Ketchup: Kitchen-made

This Kitchen-made Ketchup Recipe is truly simple and unfussy. Knowing what ingredients are in your ketchup is never a bad thing, and the only way to do that is by making your ketchup from the pantry. Be sure to check out my cookbook for more kitchen-made basic recipes!

Recently I was left a comment saying that a recipe of mine wasn’t “without a mix” because I used ketchup.

Say what?

I guess I never thought about (organic store-bought) ketchup destroying a recipe and deeming un-scratch-worthy. To be honest, I don’t make the bread for my french toast and I also don’t distill my own vinegar. With that said, how “without a mix” do I need to cook in order to have a “without a mix” blog? Well I suppose since this is my blog, I get to determine that.

But I do want to say thanks to “anonymous” who left that comment because I decided to turn his or her comment into a recipe post and make my quite own ketchup without a mix.

Although I’m sure I’ll get a comment about using canned tomato paste.

To Make Kitchen-made Ketchup Gather:

• tomato paste
• dark brown sugar
• dry ground mustard
• kosher salt
• ground allspice
• cayenne pepper
• ground clove
• ground turmeric
• apple cider vinegar
• water (or more)

It’s truly pretty straightforward to make from-scratch ketchup. Tomato paste is the base for this ketchup recipe and if you’re up for the challenge and want to make your own tomato paste then here is a great recipe for first-timers. It’s currently on my bucket list to make from-scratch tomato paste late next summer.

First get out a large mixing bowl or measuring cup. Next measure in 12 ounces of tomato paste.

Then measure and add in 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon both of ground mustard and kosher salt*. Add in 1/8 teaspoon each of ground allspice, cayenne pepper, clove and turmeric.

When making kitchen-made ketchup, I don’t like to use TOO much salt, so if you are using this in a recipe (like barbecue sauce or baked beans) you don’t want risk the final product being overly salty. If using as a condiment (for like tater tots or French fries) then season to taste.

Add in four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar along with 2/3 to 1 cup of water. If you find that it’s still too thick you can always thin it out with even more water.

Finally whisk until thoroughly combined.

Lastly, pour the from-scratch ketchup recipe into a jars or any container with a tight-fitting lid and pop it into your fridge for a few hours. This will help to develop the flavors. And only like pretty much anything that is tomato based, it always tastes better the next day.

Now who’s made their own mustard? And can it be done? I’m a woman on a mission.

For more from-scratch ingredients check out my Kitchen Basics section!

Enjoy! And if you give this Unfussy Kitchen-made Ketchup recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!