Homemade Ketchup

We go through a lot of ketchup at our house. Because we enjoy it so much, we usually splurge for the good kind with whole ingredients, real sugar and spices. And spending 5 dollars on roughly 2 cups of ketchup started to make me think about how hard it would be to replicate our favorite. And this homemade ketchup recipe ticked all the boxes.

this recipe

Tomatoes

I’ve used both crushed and diced tomatoes in juice to make this homemade ketchup. Whether you get them from the store or use tomatoes you’ve canned yourself, it doesn’t really matter. Having made it both ways, the tomatoes from my garden definitely had an advantage. It gave the ketchup a more punchy flavor that still had a little freshness.

But after we moved, I lost my garden and ran out of the tomatoes I preserved pretty quickly. Thankfully, store bought canned tomatoes make a DELICIOUS ketchup.

Flavoring

Vinegar and sugar are the biggest flavors in this recipe. I use both white and apple cider vinegar as well as white and brown sugar. Garlic, onion, celery, mustard and clove round everything out and give this homemade ketchup a familiar flavor that still manages to be 10x better than what you get at the store.

Simmering the ketchup in a slow cooker for the entire day gives the flavors plenty of time to intensify and meld. Leave the slow cooker uncovered so that the extra moisture can evaporate out and reduce the ketchup down. At the end of the cook time, use an immersion blender to smooth out the texture.

If you want, you can pass the blended ketchup through a sieve to make it even more smooth. I don’t recommend using a countertop blender, as you risk liquifying the ketchup.

Storage

I saved an empty ketchup bottle from a while back and washed it to use for our homemade stuff. But any jar with a lid will do! We normally eat a batch of this within a month, but it’ll last for at least 2. Don’t keep it longer than 3 months, since there’s no real preservatives in there.

Homemade Ketchup (Crock pot method)

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• Author: Megan
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 12 hours
• Total Time: 12 hours + 5 minutes
• Yield: 3 pints 1x
• Category: Snack
• Method: Crock Pot
• Cuisine: American

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Description

Thick, savory and so delicious, this homemade ketchup elevates everything from plain potatoes to meatloaf to hot dogs.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1/2x1x2x

• 64 oz canned tomatoes (with the juice)
• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 TB light brown sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp celery salt
• 1/8 tsp mustard powder
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves

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Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on high, uncovered, for 12 hours, stirring every hour. The ketchup should be thick and reduced by more than half. Smooth out the texture with an immersion blender, or carefully transfer the ketchup to a countertop blender and smooth out the consistency. Pass the ketchup through a fine mesh strainer to catch any skins or seeds.
2. If canning, add to clean pint jars, seal and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. If refrigerating, keep covered and use within 6 months.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 25
• Sugar: 4.4 g
• Sodium: 66.9 mg
• Fat: 0.1 g
• Saturated Fat: 0 g
• Trans Fat: 0 g
• Carbohydrates: 5.8 g
• Fiber: 0.9 g
• Protein: 0.9 g
• Cholesterol: 0 mg