Once you make homemade ketchup with this easy and delicious recipe you’ll never buy the bottled kind again! Fresh ingredients, adaptable spices, and a beautiful texture makes this homemade ketchup recipe a keeper!
Put this homemade ketchup on a Grilled Jalapéno Cheddar Burger for the ultimate grilled deliciousness!
Are you looking for more homemade condiment recipes? Try How To Make Mayonnaise Out Of Olive Oil or easy Homemade Pizza sauce recipes.
Ingredients for Homemade Ketchup:
- Tomatoes. I love using fresh tomatoes but feel free to pull out canned diced or stewed tomatoes.
- Garlic. Fresh garlic (or the jarred kind) adds a nice flavor to the tomatoes. You can sub garlic powder, if needed, by adding it to the ingredients in the blender.
- Onions. Don’t skip sauteing the onions! A nice brown on them gives the ketchup a deeper flavor.
- Vinegar. Vinegar is what helps turn this from a tomato sauce into a ketchup. Balsamic vinegar will give you a deeper flavor, if you prefer that.
- Sugar. Sugar is needed to balance out the acid of the tomatoes and vinegar. In fact, bottled ketchup has ALOT of sugar. Add only as much as you need. Feel free to try Monkfruit or Splenda. I haven’t found good results with honey or maple syrup.
- Spices. Salt & pepper are a must. But this is where you can change it up and have fun. Try some liquid smoke, onion powder, garam masala, cinnamon…whatever is your fave!
How to make homemade ketchup:
- Chop garlic and saute until fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic!
- Chop the onion and saute until it is transparent and with a nice color.
- Chop tomatoes and simmer.
- Blend the sauce until smooth. Adjust seasonings to your preferred taste.
- Place the sauce in a jar with a lid.
Tips for Homemade Ketchup:
- I used 1/2 onion in this recipe, one whole onion would work perfectly well.
- Try adding additional spices to change up the flavor to your preferences.
- Stewed or diced tomatoes in place of the fresh works just fine, be sure to simmer it still!
Storing Homemade Ketchup:
- Store in an airtight container, in the fridge, for about 1 week.
- For the ketchup to last longer (4-5 weeks), sterilize the jar in boiling water for ten minutes.
- Ketchup freezes well. I would recommend freezing in smaller batches, even ice cube trays. Sometimes the thawed ketchup is a bit runnier in consistency. But the taste is the same!
Ingredients
- 2 lb ripe tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ onion
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar balsamic vinegar would work too
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- Chop garlic into small pieces. Add them to a saucepan with olive oil over medium heat. Stir until fragrant.
- Roughly chop the onion and add it to the saucepan. Stir until translucent.
- Chop tomatoes and add them to the saucepan with the rest of the ingredients.
- Simmer for 25-30 minutes. At this point, the water from the tomatoes will be reduced. If it remains too watery, simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Blend the sauce until smooth. Adjust salt to taste.
- Place the sauce in a jar with a lid. Keep it refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.
Other homemade sauces:
- easy Homemade Applesauce Recipe (stovetop, crockpot, instant pot recipes)
- How to Make the Best Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Garlic White Pizza Sauce – ready in under 10 minutes
- 5-ingredient Homemade Caramel Sauce
- the BEST Homemade Sloppy Joe Sauce
- Homemade Whipped Butter in 10 minutes!
- Homemade Blue Cheese dressing (made with yogurt)
- easy Homemade Pizza sauce recipes
- classic Spaghetti Sauce recipe/tips & tricks for perfect Spaghetti dinner
- easy Spinach Pesto recipe — great for pasta or meats!
