Ketchup is one of the most kid-loved condiments I know of. Our kids would eat literally anything with ketchup on it when they were little. Unfortunately, most store-bought varieties are packed with high fructose corn syrup and natural flavors or even red food dye to enhance the color!
Thank goodness, this delicious homemade ketchup:
- mixes up in a hurry
- makes a lot (easy to double the recipe)
- stays good a long while (can be made probiotic!)
- and it totally beats the store-bought in taste
Condiments can’t be ignored in a healthy kitchen. Dried herbs and spices in dressing and condiments bring antioxidant benefits as well as flavor to the table. It’s a nice way too to add variety without reinventing the tried and true meal plan.
10 Minute Homemade Ketchup
Ingredients:
- 1 can organic tomato paste ~ 6 oz.
- 1 can organic tomato sauce ~ 15 0z.
- 2 TBSP cider vinegar
- 3 TBSP sweetener (I use raw honey or about ½ tsp stevia tincture)
- 1 tsp. sea salt (to taste) ( I use Himalayan Pink Salt)
- 1 tsp. garlic powder (to taste) or 1 clove put through a garlic press (fine)
- 1 TBSP onion powder
- a good pinch each of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cayenne (see cook’s note)
- 2 TBSP. blackstrap molasses
- Several dashes chili powder (optional)
- IF you want probiotic fermentation, add 2 TBSP whey from plain yogurt (that’s the cloudy liquid that seperates from the yogurt)
Directions:
- Mix all the dry ingredients together
- Add the tomato paste and hand mix into a thick paste
- Smash any lumps.
- Last, add in rest of the ingredients and blend up by hand to a ketchup-y consistency
- Cover and refrigerate – use it up in a month or so; add 2-3 more weeks if you use whey
Cook’s note: I use allspice to save time. Despite its name – and an aroma which conjures a blend of intensely rich scents like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and pepper – allspice is a single spice. Only use a potent pinch at a time to season. The salt, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and cayenne are antimicrobial and are natural preservatives!
Keep the finished product in a recycled ketchup bottle if you like to squirt it on or keep it in a more rustic Ball jar like we do. I like to keep mine in glass as ketchup is an acidic food!
If your home is anything like our household, the ketchup will be used pretty quickly (meatloaf, steak fries, burgers, steak).
Making this simple recipe would be a good time to allow a younger daughter (or son) to become your assistant cook. I wanted our children to get very comfortable in the kitchen. We’ve had some of our most fun ‘doing school’ in the kitchen.
Earliest Ketchup Was A Stinky Fish Sauce!
It’s clear from the earliest English recipes that the original ketchup may have been pretty strong stuff.
An English recipe in 1736 calls for boiling down “2 quarts of strong stale beer and half a pound of anchovies”, and then letting it ferment. And here’s a full early recipe for ketchup from Eliza Smith’s cookbook. Smith’s cookbook, The Compleat Housewife: or, Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion, was a very popular English cookbook, first published in 1727. It was the first published in the American colonies in 1742.
For burgers and homemade fries, you want ketchup, right?
Well, for your BLTs, potato salad, and egg salad, here’s the best homemade mayonnaise recipe ever!
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Thanks for reading!
Marissa says
Thanks for recipe – I pinned it so I can find it when I run out of Ketchup!
Jessica says
This looks sooooo good! And not too hard to make. I like how the consistency looks thicker and tastier than the smooth, thin store bought version. Yum, can’t wait to try this!
Rebecca says
Thank you so much for sharing! We just ran out of ketchup and I wanted to try my hand at making it. It does sound so easy!
In Christ,
Rebecca
Jacqueline says
Rebecca,
I am so glad you found a recipe just when you needed it 🙂 It is great to be able to quickly make your own.
Blessings,
Jacqueline
Rebecca says
Jacqueline I just made the ketchup except I used a big old fresh heirloom tomatoe from our local farmers market and it tastes great! Its a little on the soopy side, but its great for my first try. I think I did not need to put my vitamix all the way on high! haha 🙂 It was fun and thanks again for the recipe!
God bless,
Rebecca
Jacqueline says
When you have your own tomatoes, especially organic homegrown, by all means use them…you can always add less water or even none :] You are a wise young lady! lol
What Joy Is Mine says
Jacqueline…just as I have made my own spaghetti and BBQ sauce, I look forward to trying this homemade ketchup. Thank you for sharing friend.
Debbie says
I need to try this. We go through to much ketchup.
Petra says
Yummy…thanks for posting a healthier—and methinks taster—version of store-bought ketchup. I thought it’s hilarious that the first ketchup appears to be a stinky fish and ale combination! :O
Also, I really enjoyed the post on raw honey. Isn’t it a beautiful blessing that God provides all we need in such simple things as honey? I was delighted to read that honey can provide allergy relief. Some time ago on a chilly morning, I was working outdoors and spotted a bee on the porch, chilled so that it couldn’t fly. When I returned a few minutes later, the bee was still there so I carried it out to a sunny patch and watched it warm up and fly off! Not as funny as your bee guzzling up the honey, but on the same sweet note.
Blessings to you,
~Petra
Jacqueline says
Petra,
Can you imagine an anchovie based, slightly fermenting mash on your plate? There are many things we would turn up our noses at that are probably very good for us :] Actually, my father was from Holland, and he thought ketchup (as we knew it in the 50s) was an American fad and in poor taste!
Your little bee was very happy, methinks, to get warm once again. You are a kind steward of our Lord’s creation, dear friend.
Blessings!
Jacqueline
Debra @ Sweet Kisses and Dirty Dishes says
Yeah for homemade ketchup! This is like what I make. Maybe if I could manage to grow things I would make it from the tomatoes (I bet that would taste AMAZING) but, for now tomato paste is the way I go.
Thanks for linking up to Healthy 2Day Wednesday! Hope to see you again tomorrow.
Jackie Karlic says
Hi! Found you on Modest Mom link up. I pinned this recipe and plan to try it. Sounds easy enough to make. Thanks for sharing. Now following you on FB.
Jacqueline says
I’m so glad to welcome you, Jackie~~I’ll come visit you!! Blessings 🙂
Pat says
Years ago, when our children were young, and I had lots of tomatoes, I tried making ketchup that was supposed to taste like Heinz. I even put it in a Heinz bottle, but our children knew right away that it was different. Now that they aren’t in the home anymore, I will try this when I run out. I mostly use ketchup in cooking, so my hubby and I won’t notice.
Jacqueline says
Aww, Pat, that is a fun memory!
I think now most ketchups have artificial or natural flavors added today, and that there is a distinctive umami (addictive) flavor. Yes, if our taste buds were geared to it, I can see why! It gave us headaches, so we had to learn a different way! Blessings!