My objective with this homemade ketchup recipe was to use neither exotic ingredients nor flavorings but to achieve the perfectly smooth, thick texture of Heinz or Hunt’s while preserving more of the fresh tomato taste than they do, drawing as much sweetness and acidity as possible from the tomato itself rather than from added sugar and vinegar. But I certainly did not want the final product to taste too fresh or natural to be real ketchup. The more you cook tomatoes to evaporate their water, the more you damage their fresh flavor and color. My solution is a technique sometimes used in making jam—separately reducing the tomato liquid to a thick syrup before adding it back to the pulp for a brief final simmer. This ketchup is easy to make, and delicious.–Jeffrey Steingarten
LC No Food Mill? No Problem! Note
LC recipe tester and ketchup aficionado Brenda Carleton has canned countless incarnations of this condiment and not once has she bothered to invest in a food mill. Why would she when she has a trusty potato ricer on hand? (For those unfamiliar with a food mill, it’s a boon to home cooks obsessed with tomatoes because of its ability to remove seeds and skins from a thick puree.) Carleton isn’t keeping track, but she’s on her 50th or so batch of ketchup made in ricer fashion, with no complaints. Uh, almost no complaints. She did mention that the ricer is messy, though she notes, “but then, a food mill would also be messy.”
No potato ricer? No problem there, either. Another LC recipe-testing aficionado, Lori Widmeyer, has made ketchup a time or three and usually marks an “X” on the bottom of each tomato, blanches them, and immediately plunges them in cold water to loosen the skins so they come off easily. Then she cuts up the tomatoes to remove any seeds and excess liquid and drains them in a colander. (Those times she hasn’t drained the tomatoes, albeit against her better judgment, the resulting ketchup always seemed a tad too watery, she says.)
Whatever your method of madness, it’s worth the spectacularly summery, subtly spiced smack of this fire-engine-red condiment. One taste will tell you why you ought to make your own ketchup. (Hint: The answer is, quite simply, because you can.)
Special Equipment: Food mill or potato ricer
Homemade Ketchup Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 pounds very ripe red tomatoes, preferably beefsteak, cored and roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3/4 cup white vinegar (for a mild taste) or cider vinegar (for a fruity tang)
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 1 heaping teaspoon allspice berries
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 8 whole cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 1/2 tablespoons salt
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus more to taste
Directions
- 1. Place the tomatoes in a heavy, wide, nonreactive pan of at least an 8-quart capacity. Cover, place the pan over high heat, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until the tomato chunks give off their juice and everything comes to a boil.
- 2. Working in batches, pour the tomato chunks and juice into a large, medium-fine strainer placed over a 3- or 4-quart saucepan. Gently press and stir the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon so that all of the thin liquid but none of the tomato pulp goes into the saucepan. You should have about 2 quarts of liquid. Reserve the tomato pulp.
- 3. To the tomato liquid in the saucepan add the garlic, onion, vinegar, peppercorns, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne, ginger, and salt. Cook over moderately high heat until the liquid is thick and syrupy and reduced to about 2 cups. This could take anywhere from half an hour to an hour, depending on the type of tomato used. [Editor's Note: Some tomatoes, such as beefsteaks, are more pulpy and mealy, whereas other tomatoes, like Romas, are more juicy. This will affect the final yield of juice and requires a slight adjustment in the total simmering time.]
- 4. Meanwhile, transfer the tomato pulp to a food mill fitted with the finest screen to eliminate the seeds and skin. You should have about 1 quart of strained pulp. Transfer the strained pulp back to the first pan and reserve the tomato solids that you strained from the tomato pulp.
- 5. Strain the thick, syrupy, reduced tomato liquid into the tomato pulp, pressing on the solids to extract all the liquid. Stir in the sugar and gently simmer over medium-low or low heat, stirring frequently, until the ketchup is reduced by 1/3, about 15 minutes. Taste it occasionally, adding more sugar if desired. You should have about a quart of tomato goo. If the authentic texture of commercial ketchup is desired, puree this ketchup in a blender or food processor. [Editor's Note: If it still seems a little runny, stir in a little of the reserved solids strained from the tomato pulp.] Let it cool to room temperature, then transfer it to glass jars or other containers with tight-fitting lids and refrigerate for up to several weeks.
Hungry for more? Chow down on these:
- Homemade Mustard from The Way the Cookie Crumbles
- Chipotle Ketchup from Homesick Texan
- Homemade Mayonnaise from Leite's Culinaria
- Freezer Tomato Sauce from Leite's Culinaria
Homemade Ketchup Recipe © 1998 Jeffrey Steingarten. Photo © 2011 BigStock. All rights reserved.


[Melissa Maedgen] There were a couple things I’d change about this recipe, but the end result was so good it still merits a Testers’ Choice. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll confess that I’m not a big fan of regular ketchup. My husband, on the other hand, loves the stuff. We tasted this side by side with some Heinz ketchup. The dipping vehicle of choice was onion rings. The result of our tasting was that we both preferred the homemade ketchup to the Heinz. The commercial ketchup was noticeably sweeter. The homemade was brighter in flavor and a bit saltier. The spices were present without being overpowering or even individually identifiable. In short, it was delicious, even to a ketchup-hater like me. If I were to change anything, it’d be to reduce the salt just a little. If you decide to make this, make sure you have a really big pot. The author says you need at least an 8-quart pot, and you need to listen to him. You’ll also need to allow plenty of time to make this recipe. The finest screen on my food mill wasn’t fine enough to remove all the seeds from the tomato pulp, but that was okay. There were some seeds in my ketchup and it didn’t bother us at all. I also didn’t do a final puree at the end. I felt the ketchup was smooth enough—not perfectly smooth, but a perfectly acceptable texture.
[Adrienne Lee] The amount of effort for this recipe is tremendous. On the other hand, this ketchup is delicious. First, the cutting of the tomatoes takes a long time. Second, you use several pots and strainers. I was able to get a good texture just by cooking it a little longer than the recommended time. However, you do need to watch it so that it won’t burn. I used a food mill because I have one. (A food mill makes things easy.) I found that it took awhile to get to a syrupy texture (for the tomato liquid) and then the amount of liquid after cooking down wasn’t as great as it would seem. So I took some of the puree and mixed it in a few times to add more flavor into the final tomato puree as it cooked.
[Sofia Reino] My older daughter, who loves ketchup, helped me out during the whole process, continually tasting it to make sure it was to her liking and as similar as possible to the organic Heinz ketchup we usually buy. This was a tough recipe for me to test as I absolutely dislike ketchup. But the entire process is pretty easy. I used homegrown beefsteak tomatoes, which are more meaty. It took about 1 hour to reduce the liquid part and make it syrupy, but it never became thick. So my daughter thought of adding cornstarch, which did the trick to thicken it. I also ended up adding 3 more tablespoons of sugar. The final result, as per my daughter, is very similar to Heinz ketchup, except it’s just a bit darker. Now for someone who doesn’t care for ketchup, is it worth the trouble? I’m not quite sure. But I’ll make it again, mainly because I know exactly what’s in it as opposed to the store-bought kind.
Now that I realize GMOs are in too many products we buy I am thrilled to get this recipe. I have learned from my mother that a good homemade meal is truly the best.
I agree with every word you just said, warbaby.
Was wondering if you would have more information about the canning of this? I see there is an acid (vinegar) in the recipe, is this enough to just do a water bath canning? Or, should I go the longer way around and pressure can? Any help would be appreciated as my tomato plants are starting to produce.
Also was wondering as I have a steam juicer, would this work better for collection and boiling down of the tomato juice?
Inquiring mind here….
Hi Phyllis, I asked Melissa, one of our testers here at LC, and this is her advice-
“I would be willing to go out on a limb and say you could do this in a hot water bath. Some people do tomatoes that way as is, as tomatoes are fairly acidic, although pressure canning is preferred. This having some added vinegar, and sugar (also a preservative), and salt (once again a preservative), I think it would be OK in the hot water bath. That said, because this is already cooked quite a bit in the making, I don’t think pressure canning would cause any loss of quality, and would of course be the safest option. I bet it would also do just fine in the freezer.” As far as your steam juicer question, well, you have a pretty well equipped kitchen! Any other steam juicer owners out there?
And Sue, another of our testers, offers this tip-
“When I have a question like this I always call a state university
extension service. Almost every state university has one and they’re
amazingly helpful. I’m from Atlanta so I use the UGA extension service
but it doesn’t matter where you live or are from. They’re always helpful
and it’s great to get correct information. I’d always rather be safe
than waste a lot of time and ingredients.”