tomato ketchup or tomato sauce recipe with step by step photos – homemade ketchup made from fresh tomatoes. a sauce which only has tomatoes and tomatoes.
recently when we had got a well known indian brand of tomato sauce, we found the taste some what off and pasty. i was thinking whats with this tomato ketchup. it was like less tomatoes and more like a sugar syrup. thats when i decided to make homemade tomato sauce.
so the next week, i got 3 kilos of organic tomatoes and then made the ketchup from 2.5 kgs from them. now there is a world of difference in the taste, flavor and aroma of this homemade tomato ketchup and the readymade one. the homemade ketchup sauce is full of tomato goodness. no pastiness, no sugary taste…. there is tang of the tomatoes and the texture is rich with tomatoes.
the tomato sauce recipe has been adapted from my home science notes. this quite a different recipe and includes ginger, garlic and dry red chilies. the red chilies give a gentle touch of heat in the sauce. the hotness and smokiness is felt first strongly when the sauce is freshly simmered. but as the sauce ages and mellows, the hotness and smokiness become very subtle. if you just taste the sauce directly you might feel it. but when you have the sauce with a snack or any accompaniment, you won’t feel the subtlety.
raisins are also added in this sauce, hence you need to use less sugar. i have used organic unrefined cane sugar in the sauce.
there is a preservative added to the sauce – sodium benzoate so that its shelf life is more. i have also sterilized the canning jar. 2.5 kg tomatoes yielded 1 litre tomato ketchup. the sauce will stay nicely for about 6 months. but its so good, that there is every probability that it will get over soon. you can serve tomato sauce with varieties of snacks like:
you can make the tomato ketchup without the preservative too, but make sure to sterilize the jar properly. you can also halve or reduce the recipe further proportionally. you can make ½ litre or ¼ litre tomato sauce.
tomato sauce
INGREDIENTS FOR tomato sauce
- 2.5 kg tomatoes Or approx 5.4 lbs tomatoes
- 3 to 4 grams garlic - 15 to 16 medium garlic cloves (lahsun)
- 3 to 4 grams ginger - 3 pieces of about 3 inch ginger (adrak)
- 5 to 7 dry red chilies (sookhi lal mirch) - deseeded and halved
- ½ cup golden raisins (kishmish)
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon rock salt
- 6 to 7 tablespoon organic unrefined cane sugar or regular sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sodium benzoate dissolved in 1 teaspoon hot water
HOW TO MAKE tomato sauce
preparation for tomato sauce
- rinse the tomatoes well in water.
- slice the top eye parts of the tomatoes. roughly chop the tomatoes.
- discard spotted parts or peels.
- peel and rinse the garlic, ginger. later roughly chop them.
- halve and deseed the dry red chilies.
- rinse the raisins and keep aside.
cooking tomatoes for tomato sauce
- in a huge pot or casserole or a 4 to 5 litre pressure cooker, take all the chopped tomatoes.
- add the ginger, garlic, red chilies, raisins, vinegar, salt and sugar.
- mix well and keep the pot or cooker on a low to medium flame on the stove top.
- keep on stirring at intervals.
- when the tomatoes soften, switch off the fire. the softening takes about 25 to 27 minutes.
- when the mixture is slightly hot or warm, blend the puree with an immersion blender or in a regular blender. if using a regular blender, then don't add too hot of the tomato mixture.
- make a smooth puree.
- with a strainer which is not very fine, strain the puree very well directly into a pot or a large sauce pan.
- strain very well. now you can sterilize the jar.
sterilizing jar for storing tomato sauce
- first rinse the jar. in a large sauce pan heat water till it reaches its boiling point - meaning it has begun to boil.
- immerse the jar and its lid in the hot water. continue to boil the water along with jar for 8 to 10 minutes.
- remove the jar with the help of clean tongs and place the jar inverted on a thick towel kept on the kitchen tabletop. let the jar dry naturally.
making tomato sauce
- keep the pot or pan with the strained tomato pulp on the stove top,
- on a low to medium flame, simmer the pulp till it starts thickening and reaches a ketchup like consistency. takes about 35 to 40 minutes.
- heat 1 tsp of water in a small bowl. add 1/4 tsp of sodium benzoate to the hot water.
- stir and dissolve the sodium benzoate. the preservative should be dissolved in the water.
- pour the sodium benzoate solution to the hot tomato ketchup. stir very well.
- pour the hot tomato sauce in the sterilized jar. close tightly with the lid.
- let the tomato sauce cool and be kept aside for some hours or a day. then keep tomato sauce in the refrigerator and use after 1 or 2 days.
- serve tomato sauce with any snack or appetizer.
how to make tomato ketchup or tomato sauce
1. rinse the tomatoes in water and then drain them. use fresh ripe tomatoes.
2. chop them roughly. remove the skin or parts which are blemished or spotted.
cooking tomatoes for tomato sauce recipe
3. now in a large casserole or pot or a 4 to 5 litre pressure cooker, add the chopped tomatoes.
4. add the chopped ginger, garlic, raisins and halved dry red chilies.
5. pour vinegar.
6. add sugar.
7. i kept the cooker on low flame. stirred very well and below is the result after 9 mins. you don’t need to add any water.
8. simmer and cook the tomatoes, till they are softened. the tomatoes have got softened after a total of 27 mins. the timing will vary and depends on the pan you use, the intensity of the flame etc.
9. when the mixture is slightly hot or warm, then using an immersion blender, make a nice smooth puree of everything. you can also make the puree in an electric blender. make sure to puree very well. if the puree is done coarsely, its a pain to strain the pulp.
10. using a not so fine strainer which will allow the tomato puree to pass through, strain the puree with the help of a spoon.
11. again an important step. you have to really keep on mashing the pulp with the spoon, so that all the puree is drained. the pulp mixture should be somewhat dry and not moist. the leftover pulp below. straining the puree in batches is a time consuming task and depends on the size of the strainer you have 🙂
12. the pan of collected tomato goodness. ready to be made in ketchup.
making tomato sauce
13. now keep the pan on stove top. allow to simmer for 5 to 6 minutes. check the taste and add more sugar if required. i had to add some sugar. you can also add sugar towards the end once the tomato sauce has thickened.
14. still simmering.
15. after 20 minutes and the tomato ketchup is thickening.
16. done and thickened to the right consistency after a total of 40 mins right from the time the pan was kept on the stove top. keep on stirring often. you can thicken it more if you want. after cooling, the tomato sauce thickens a bit, so keep that in mind too.
17. how to check the doneness, spread the tomato sauce on a plate. there should be no water droplets from the sides. you can see a slight separation happening. this is alright. but if you want a thick ketchup sauce like the readymade ones, then you have to cook more till the tomato ketchup coats a spoon and remains like that.
storing tomato sauce
18. a jar is already sterilized and kept aside. (how to sterilize is mentioned in the recipe card details above). do this before you start making the tomato ketchup.
19. dissolve 1/4 tsp of sodium benzoate with 1 tsp hot water in a small bowl.
20. add this sodium benzoate mixture to the hot tomato sauce.
21. stir very well.
22. pour the hot tomato sauce in the sterilized jar keeping half to one inch space on top.
cover tightly and keep the tomato ketchup at room temperature till it cools or for a whole day. then refrigerate it and you can serve the tomato ketchup after 1 or 2 days. you can serve tomato ketchup with snacks like samosa, pizza, hara bhara kabab, veg noodles, bread roll, veg burger.
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If I don’t want to add sodium benzoate then wait to do
halve the recipe and make a small batch. then you can skip adding sodium benzoate. also sterilise the canning jars very well.
I made my first ever batch of ketchup with this recipe. It has turned out amazing and i don’t think we will be seeing the store-bought variety at our home anytime soon! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
thanks vinita for the feedback as well as rating. once you make ketchups and sauces at home, you will not buy from outside. homemade ones are always better.
Inspite of adding vinegar is it necessary to add sodium benzoate as well ??
yes, otherwise there are chances that the tomato ketchup can get spoiled.
Thank you 👍👍👍
Welcome Roveena
Hi, I made this recipe with 1 kg tomato but I think I used vinegar more than required and now sauce is very sour. I added some more sugar to balance the sourness but it is still the same. Can you please suggest something to reduce the sourness.
you can cook some more raisins in water. when they are warm, puree them in a mixer-grinder. then add this puree. i think this will remove the sourness.
Hi Dassana
Can I skip garlic in this recipe, since I don’t eat onion/garlic. In such case what should be the proportions?
Thanks
Ramya
yes you can skip garlic. use the same proportions of the other ingredients. you can add about ¼ teaspoon of asafoetida (hing) to mimic the garlic flavors. but its optional.
Hi shall i use vinegar at the end(after preparing sauce)….??
no. vinegar is added when you add ginger, garlic, red chillies etc.
What can i use instead of vinegar.
you can add lemon juice
Hello.. without the preservative how long will it stay?
i guess 1 week.
Hello. When I use sodium benzonate as instructed how long will my shelflife be? Can i then fill them in plastic bottles? I am starting a tomato sauce business in Tanzania and I have a few questions. Do you offer consultation services?
with sodium benzoate the shelf life increases for a long period and the ketchup can easily stay for 6 months to 1 year depending on the quantity of the ketchup. nowadays the store brought ketchup is filled in plastic bottles as the costs reduce with using plastic bottles. however, i do not recommend plastic bottles for any kind of storage. also i am afraid, i do not offer any consultation services.