach 4 to 6 pounds under normal home garden care.
Do giant record tomatoes taste good?
That is not really their purpose. Varieties and techniques built for maximum size prioritize bulk over flavor, and most record chasing growers are aiming for a number on a scale, not a dinner ingredient.
Bottom line: the biggest tomato in the world weighed 16 pounds 14.2 ounces as of 2025, grown by Dan Sutherland and verified by Guinness World Records, not the roughly 8 pound tomato from 1986 that plenty of sites still cite. The record has moved fast in recent years, climbing through deliberate, almost brutal pruning and feeding techniques that any grower could learn, even if only a few are willing to sacrifice an entire plant’s output for one enormous fruit.
SOURCES
Guinness World Records: Heaviest Tomato. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/heaviest-tomato
Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom: Tomatoes. https://oklahoma.agclassroom.org/resources/calendar/september/tomatoes/
Seeds N Such: Big Zac Hybrid Tomato Seeds. https://seedsnsuch.com/products/big-zac-hybrid-tomato-seeds