My ketchup recipe tastes so much better than anything you can buy at the store. It’s easy to make from scratch and keeps in the fridge for a month.
I wouldn’t tell you to make ketchup from scratch if it weren’t worth it. This recipe makes the most delicious ketchup. It’s tastier, fresher, and more balanced than anything you can buy at the store, and it’s genuinely fun to make.
I love that this recipe uses real ingredients and lets you control exactly how much sugar you add. Just like making homemade mayonnaise, this ketchup will make you feel like a kitchen rockstar. Get the French fries ready, because this one’s a keeper!
Key Ingredients
- Canned Tomatoes and Tomato Paste: Canned whole tomatoes form the base of this ketchup recipe. As they simmer, they break down into a smooth, shiny sauce. Tomato paste adds a more concentrated tomato flavor.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: A little vinegar keeps the ketchup bright and tangy, just like store-bought versions. I love using apple cider vinegar for its balanced flavor. It’s also what I use in our homemade BBQ sauce.
- Brown Sugar: We need a little sugar to sweeten this sauce, but you have complete control over how much you add. My family likes 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons). Use less for lower sugar or more for a sweeter result.
- Onion, Garlic, and Ginger: The onion and garlic are non-negotiable, as they build the rich, savory base of the ketchup, but the ginger is a bit different. I add fresh ginger for a bit of heat and spice. If you’re unsure, you can leave it out.
- Allspice: Just like the ginger, allspice adds a bit more spice. It’s really lovely, but it will make your ketchup more spiced than what you’re used to with store-bought sauce. It’s optional, so add it only if you prefer the more spiced version.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Homemade Ketchup
Tip 1: Build the flavor base. Making ketchup at home isn’t all that different from making our favorite tomato soup (weird, but true). Start by cooking sliced onions in olive oil until they are soft, sweet, and lightly browned. This creates the base flavor for your ketchup.
Tip 2: Toast the spices. Stir in garlic, fresh ginger, and allspice. For a spicy version, add a pinch or two of red pepper flakes. Because the spices are added before any liquid, they toast a bit in the hot pan and become even more flavorful.
Tip 3: Add the tomato paste. After a minute of toasting, stir in the tomato paste and cook for one more minute. This step removes any raw tomato flavor and adds incredible depth to the ketchup. You’re looking for the tomato paste to turn an orange instead of bright red.
Tip 4: Simmer until thick and shiny. Add the canned tomatoes, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and salt. Let the ketchup simmer until it’s thick and shiny, breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon as they cook.
Tip 5: Blend to your desired texture. Once thickened, blend the mixture until smooth. We like ours with a rustic texture, so we don’t blend for too long. For extra-smooth ketchup, blend longer and strain before cooling.
Storing and Ways to Use It
Store your homemade ketchup in the refrigerator for up to a month so it’s always ready for all your ketchup needs. I love using it in the glaze for our turkey meatloaf and classic beef meatloaf, and it’s a no-brainer with sweet potato fries, potato wedges, homemade tater tots, chicken nuggets, or popcorn chicken.
More Homemade Sauces
Homemade Ketchup (Better than Store-Bought)
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Making ketchup at home is simple and much more flavorful than anything you can buy at the store. I use 4 tablespoons of sugar, but adjust the sugar to your taste.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced into half moons
2 garlic cloves, chopped, about 1 tablespoon
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
¼ teaspoon to ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional for spicy ketchup
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice
2 to 5 tablespoons brown sugar, depending on how sweet you like your ketchup
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Directions
1Cook the aromatics: Heat oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are softened, sweet, and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and allspice and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes.
2Add tomato paste: Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring it around the pan, until it turns from red to burnt orange, about 2 minutes.
3Add tomatoes: Add the can of tomatoes with juice, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, the cider vinegar, a generous pinch of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir, and then taste to see if you need to add more sugar (we usually add a total of 3 to 4 tablespoons).
4Simmer: Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat slightly, and cook at a low simmer, stirring occasionally, until the ketchup is thickened and glossy, about 20 minutes. Taste, then adjust with more sugar, salt, or pepper as needed.
5Blend: Use an immersion blender directly in the pan to blend everything until smooth. If using a stand blender, carefully transfer the hot ketchup to the blender. Be sure to fill the blender only halfway when blending hot liquids. Remove the small center cap from the blender lid and cover the opening with a folded kitchen towel to allow steam to escape and prevent pressure buildup. Blend until smooth.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Fresh tomatoes: Use 3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes.
- Storing: Let the ketchup cool to room temperature before refrigerating for up to one month.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We assumed 4 tablespoons of the brown sugar.
Just a tip for using Ginger. I purchase only extrememly fresh young tender ginger and store in Kerr jars in the freezer. I then use a microshave or fine grater while frozen. It makes extremly fine particles to fine slivers and I never waste any ginger this way. Young tender ginger does not need peeled.
I wish fresh garlic was as easy to store and use!
This was a great recipe. It is a little more thin than store bought but tastes significantly better.
This is my go to ketchup recipe, I no longer buy it from the shops; this is much healthier. I prefer to reduce the sugar by half but it’s a personal choice.
SO happy you found us, Emma! Thanks for coming back!
Just wondering if I can this recipe in canning jars?
Hi Andrea, I believe you can, but you will want to pressure can it. I’d check a canning resource to make sure.
You guys are the best. I love this recipe and the variations I can do on it. I also love your homemade mayonaise recipe. It’s out of this world!!
I just tried your recipe it was very good. I added bell pepper jalapeños and all natural honey instead of sugar, have to say it was delicious. Going to add other kinds of hot peppers to see how it comes out. Thank you.
How much does this recipe yield? We go through Ketchup like CRAZY!!! I’m thinking about doubling the recipe…God Bless…
This recipe makes about 3 cups.
I just made this recipe. Delicious!! I added bell peppers to the recipe and its great!! I also used fresh tomatoes and I did not peel then and they blended down no problem..
Thanks
I love bell pepper and tomatoes together, so I bet the addition was delicious. Thanks for sharing, Heather.
First time on your site . I am going to try the ketchup and have a question. The tomato seeds – do they get blended enough to be smooth or do I need a press? I am going to give to friends in squeeze bottles so am thinking about clogging
This is a thicker style of ketchup. I think you should be okay, but if you are worried, you can press the ketchup through a fine mesh sieve.
Wondering if you have canned this recipe to make it shelf stable? If so how long did you process and water bath or pressure canned?
We haven’t personally pressure-canned this homemade ketchup, so we don’t feel comfortable providing a method without testing it ourselves. We recommend finding a recipe and instructions specifically designed for pressure canning ketchup. Reliable sources include the National Center for Home Food Preservation and websites from established canning brands.
I was skeptical, but I made this for the Fall off the Bone ribs I made for Xmas dinner. This ketchup is amazing. My husband LOVES this stuff. He eats it with potato chips, like it’s salsa. It is so full of flavor, and goes well with just about anything you want to make it with. It would even be amazing as a shrimp cocktail type sauce. I won’t be buying store bought ketchup again. Yep, it’s that good.
So happy you and your husband enjoy the recipe, Tracy!
The ketchup was very good. First time making it so the second time will even be better
Just made this to use up some of our own tomatoes.. excellent recipe. Also made a version with 300g chopped peppers and 300g tomatoes (liquidized) with 2 tablespoons of molasses sugar. worked well too.
Do you really need to add any sugar to this at all?
Hi Conner, You can adjust the sugar amount to your tastes. The sugar listed balances out the spices and tomatoes. It also mimics what we are used to with store-bought ketchup.
can you freeze it for long term storage?
Yes, I’d imagine this to freeze well for 3 months or so.
Really good. I made the recipe as written only made it low carb by substituting 1 tsp blackstrap molasses and 1/4 cup of granulated stevia — the kind that is a 1:1 replacement for sugar. If you don’t like it this sweet tasting cut back on the stevia but keep the tsp of blackstrap molasses. I’m diabetic so I have to watch every gram of net carbs and I really like ketchup.
This looks wonderful! Can you can this? If so how would you go about doing so?
Yes! Fill jars to the neck (1″ headspace), wipe rim of jar, add lid and rings, and process them for 20 minutes. If you don’t have a water bath canner you can use a tall stock pot with a hand towel placed in the bottom to keep the jars from making contact with the bottom of the pot. Ketchup keeps for a long time.
love this site
When you use fresh tomatoes, do you peel them first? Or does it not matter since you’ll be blending it?
It is up to you. I’m fine skipping peeling the tomatoes since the sauce is blended, but it would not hurt to peel them if you’d prefer.
I made the ketchup for a recipe that only used 3tbsp. Tonight I made spaghetti sauce and used the ketchup as my tomatoes. So Good! Rave reviews from the whole family…and I don’t even like spaghetti sauce.
It’s absolutely delicious! Can it be frozen?
Yes.
Hi Freya, We are sorry that the ketchup was too sweet for you. The expectation for how sweet ketchup should be ranges from person to person — we’ve had some commenters say they felt they needed more sugar than 1/4 cup. To accommodate more preferences, I’ve added a larger range of sugar to the recipe and suggested to start with 2 tablespoons, taste and go from there. We usually end up with 4 tablespoons, but now the recipe is written so you can add to your own taste. Thanks for your feedback!
Can’t wait to try the tater tot recipe and the ketchup recipe.
How long and how can this ketchup be kept fresh ?
You can keep it, stored in the refrigerator, up to a month.
I love ketchup on potatoes, eggs, tempeh, everything. I don’t mind paying for ketchup, but the plastic bottles, oh the bottles, just too many. I doubled the recipe, trusting that I’d like it. I like it, though I’d like it with a bit more bite (vinegar), which I’ll add a teaspoon at a time to each pint Mason jar. Thanks!
I LOVE this stuff! And I don’t like ketchup, it’s usually too sweet for my taste. This is awesome and I haven’t even finished cooking it, it’s still simmering but the taste is outstanding! Thank you so much for sharing.
Hello, I’m thoroughly enjoying your site. I have made your three ingredient tomato soup, it’s awesome! I am wondering if you can make this ketchup sugar/sweetener free?
Hi there, the amount of sugar you add is up to you. We like the balance of flavor some sugar provides. You can always add to your own tastes to try and get the recipe lower in sugar.
Thank you for this recipe. I just made this and followed your recipe exactly. I used 1/4 cup brown sugar and for my taste, it is too sweet. I really like making my own sauces/dressing etc. and knowing exactly what’s in it. I will definitely try this again and reduce sugar and I’m sure it will become my “perfect” ketchup! Thanks again!
This looks great can’t wait to try!
if using FRESH tomatoes, make a point of peeling the skin first, and plan on simmering at least an hour to thicken it up. otherwise, pretty tasty stuff!
Replace the sugar with monk fruit and you will have a nice keto friendly ketchup.
I love your site and your recipes are amazing! I can’t wait to start trying them all.
We do like ketchup but don’t use as much as this makes. Do you think it is freezeable? That would be Awesome!
Hi there, We have never tried freezing ketchup. Technically, I don’t see why you could not freeze it, but it might separate on you when thawing. You might find that you need to place it back into the blender to get it back to the right consistency.
It came out amazing!!! My 4 year old grandson is a ketchup hound, and he helped make it and loves it! I am not a ketchup fan, but found this fresher tasting…bright and slightly tomatoey..which I love
oops…it was the Quick Homemade keychup recipe…not this one, tho this looks amazing, too. Was going for easy and easy won out and it came out great.
Very happy with the results! I used about 1/3 cup maple syrup, added about two tbsp of tomatoes paste and omitted the brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Was easy and quick to make. Will most likely not be buying ketchup again.
Absolutely delicious! Hands down better than bottled ketchup. I will probably add a bit less red pepper flakes next time, but otherwise, perfect!
I love hearing people ask me. “where did you uy this ketchup? I wanna get some!” by far the best thing ever!