In the Crumbs house, 2014 is the year of tomatoes.
First, we planted them.
It started as two small seedlings each in their own pot, but soon after transplanting outside, the grey flesh fruit flies came and staked their claim. We fought them off and planted two more seedlings into two more pots, just in case the damage had already been done.
Next, we were given them.
Over 50 heirloom tomatoes sat in our foyer for a few days, with me too overwhelmed with mere idea of having that many tomatoes to do anything with them. When it became clear that it would be impossible to eat the tomatoes before they would go bad, they became the only thing I could think of cooking at the time: sauce.
It’s a simple, unseasoned sauce so that any jar can easily transform into spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce or even substitute in our favorite Creole, depending on what the meal plan had in store. After a big canning session, ten pints of tomato sauce now sit in my pantry, waiting patiently.
Then, the first two seedlings produced their first fruits.
Although just a handful or two and on the small side (2″ in diameter), these tomatoes were delicious. They were perfectly ripe, meaty and juicy and made the most amazing lunch when tossed with fresh mozzarella and salt, and then drizzled with balsamic vinegar. About a week later, we harvested another handful that became our first batch of fresh garden pizza sauce.
After that, they came in the CSA box.
With our CSA came huge, oversized heirloom tomatoes begged to be sliced into sandwiches and chopped into salads. Along with the handful of garden tomatoes every few days, we didn’t have to choose between tomatoes for lunch OR dinner. When given the opportunity to bring a dish to a pot luck, “something with tomatoes” was the first choice.
Shortly thereafter, the first two plants went ballistic.
Every other day we were easily picking 5-15 tomatoes on a between these two plants. Caprese salad HAD to be on the lunch menu every day (minus the cheese when we ran out), the kids had free reign to snack on them and “what’s for dinner” turned into “what can we make with these tomatoes?”
Then, the second two plants took off. And the CSA box did too.
Without warning, the second two “just in case” tomato plants started producing and we were picking 5-10 tomatoes DAILY. Faced with more than an abundance of tomatoes, I was quickly running out of ideas as to what to do with them.
No tomato sauce. We already had plenty.
There was garden pizza sauce every week, but that barely made a dent.
We even made homemade tomato paste once, although it was on accident when Mr. Crumbs thought garden pizza sauce needed water.
One can only eat caprese salad for lunch for so many days without going a bit stir-crazy.
Even when I exhausted the bowl of tomatoes for pico de gallo on Labor Day, the four plants were waiting with more tomatoes the very next day. And as predicted, the CSA box had more too.
Not wanting to waste this precious food, I took the dilemma to my step-mom, who always seems to be full of fresh and interesting ideas.
“Make ketchup” is what she said.
Make ketchup?!
My reaction was similar to the first time I heard you can make yogurt. You can MAKE that?!
As it turns out, yes, you can make ketchup and it’s really quite easy! Good thing too, since our mild climate means we’ll be swimming in tomatoes until Christmas.
Homemade Ketchup Recipe
Supplies
- Large Stock Pot
- Immersion Blender OR Blender
- Food Mill (optional)
- Wooden Spoon or Potato Masher
- Slow Cooker
- Ingredients (see recipe below)
Method
Depending on the size, halve or quarter tomatoes so that they’re approximately 1 – 1 1/2″ pieces.
Place in a large stock pot. Using a wooden spoon or a potato masher, gently mash the tomatoes to release their juices. Cook the tomatoes on a low simmer for 30 minutes.
Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree the tomatoes until they are mostly smooth.
(Optional: If you have a food mill, you may process the tomatoes through in order to remove the seeds and skin. I don’t have one and my ketchup turned out just fine.)
Pour tomato puree into a slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low overnight, or 8-12 hours. Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree the mixture again until it is mostly smooth.
Using chopsticks or dull knives, prop open the lid of the slow cooker on opposite sides so that the lid does not touch the slow cooker. Cook the mixture on medium/high setting until the mixture has cooked down to the desired thickness, checking every hour or so. This takes approximately 3 hours.
Taste ketchup and add additional seasoning or sweetness as desired. (I ended up adding one more tablespoon of honey.)
Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree the mixture one final time.
Ladle or scoop into glass jars for storage. Alternatively, you can re-use old ketchup bottles for your new, homemade ketchup.
Homemade Ketchup
A simple and delicious homemade ketchup recipe using fresh tomatoes. With a slow cooker, it’s incredibly easy and you control the sweetness!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 11 hours 30 min
- Total Time: 11 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 32 ounces 1x
- Category: Sauces & Condiments
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 5 lbs fresh tomatoes (the better tasting the tomato, the better tasting the ketchup)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp molasses
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp brown or Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 1/4 large onion, diced
- 1/2 clove garlic
Instructions
- Depending on the size, halve or quarter tomatoes so that they’re approximately 1 – 1 1/2″ pieces.
- Place in a large stockpot. Using a wooden spoon or a potato masher, gently mash the tomatoes to release their juices. Cook the tomatoes on a low simmer for 30 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree the tomatoes until they are mostly smooth.
- Pour tomato puree into a slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low overnight, or 8-12 hours. Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree the mixture again until it is mostly smooth.
- Using chopsticks or dull knives, prop open the lid of the slow cooker on opposite sides so that the lid does not touch the slow cooker. Cook the mixture on medium/high setting until the mixture has cooked down to the desired thickness, checking every hour or so. This takes approximately 3 hours.
- Taste ketchup and add additional seasoning or sweetness as desired. (I ended up adding one more tablespoon of honey.)
- Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree the mixture one final time.
- Ladle or scoop into glass jars for storage. Alternatively, you can re-use old ketchup bottles for your new, homemade ketchup.
Additional Recipe Notes
Most recipes call for starting with tomato paste. If that’s what you have on hand, you can try the above recipe starting with three 8oz cans of tomato paste. Alternatively, you can try the above recipe starting with 48 ounces of tomato sauce.
Note: I have not tried the above recipe using tomato paste or tomato sauce. This is merely a suggestion to help you adjust the recipe to using what you already have on hand.
Cost Breakdown
When we buy ketchup, we always buy the organic version from Costco. Not only is it the best price, but it’s the only kind we’ve found without high fructose corn syrup. They sell 2-packs with each bottle containing 22 ounces for $6.99, making it just 16¢ per ounce.
Here’s the cost of homemade ketchup if you were to buy all the ingredients from the store:
- Tomatoes: $5
- Onion: $0.07
- Garlic: $0.05
- Molasses: $0.43
- Honey: $0.60
- Salt & Pepper: $0.01
- Spices: $0.10
- Mustard: $0.08
Total Cost Homemade Ketchup: $6.34 for 32 ounces, or 20¢ per ounce
There are only two situations in which it would be cost effective to make your own ketchup:
- You cannot find organic ketchup for less than 19¢ per ounce.
- You are able to acquire tomatoes for less than 80¢ per pound (the point at which homemade versus store-bought breaks even).
If you have a garden that is overflowing with tomatoes, or you somehow come across a bushel of tomatoes that your local farmer is looking to off-load, then this recipe is your new best friend. Make double the recipe and can it and you’ll be set on ketchup for quite a long time.
Hi
Can you please help me ,I am looking for few recipe of instant tomato soup.
I would like to know which tomato type make the best Tomato powder or can I use any type ?
Also how do you add tomato to your crisp potato chips
when we have too many tomatoes in the garden I just par boil them and freeze them in ziploc bags they are good for a couple of years and pull out thaw and use for soups and stews and sauces during the winter months.
I’m about to try the recipe, and I want to put in a request that you might have given us some idea as to the actual amount of juice that be required, either by weight or volume. Tomatoes vary so much in terms of their solids-vs-water content, I have found the amount of juice one gets varies pretty widely.
I came across this tonight, so excited to try this recipe this weekend. I am fighting stage 4 cancer (we are winning this battle by the way). However I am just now getting able to do things again. I have spent much time this summer canning and / or freezing food from our garden. This has not only helped me to be up and active, it has given us many memories as well. Been teaching my grand kids and youngest daughter as they have been my kitchen helpers. I have a dear friend who rents out her land to tomato growers, they let us go pick as much as we want. I’ve made salsa, tomatoes soup, pickled tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce. I have been wanting to try ketchup, thanks to this easy recipe I will. The homemade food is so much better all the way around.
Hooray! I found your site looking for home made catsup recipes. We planted 48(ish) tomato plants this year, as I am tired of running out of canned tomatoes before next garden season.
Some of the plants were washed away in a downpour. Then we realized I had no Roma (paste) tomatoes… so I planted five or six of those…
Anyway, we have PLENTY of tomatoes now. I am confident I won’t run out of jars of garden tomatoes before next year. But… I still have tomatoes.
LOTS of tomatoes. And the Roma are just starting to put on their fruit.
I am the only one in our house who eats catsup on anything, so I will be pressure canning this in half-pint jars when it is done cooking.
You asked what else you can do with tomatoes?
One of my grown sons told me to dry some.
Then grind it in your blender to a heavenly dust of pure sunshine. I sprinkle it on all sorts of things.
I will be back to your site to explore. But for now…. Tomatoes are demanding my attention.
That’s a great idea Tammy! I shared a tutorial on making tomato powder not too long ago. It doesn’t take up much room and lasts forever!
Oh! The catsup/ ketchup is great! I didn’t make such a large batch, and adjusted seasoning proportionally. It is really good… and met the grandkids approval!
P S.
I’m sorry, I forgot the first reason I I got on to comment. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. It sounds really tasty and I can hardly wait to try it.
I agree this doesn’t taste like store bought ketchup, its better than store bought! I had no issues with it thickening up but I used small vine-on tomatoes so they are fleshy which I think helps keep it thick. I did half the amount of (white) vinegar and omitted the Worcestershire sauce, I used mustard powder, and brown sugar instead of molasses. I also added extra garlic because we like garlic. I do think halving the vinegar was a good idea as it still had plenty of that tangy zing. My main reason for the edits is my husband is on a low iodine diet so I could not use some of the ingredients. It came out fabulous anyways!
I’m so glad you liked it Amber!!
I am trying this as I attempt ketchup my first time. I am doing it differently though. I just wash and quarter my toms and blend them, skins and all, in my vitamix. Then I pour that into my large stock pot to simmer and reduce. It’s been doing that for a few hours now and I have added the other ingredients. I’m expecting by evening it’ll be reduced enough to can. If not, I’ll add a can or so of tomato paste. I’ll keep you posted!
All I added was 6 large apples … it turned out incredible. Thank you for recipe
So far, we have about 18 quarts of juice, 20 pints of salsa, 12 pints of pasta/pizza sauce (with another 6 currently simmering on the stove) a quart of your dried tomato powder, and the tomatos just keep coming. Ketchup sounds like an option.
We do have an attachment for the KA mixer that removes the seeds and skins, and your post about making tomato powder gave me an idea. Our sauce includes smoked peppers, smoked paprika and tomatos. Last night I took the seeds, skins, etc. that we have been putting in the compost and put them in the dehydrator. Ground it up this morning and plan on using it for dry rubs, soups and so on. Love your blog!
Thanks for the encouragement John, and what a GREAT idea on using the seeds and skins for spices! True ingenious way to re-use scraps. If you still have a ton of tomatoes, ketchup is definitely an option. Sounds like you’ll be set for a long time!!
Help! I made this and the taste is slot on, but the consistency is more sauce-like and thick like ketchup. It’s been in the crock pot on high for 6 hours and it’s not gettong thicker. Any ideas to thicken it up?
It really has to cook for awhile to thicken Christine (crack the lid to help speed the process), but if you want to use a thickening agent like corn starch or arrowroot, you can. I personally haven’t tested it though, so I can’t attest for the consistency or taste!
I would do more than crack the lid. Leave it on high and take the lid off. Stir about every 15-20 minutes. Should thicken up quite nicely.
The Nourishing Traditions recipe for ketchup uses fish sauce.
Another idea for preserving tomatoes that I learned from the newsletter that our CSA farmer puts out is to freeze them. Yep, just wash them and pop them in the freezer. Done. The great thing with this method is that besides being quick and easy, you can peel a frozen tomato by simply putting it under running water–the skin splits right away! After this, the tomato will still be mostly frozen which can make for quicker chopping.
Hi, I’m a fan of your writing and try live according to the same principles. I have to confess I have an issue with the Worcestershire sauce, as I am trying not to buy any processed sauces etc. I understand the taste won’t be exactly like the store bought, but do you have any ideas for replacement? I googled making my own Worcestershire sauce but yikes! Feedback welcome, and keep up the good stuff, from Cape Town, South Africa.
Hi Suzan! I don’t have any substitution ideas, as Worcestershire sauce has a distinct taste. I haven’t tried it myself, but maybe a dash of liquid smoke? Or fish sauce? You’re looking for a depth of flavor, something savory. Good luck!
I am making it now followed the recipie except i left out the molasses an used buckwheat honey. I also used my own brand of chili peppe I Made this hears before an our familey enjoyed it very much. I must confess i do my best to keep away from grocery store “stuff”.
you could try a tomato chutney. allrecipes has one with tomatoes, apples, raisins and onions that looks like it might be close to one that a local restaurant serves that is very yummy..fruity, spicy sweet good!
I am making it right now. how long do you can it
Hi Jim – you’ll have to refer to the USDA guidelines for canning tomatoes. I’ve canned diced tomatoes before, but not this ketchup.
I’m sorry to say this but I’ve wasted 10 lbs of tomatoes on this recipe and I don’t like it. I followed your recipe exactly and thought the first batch was too spicy(hot) so made the 2 be batch without it. I’ve thrown both batches out.
I’m sorry you didn’t like the recipe Rhonda. My family liked this recipe as written, but as you know, not every recipe works for everyone. 🙁
I just made this ketchup and it’s still in the crockpot. I am waiting for it to thicken. I’m going on 5 hours now with it on high… And I still don’t think it will be ready. It’s the consistency of thick tomato soup right now. I’d like it to at least form little peaks when I scoop it so it’ll be spreadable. Will it thicken once it cools? Is there something I can do to make the process go faster? I love the ketchup so far but if it takes this long I’d be hesitant to make it again ?
You can prop both sides open Lauren, but water evaporation is unfortunately a slow process. I made this while we were doing other things at home, so it wasn’t much of a hands-on activity as it thickened. You could try thickening with cornstarch or arrowroot, if time is an issue.
Very good instructions. Thank you. While I don’t use much ketchup, what I do use is organic and I am just about out and the tomato plants are starting to produce… hence my seeking/finding your web recipe.
I did not know Costco carried organic ketchup and I am going tomorrow. I like to make stuff for myself, but my plate is already full and while easy, it’s still a lot of work. I’ll see if they have it my local store.
My garden always has some form of winter squash, and I tend to make a lot of soup with my tomatoes. The tomato-butternut is very good (sour cream at serving time tops it off)… and even the tomato-spaghetti squash is very tasty in a different way.
Thanks for the tip on the tomato-butternut squash soup Ambrose! My husband loves tomato soup, but I’m always looking for other varieties. 😉 Kudos for balancing your plate and priorities first too – I don’t know it’s so easy to have the tables turned the other way and then end up regretting it later!
you can slice up fresh tomatoes 3/4 inch thick and put them in a dehyrdrator overnight; I sprinkle Cajun spice on them first. They stay well in a zip lock back and taste great when added to vegetable stir-fries.
Thanks for the idea Peter!