Homemade Ketchup

[Major Nikon]

Last edited Sun Feb 19, 2012, 09:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Making ketchup at home is one of the easiest things you can do. There's really no reason to buy it pre-made. I included the weight of some of the ingredients because I just put my blender pitcher on my kitchen scale which makes things go a little faster. This is just a basic ketchup recipe. The results taste pretty close to Heinz. If you want to get something even closer to Heinz you can sub white vinegar for apple cider vinegar, sub corn syrup for molasses, sub black pepper for cayenne, and leave out the allspice. If you want to go for a more exotic Ketchup you can add all sorts of other ingredients.

18 oz tomato paste (3 cans)
20 oz water (2.5 cups)
4 oz apple cider vinegar (.5 cup)
2 oz sugar (.25 cup)
1 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs onion powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients in a blender. This will fill one 40oz ketchup bottle.

Add more cayenne, salt, and sugar to taste.

[maddezmom]

1. sounds easy enough

but I'm one of those ketchup haters. Neither of my kids like it either. Thinking about it I should check to see if the one I bought this time last year has expired.

[Angry Dragon]

2. I thought there was 8 oz in a cup

water : should that be 2 cups??

[Major Nikon]

3. It should be 20 oz

My original recipe is handwritten and I transposed it wrong. Thanks for catching that.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. You have NO idea how much sugar is found in commercial ketchup.

This recipe sounds healthy as well as delicious.

[Major Nikon]

7. I think this recipe comes pretty close to the sweetness of commercial ketchup

Of course most commercial ketchup uses HFCS these days if such a thing matters to you. Naturally you can adjust the sugar content as you see fit. There's a balance between the sugar and the vinegar that creates a sweet and sour taste. You just have to play with it to see what you like the best. Increasing the molasses and decreasing the sugar might be something worth trying.

[kestrel91316]

5. I made some years ago from my home-grown tomatoes.

LOTS of work. Very time consuming cooking them down enough and then the canning. Awesome taste when done, but still a bit watery.

Maybe i'll try your recipe. I don't have a garden anymore.

[Major Nikon]

6. I've tried making it with stewed tomatoes before

I haven't been able to get it to turn out right. I'm sure there's a way to make it with fresh tomatoes, but yes it's going to be a lot more difficult.

[pengillian101]

8. Uffda, I did that too - once.

Once was enough for me. What a job from fresh tomatoes! It took forever.

This idea of starting off using tomato paste - now that's a great idea, eh?

[kestrel91316]

9. Now that I have a crockpot it might not be quite such a production,

but when I did it standing over the stove all day, IN THE SUMMER, with inadequate air conditioning, it was quite the adventure.

[rhett o rick]

10. I bet you have a bar-b-q sauce recipe also. Would you share? nm