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Ketchup is one of the most kid-loved foods out there, and some kids (mine!) will eat anything, including liver, with ketchup on it. Unfortunately, most store-bought versions are packed with GMO tomatoes and high fructose corn syrup.
It really is worthwhile to make homemade ketchup. The taste, texture, and flavor blows store-bought ketchup out of the water! This is one well-loved condiment in our house.
Spice Is Nice!
Condiments are not to be ignored in a healthy kitchen. Dried herbs and spices in dressing and condiments bring antioxidant benefits as well as flavor to the table. It’s a nice way too to add variety without reinventing the tried and true meal plan.
Sweet potato fries, grain-free fish sticks, or chicken fingers are interesting again when served with ranch instead of honey mustard … or, with ketchup!
Homemade Ketchup Recipe
Thankfully, this ketchup recipe is one of the easiest condiments to make at home with basic ingredients. It doesn’t take fancy equipment either. All you need is a blender or food processor.
I make this ketchup every few weeks so I can have it on hand to add to dishes or serve with almost any meat or vegetable (fruit may be taking it too far …).
And another bonus: as with most homemade recipes (be it for laundry, beauty, or food), you do the world the additional favor of skipping plastic packaging and using recyclable, reusable containers instead. Not to mention your fridge won’t be cluttered with condiment bottles because you can make just as little or as much as you want.
On to the recipe! Give it a try!
Easy Homemade Ketchup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tsp chia seeds (for thickening, optional)
- 3 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
- ½ cup white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 TBSP onion powder
- 2 TBSP honey (or cane sugar, or about ½ tsp stevia powder/tincture)
- 2 TBSP molasses
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 pinch cinnamon
- 1 pinch cloves
- 1 pinch allspice
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Grind chia seeds in a blender or food processor on high speed for 30 seconds or until finely powdered.
- Add all remaining ingredients to blender or food processor and blend on high for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Put in an airtight quart jar and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight to let flavors meld.
- Store in the refrigerator and use as you would regular ketchup.
Notes
Nutrition
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Other Homemade Condiment Recipes
Just one condiment isn’t enough… here are some other favorite staples your family might enjoy. Use these recipes as a base and adapt the flavors to your family’s taste by adding a pinch of this or a pinch of that.
Maybe challenge yourself to try a new one each month!
- Mayonnaise – Mayonnaise like Julia Child made it (ok, ok maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself) with all real food ingredients and no nasty processed vegetable oils
- Sriracha Mayonnaise – Customized mayo for taste buds that like a little heat, delicious for dipping this healthier version of onion rings
- Avocado Mayonnaise – This egg-free version is for those avoiding eggs, but still want the benefits of healthy fats
- Italian Dressing – The classic salad dressing, without artificial additives or preservatives
- Ranch Dressing – My personal favorite! Cool, creamy, tangy… all the things ranch should be!
- Raspberry Vinaigrette – Goes beautifully on salad greens with apples, raisins, or other fruits
- Sweet Asian Vinaigrette – Made with coconut aminos instead of soy sauce for additional health benefits
- Asian Coconut Ginger Vinaigrette – Asian with a hint of Thai. Drizzle over fish, stir-fry, or this Asian Color Burst Salad
- Caesar Dressing – I used to turn my nose up at Caesar dressing, but no more! This homemade version tastes better than any I’ve had at restaurants.
- Honey Mustard Sauce and Dressing – This 5-ingredient dressing stores well in the fridge, so make a big batch!
- Homemade Pasta Sauce – Two different recipes: the real Italian family recipe from fresh tomatoes, and a quick shortcut version from canned
- Lactofermented Salsa – An expensive probiotic supplement isn’t the only way to fill your gut with good bacteria. Fermented salsa lasts longer and has great health benefits!
Ever made your own condiments and dressings? What are your favorites to whip up? Please share below!
How long does this ketchup last in fridge?
Can you ferment this?
You can, but the vinegar might stunt some of the fermentation. I sometimes do anyway… just leave on the counter for a day with 1 tbsp of added whey before putting in the fridge.
The GMO crops in the US are: corn, soybean, cotton, alfalfa, papaya, canola, sugar cane, sugar beet, some zucchini and coming soon rice. Tomatoes are not GMO (yet). The one I worry about the most is soy- it is in everything!
The one I worry most about is corn – if it’s not in what you’re eating (used to dust the insides of packages, not declared in the ingredients) then it’s probably sprayed on what you’re eating (many types of produce, even organic, are sprayed with GMO-corn based ethyline gas for ripening). What I don’t understand is why more people aren’t totally freaked out by GMOs being in our food supply!?!
I think a lot of people are ignorant of what GMOs are and that they kind in a lot of different types of foods. If people really knew what they were, what they could do to their health and it is in pretty much all processed foods and given to their children, I think people would start caring. It’s all about educating the public!
GMOs are ok with me. The sky is falling hoopla is getting kind of old. I have yet to see the harm caused by the “evil” GMO.
I often wonder why we as educated citizens think we can outsmart Doctors, FDA and Nutritionist to name a few. Yet we are so quick to jump on a bandwagon because that is the trend.
Next time someone is talking to you about GMO or the benefits of not vaccinating your kids ask for credible documented studies prepared by someone who has extensively studied and worked n that field. Research on the internet alone can be misleading.
Charlie,
If you go take a quick peek at the Dun&Broadstreet web page and further do a search of the USA, FDA, FEMA and any other orginazation, including your town, state and school district, I can almost guarantee you that they are all incoporated. This fact alone makes them a business, which means that everything they do is for profit, including their so called ‘scientific’ reports.
thanks but ill take facts over ignorance any day.
The very first gmo crop in the u.s. was tomatoes,they were called flavr savr but they are not available anymore. Of course, Monsanto owns them now.
Isn’t cross pollination a form of GMO?
No, it is genetic manipulation perhaps, but not modification. Though, through cross-pollination, Modified Genes from GM Crops can end up making their way in to your garden. (Genetic Pollution) Hope this helps!
I worry about that too. I, as well as so many I know or vegan/vegetarian…. yes its in 75% of everything I eat and love to eat.
there is also GMO wheat. GMO wheat was created by the use of radiation upon wheat seed back in the 50s or 60s. A little known fact that a number of plants were so treated.
One of the bad effects of gmo is that they can alter proteins into a foreign particle for the human body. Hybridization taken to extremes can also do this. The human body is not capable of adapting quickly to foreign proteins. Of course there could be other foreign substances in these foods besides proteins that cause reactions.
Due to these significant changes in wheat over the years we now have an epidemic of wheat intolerant people. This never use to be and wheat was once the staff of life but now is the staff of death for many, providing many difficult health issues.
Also one of the GMO companies has created genetically modified wheat with the new processes and it has never been given permission by the USDA to be planted. but still mysteriously gmo wheat has appeared in some farmers field i Oregon, and more recently this year in a field in the midwest.
In Mexico monsanto has been accused of randomly planting gmo corn along roadsides intended to contaminate traditional strains of corn that the people down there so pride themselves for maintaining over the years. GMO corn has now been fully banned from Mexico.
These are corrupt companies with the intent of controlling the food supply which is a way to control the people. Henry Kissinger said it himself.. “control the food and you control the people” Please pay attention folks and spread the word. These companies are not looking out for you, desire total seed monoply and if they had their way heirloom seeds would no longer exist. Support the heirloom seed companies and make your own stash for the prosperity of your family.
Boycott those companies that use gmo.
Thanks for the great ketchup recipe. I really needed this!
Thanks for sharing! My husband & I were JUST talking about finding a low sugar ketchup!
Also wondering how long it would last and also, could you substitute something for the molasses?
She said a month in a earlier post
Also wondering how long it would last and also, could you substitute something for the molasses?
agave syrup.
won’t provide the complexity of molasses. If you use agave add some soy sauce.
You can also do more honey. I’ve found ketchup to be pretty forgiving to make, and pretty much any of the syrupy sweeteners will work, just make sure to account for the differences in sweetness between them (though with the small amount used in this recipe, it may not be particularly noticeable).
Would this last in the fridge like “regular” ketchup does?
There is no such thing as ‘GMO tomatoes.’ I am passionately anti-GMO and Monsanto, but we must be 100% accurate in our depiction of the evil and not attack things that do not exist.
I love your blog.
david
Doesn’t the “tomato danger” have something to do with canned tomatoes? And the chemicals in the cans?
There is BPA in the cans, and while the tomatoes are not genetically modified in the same sense and corn and soybeans, many do have altered genes.
Not entirely actually. Bionaturae doesn’t have BPA in their cans anymore.
Good to know!
It is important to note that tomatoes were actually the first genetically engineered food approved for consumption by the FDA, created by a company called Calgene that was eventually bought by Monsanto. They were called flavr savr tomatoes and while I don’t think they are commercially available anymore, there IS such a thing as GMO tomatoes and Monsanto probably holds the rights/info/pattent in them, and they could make a come back an any time.
david tomatoes use to be gmo but are said not to be anymore but who knows if we can believe this and i am sure that is why she has said gmo tomatoes. they were out there and could still be.
No, actually. There doesn’t really exist any vegetation we eat that’s not a GMO, except maybe heirloom tomatoes. There’s nothing wrong with GMOs done right. Genetic modification isn’t tantamount to poison. And in fact, if we didn’t have GMOs, it would be impossible to support our population in this country, with increasingly less and less farmland at hand.
GMOs should be very heavily researched, yes, and there should be oversight in their production and use, but to think that any genetic modification immediately ruins nutrition or introduces danger is just ignorant.
So really, unless you take a course in genetic engineering, and actually understand what’s involved, and what scrutiny you’re held to before allowing human consumption (read:a lot) don’t pick up a picket sign and start condemning the only thing that keeps our country afloat due to what the current ‘fad’ cause tells you (rarely backing it up with proof or science)
I would never eat anything GMO no matter what you post. It’s not good for us and it sounds like you are one of those trolls who go around the internet to hype it up. The people on this web site are too informed to believe that GMOs are not harmful. Say NO to GMOs.
The concept that we have to have modified foods in order to support the population is flawed at best. Heirloom vegetables produce just as well, if not better in some cases, as any modern varieties I’ve tried. In fact, I find some of them hardier, tastier, and heavier producers.
Just as people need to do the research behind GMO’s and not believe every bad thing they hear, so people on the other side should do some research about heirloom foods and not believe everything they hear. No, not all modern varieties are evil, but they aren’t really necessary either.
Thank you for the recipe. It’s the first I’ve tried at home that my boys like.
The really terrible thing about GMO crops is that they are modified to withstand glyphosate (roundup). So if you consume GMO crops, you are essentially eating roundup…which is poison!
GMO’s supporting the world food crises, is the biggest bunch of bologna I ever heard. They do not, and will not help feed the starving parts of the world, nor would I eat them. Real, whole foods can feed the world if we would only start sharing and stop throwing out vast amounts of it in supermarkets, & in over consuming. The huge amounts of meat consumption that are being greedily over eaten are also part of the problem with the vast amounts of water it takes for animals to be raised and then horribly slaughtered. Not to mention the large land masses it takes to raise animals, which is totally unnecessary for proper nutrition. Just look around at people and their sizes today and realize that we are doing something terribly wrong at the dinner table. Vegetables can be put into these land masses instead; then the world can be fed, as it can be done now, if it wasn’t for the love of money, & a total lack of proper information about food & nutrition.
Thank you. There’s more than enough room on this planet that is owned by no human, to support everyone alive.
I am not at all pro-GMOs that make plants more resistant to toxins or produce toxins themselves.
However to be factually accurate some GMOs (genetic modifications) DO help support world food needs in 3rd world nations in particular. GMOs have created rice strains and other crops that are more drought tolerant and can be grown in arid climates that they could not normally.
The public does related GMOs to poisons and toxins which is probably the case a lot of the time but not factually accurate in all cases.
Really Willy? What kind of scientific, any! reports are available on testing for GMO that say they are safe for long term human consumption? None. why? Money.
I fail to believe GMO products can save the world; it just doesn’t make sense, no matter how hard they try to cram them down my throat, they will never be embraced…we need to get back to nurturing nature & our bodies…glad to have found the ketchup recipe…
WOW!!!!!
I am a food engineer and don’t recommend eating ANYTHING GMO.
Most are laced with roundup which is a probable carcinogen. Please don’t spout the “unless you are a genetic engineer” stuff either, or chemical engineer. They profit from all of this so those are the last people I trust.
I’ve done some gene splicing myself (just in bacteria, though) and am not afraid of genetic modification of foodstuffs per se. GM of O is just a tool, it’s all about what you do with it. It makes no sense to criticize GMOs categorically than it does to criticize plants planted, harvested, or pollinated mechanically, or animals inseminated artificially. Makes no more sense to distrust genes shuffled deliberately compared to letting it happen randomly, any more than to distrust plants & animals raised deliberately compared to those gathered & hunted in the wild.
We have less farmland because we don’t need as much. Years ago this struck me when I was hiking in an area that used to be farms and has gone back to wilderness. It’s not that the land was needed for more remunerative uses; rather, it’d been abandoned because the value of its crops was no longer worth the work on it. It was still fertile, though, so it became forest.
Once upon a time there ws such a thing as GMO tomatoes but it did not sell so it was off the market. It was the canned variety and was called flvrsvr. This was in the 1990’s.
Hopoefully we’ll not see the like again!
The first gmo grown in the United States was in 1982 and it was a tomato. There is a report about genetically modified organisms in the United States from the USDA. Yes, there are genetically modified tomatoes, the whole thing is an interesting read, but page 7 is what you would like to read.
To the man that said there are no GMO tomatoes, he’s part right, there are, but they aren’t being sold.
The GMO I’d be more worried about would be in the corn syrup. Most corn is GMO these days unless you get some organic that was grown far away from anywhere else.
Tomatoes were the first products sold on shelf to be genetically modified. For one and this sounds Sci fi the gene which makes a chicken’s egg hard was spliced into a tomato to make shipping less damaging. God knows what else they’ve done to tomatoes
How long will this last in the fridge?
With the vinegar, at least a month.
How long do I process the ketchup in a canning kettle? I use a hot water kettle not a pressure cooker. We have made a lifestyle change and no longer eat sugar or grains and i have really missed ketchup so I am delighted to find a homemade recipe that I can make with Stevia. do you order the Tropical Traditions tomato sauce on line or is there a number I can call?
You can process it in a water bath for 15min
WHAT SIZE PASTE?…THE SMALL CANS?
She says 6 oz in the comments
The link isn’t working for where she gets her tomato paste by the case…
Anyone know?
The tomato paste I bought is triple concentrated. So do I need to use less tomato paste, than the recipe suggests?
Can someone confirm the size of can to buy for tomato paste?
Can’t wait to make my own!