Tomato paste, a thick mixture of puréed tomatoes that is cooked down for hours, adds concentrated flavor to recipes without watering them down. It's typically sold in small cans or tubes next to the canned tomatoes and is a handy ingredient for soups, stews, sauces, and more.
If you've started a recipe and realized you don't have tomato paste in your pantry or fridge, don't panic. Add it to your grocery list and make one of these home substitutions.
Canned tomato sauce can be transformed into a substitution for tomato paste in a relatively short amount of time. Start with plain (unseasoned) tomato sauce if possible.
Pour a small can (8 ounces) of tomato sauce into a saucepan and bring it to a brisk simmer over medium heat. Simmer, stirring constantly, for about 7 minutes, or until reduced by about two-thirds. Use a splatter screen to avoid a mess from the bubbling as the mixture thickens.
You should have about 3 ounces of tomato paste from an 8-ounce can. You can also use a larger can of tomato sauce, but you will need to cook the mixture for longer to reduce by at least two-thirds.
You can also use a can of whole or diced tomatoes to make tomato paste. Blend a 14.5-ounce can of tomatoes in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour the tomato mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes, until thickened and reduced by about two-thirds.
You should get about 2/3 cup or 6 ounces of tomato paste from a 14.5-ounce can of tomatoes. You can also use less of the canned tomatoes to make less tomato paste. Purée the canned tomatoes and only use half of the can, cooking for 7 to 10 minutes until reduced. You can set aside the rest of the purée for another use or freeze for later.
Using Tomato Paste Substitutions
It's worth noting that whether you make a homemade tomato paste substitution from tomato sauce or canned tomatoes that the results will not be quite as thick as real tomato paste. Real tomato paste is cooked for hours, reducing until it forms a thick, concentrated paste. These substitutions will work in a pinch, but you may want to use a little more than the recipe calls for since the flavor won't be quite as concentrated. Depending on the recipe, you may also want to reduce the liquid in the recipe very slightly.
Homemade vs Store-Bought Tomato Paste
Tomato paste is traditionally made from fresh tomatoes that are cooked down for hours. If you're feeling ambitious and have an excess of tomatoes, you can make your own and can or freeze any extra for later.
While homemade tomato paste will capture the incredible flavor of fresh tomatoes and concentrate it for use later, it does take a very long time to make. That's why most home cooks purchase their tomato paste at the store—it's affordable and has a long shelf-life. We recommend buying the tomato paste in a tube whenever possible since it will keep in the refrigerator for about a month.
You don't have to dash out to the store if you're out of tomato paste; tomato sauce and tomato puree are both an excellent substitute. For every 1 tablespoon of tomato paste needed, use 3 tablespoons of tomato puree or sauce.
Tomato paste is made by cooking down fresh tomatoes, so it totally makes sense that you can use whole fresh tomatoes in place of tomato paste with a little bit of elbow grease. You'll need one medium tomato for every tablespoon of tomato paste.
Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and reduced by about two-thirds. A 14.5-ounce can of tomatoes should yield about 2/3 cup (6 ounces) of tomato paste.
Tomato paste brings a number of things to a dish: a burst of the meaty, savory flavor known as umami, concentrated sweetness, mild acidity and thickening quality. It's often added to reinforce and add depth to the taste of tomato-based dishes like marinara or tomato soup.
Because tomato paste is a concentrated form of tomato puree, you can dilute it to the consistency of tomato sauce without much fuss. Adding one cup of water to three-quarters of a cup of tomato paste will result in a tomato base with the same texture and thickness as tomato sauce (after some brisk stirring).
It's best to make your sauce without sugar at first, then taste it and add a pinch if necessary. There are also ways to sweeten sauces that don't rely on refined sugar. Giada De Laurentiis uses carrots to add a more nuanced touch of sweetness.
Because the flavor of tomato paste is so intense, you generally need only a couple of tablespoons per recipe—say for making a classic beef stew or cooking your homemade pasta sauce. It's a flavor booster rather than the main ingredient in a dish.
Whereas a pizza sauce is a tomato sauce, it's raw and uncooked with more herbs. Hence, many people want to know, "can you use ketchup on pizza?" The answer - yes. And we're going to help you find out how to do so perfectly, without making your pizza soggy or bad.
However, because it contains more liquid, you should use tomato soup as a tomato paste substitute in recipes made with a lot of wet ingredients — such as other soups or sauces — so that your dishes don't turn out runny.
Tomato purée (boiled and strained tomatoes) works well as a tomato paste alternative. Since purée is much thinner than paste, you'll get the best results if you cook it over medium heat for about 10 minutes before adding it to your recipe — this will give you a slightly thicker consistency and more intense flavor.
Cornstarch: Make a slurry of half water, half cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Cornstarch is a powerful thickener, so start by whisking in no more than 1 tablespoon of the mixture per 2 cups of simmering sauce; stir and simmer for 2 minutes, check the thickness, and repeat with more slurry as needed.
Mix one teaspoon cornflour with a tablespoon of room temperature water and add to your stew.Then bring to the boil and cook until desired thickness is reached. Cornflour is a great gluten-free thickener. It has a slightly more gelatinous texture, so only add a teaspoon at time or your sauce may become a bit goopy.
Tomato paste is an essential pantry staple to have on hand for whipping up delicious, deeply flavored meals—it can transform a ho-hum recipe, like a soup or sauce, into something really special.
Some recipes use a combination of tomato juice, sauce, or paste along with ketchup. For a 12-serving pot of chili, up to a cup of ketchup will add the sweet and tangy flavors to each bowl. A smaller pot of chili, or one that uses diced tomatoes along with the juice, might only need ½-cup of ketchup instead.
Another quick fix is to add cheese: freshly grated Parmesan will add umami and thicken the sauce. Cream cheese is one of our favorite secret ingredients and will thicken a tomato sauce quickly.
Hobby: Shopping, Table tennis, Snowboarding, Rafting, Motor sports, Homebrewing, Taxidermy
Introduction: My name is Duncan Muller, I am a enchanting, good, gentle, modern, tasty, nice, elegant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/how-to-make-tomato-paste-3061655_v4-5c0e8e55c9e77c000120def9.png "How to Make a Tomato Paste Substitute (1)")
