This homemade tomato paste is easy to make, tastes amazing, and is a great way to preserve fresh tomatoes in space efficiently. You just need some planning to make it less time consuming!
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Tomato paste is made from blended tomatoes with with skins and seeds strained out. The slow cooking of tomato juice allows the flavors to deepen and the excess water to evaporate, resulting in a thick, concentrated tomato paste.
It's a must-have for any home cook! Why? Tomatoes release lycopene, an antioxidant upon prolonged slow cooking. This substance gives umami flavor to sauces and gravies with shortest cooking time.
Homemade paste is free of added additives and preservatives, which most store-bought tomato paste include.
I make this paste every year when fresh tomatoes are cheap and plenty. Having tomato paste in freezer makes life so much easy.
I also store fresh tomatoes in certain other ways, like tomato jam, which is best to apply on on sandwiches or on a toast. Or in homemade tomato ketchup, which is thick and smooth.
Various Methods
- Sun-dried: In some countries like Calabria, tomato puree is sun-dried to make tomato paste at 38 C. The process takes 3-4 consecutive days. You need to spread tomato puree on trays and let it sundry. Trays are brought inside at night to avoid moisture sitting on them.
- Oven-dried: You can dry tomato puree in baking tray in an oven for about 3 hours at 200 C. You'll have to stir all trays at intervals of twenty minutes. After the most liquid is dried collect all tomato puree from different trays to one tray and continue drying until paste is thickened.
- Stove top: The recipe that I'm sharing is made on stovetop. Just make tomato puree in a blender and then cook the strained tomato puree until it has thickened into a paste.
Ingredients to make this?
This homemade tomato paste is made with fresh tomatoes. See how simple it is.
- Tomatoes: Select bright red, fully ripened and firm tomatoes. Select roma tomatoes or san marzano tomatoes or plum tomatoes for best yield. Make sure you remove the top head part of the tomatoes and avoid using over-ripened tomatoes.
- Vinegar or Lemon juice: Vinegar or lemon juice adds the best natural preservative by increasing acidity to keep the tomato paste fresh for long. If you plan to do canning of tomato paste then citric acid is the must have preservative in this recipe.
- Olive oil: I prefer olive oil and although have never tried other vegetable oils, assume that anything neutral would work well.
- Salt: You can add sea salt, kosher salt, table salt or Himalayan pink salt. Little will be too much as the paste will reduce less than ⅓ of original. So be cautious in use of salt.
- Garlic: I have added garlic to make it more flavorful. It also helps preservation.
- Bay leaves (optional): I have added dried bay leaves, which add a savory flavor and again has preservative function.
How to make this?
The easy step-by-step will be definitely helpful, so let's dig in. Start by washing and chopping of the heads of tomato.
- Then roughly chop the tomatoes into chunks. This will make them easier to blend.
- Place the chopped tomatoes in a blender and blend until smooth. You need to work in batches.
- So pour a batch of blended tomato puree through a coarse sieve with a bowl underneath to collect the tomato juice. (Fine mesh is not good here). Strain as much possible then blend another batch of tomatoes and repeat.
- I blended in six batches and removed the strained seeds and peel halfway from sieve for smooth straining of remaining batches. As I worked though, I transferred the strained tomato juice in a large cooking pot. Visually mark the tomato juice level in the pot we need to reduce it to ⅓ of original.
- In a large pot take tomato juice and add all the ingredients. Bring it to a boil then continue boiling on medium heat for 1.5 hours or until tomato juice has reduced to half of original volume.
- At this point, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer over low heat for another 60-90 minutes. Keep stirring at interval to avoid sticking or burning at the bottom. Also scrap the sides with silicone spatula. As the mixture thickens it will splutter so adjust heat and keep it to the level where it doesn't splutter.
- Once the mixture is reduced to ⅓ of original volume, remove the bay leaves. Be vigilant, and keep stirring at intervals. Continue cooking until liquid doesn't separate from the sides of paste upon running the spoon across the bottom of the pot. Check video. When the tomato paste is ready, remove from heat.
How to store?
Store it right: Keep leftover paste in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week.
Freezing: If freezing, wait until tomato paste is at room temperature. Then freeze in silicone ice cube trays and cover with cling wrap. Let the paste freeze overnight. Unmold next day and transfer in a freezer bag.
(I like to measure the cubes capacity in spoon by filling water so I know how many cubes are needed for a recipe.) You can also freeze it in air tight container or ziplock bags for 6 months.
Canning: You can proceed with canning hot tomato paste in ½ pint or 270 ml jars. Leave half inch space from the head. Remove the bubbles as much possible by sliding a wooden spoon. Small jars allow heat to penetrate the thick paste.
Seal the jars with sterilised lids and process in boiling water bath canner for 45 mins, more for higher altitude. Remove from canner and let the jars cool for 12 hours before checking seals. Store sealed jars in a cool dry place for 1 year.
Expert Tips
- Avoid using over ripened tomatoes. Use bright red, fully ripened and firm tomatoes.
- Don't turn up the heat too high! Cook and simmer the tomato juice. This is important to get strong umami flavors and to avoid burning.
How to make it in food mill?
Food mill is a utensil specifically design for meshing and sieving. To make tomato paste in a food mill, chop the tomatoes and cook them until soft. Then process through a food mill to remove the seeds and skin. Cooking first allows easy meshing.
Then continue with rest of steps in the recipe. Simmer the paste until it thickens, and then store it in a jar.
How to use it?
- It is so convenient and useful in making pizza sauce or pasta sauce.
- Add it in tomato soup or any tomato based soup.
- Pasta dishes get bright color and taste with addition of tomato paste.
- I like to add it to beef chili even keema curry.
- Sometimes, curries and stews need a tomato kick, and tomato paste is just what you want for a quick fix.
- I use this paste in my butter chicken and Lettuce Wrap when I am out of fresh tomatoes. Honestly, it's the best substitute for quick and tasty meals.
FAQS
Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, homemade tomato paste can last up to a week. For longer storage, freeze it in portions.
While fresh tomatoes are preferred, you can use canned diced tomatoes.
Roughly one medium tomato is equal to 1 spoon tomato paste. Add as many spoons as tomatoes needed in a recipe. About ¾ cup fresh tomato makes 1 tablespoon tomato paste. As the tomatoes are cooked you can always add an extra spoon if needed after taste test in a recipe.
Work in batches for blending and sieving tomato juice. The cooking time will increase to 5-6 hours.
Looking for more tomatoey recipes? Try these
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📖 Recipe
How To Make Tomato Paste
Ingredients
- 4 kg tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoon bottled lemon juice or white vinegar
- 1 teaspoons Salt
Optional add-ins
- 1 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 large bay leave
- ½ teaspoon citric acid, if canning
Instructions
For Tomato Puree
- Roughly chop the tomatoes into chunks. This will make them easier to blend.
- Place the chopped tomatoes in a blender and blend until smooth. You need to work in batches.
- Pour blended tomato puree through a coarse sieve. Strain as much as possible. Repeat with more batches. (I blended in six batches.)
For Tomato Paste
- Transferred the strained tomato juice to a large cooking pot. Mark the tomato juice level visually; we need to reduce it to more than ⅓.
- Combine tomato puree and all ingredients. Boil on medium heat for 1.5 hours or until reduced by half.
- Next, simmer on low heat for 60-90 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Adjust heat as needed to avoid spluttering.
- Once reduced to ⅓, remove bay leaves. Stir often. Cook until the liquid doesn't separate when you run a spoon across the bottom. Remove from heat, the paste is ready.
For Freezing
- Wait until tomato paste is at room temperature. Then freeze in silicone ice cube trays and cover with cling wrap. Let the paste freeze overnight.
- Unmold next day and transfer in a freezer bag. Stays good for 6 months.
Canning
- Fill hot tomato paste in ½ pint or 270 ml jars. Leave half inch space from the head. Remove the bubbles as much possible by sliding a wooden spoon. Small jars allow heat to penetrate the thick paste.
- Seal the jars with sterilised lids and process in boiling water bath canner for 45 mins, more for higher altitude.
- Remove from canner and let the jars cool for 12 hours before checking seals. Store sealed jars in a cool dry place for 1 year.
Notes
- Tomatoes: Use plum, firm tomatoes avoid using over ripened tomatoes.
- Cooking: Cook it slowly, this prevents the paste from burning.
- Flavor: Customize flavor with herbs, garlic, or onion powder
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