EspañolConserve excess tomatoes with an easy, homemade tomato paste that can be made on the stove top, in your oven, or in a slow cooker.
Well, I'm posting this a lot later than I would have liked. You see, this year I was able to get up a new fence around the area where I usually plant things, and once again planted a lovely organic vegetable garden. I wanted to write a couple of posts about different ways to conserve and use excess vegetables from your garden at a time when everyone would be looking for ways to use theirs, but life got in the way. I figured now is as good a time as any. Better late than never, right?
Making tomato paste is one of my favorite ways to use and conserve excess tomatoes. Tomato paste is very concentrated, so you can easily reduce a lot of tomatoes into a small space. You can then freeze it, can it, or make it into fermented ketchup. I'll be sharing how to do that next time!
I used to peel all of the tomatoes before making tomato sauce and tomato paste, but I found it took a lot longer than the way I do it now. Now, I blend the tomatoes in the blender, and strain out the seeds and skin. You can save some time cooking down the sauce by removing the seed sections before blending the tomato pieces. Some people begin cooking the sauce with the peels and seeds still in the sauce, but I find that it can make the sauce bitter if you don't remove them before cooking.
Making tomato paste is simple. Basically, you are just going to make a basic tomato sauce, and slowly reduce it to make it more concentrated by evaporating out a lot of the water. There are several ways to do it. You can slowly reduce it in a pan on the stove over low heat, in a slow cooker with the top off, or even spreading out the tomato sauce onto baking pans or dehydrating trays, and heating over low heat until you reach the consistency that you like. I like making a sauce in a pan on the stovetop, and further reducing it, and caramelizing it slightly in the process, on the stove.
Which tomatoes make the best tomato paste?
While you can use any of the tomatoes in your garden for making tomato sauce or tomato paste, certain tomato types are better than others. Tomatoes like Roma tomatoes, and other so-called paste tomatoes, have more flesh and less seeds, so they take less time to cook down to a thick sauce, and make a nice, hearty, thick sauce. Most of the best varieties for sauces and pastes are tall and elongated, rather than short and wide.
How to store homemade tomato paste
Most of the time I freeze my homemade tomato paste in perfectly cube-shaped ice cube trays like the ones I used for freezing my homemade baby food and smoothie cubes, and my homemade pumpkin puree. The advantage to using perfectly cube-shaped ice cube trays is that the frozen tomato paste cubes fit together perfectly in ziplock bags without wasting any space. You can then label your bags and sort through them easily to find what you need from the freezer.
Making your own tomato paste takes a bit of time, but it's totally worth it. You can then use it in soups, sauces, or add it to ground beef for homemade tacos, etc.
Easy homemade tomato paste recipe
Easy Homemade Tomato Paste Recipe
Makes around 18 ounces
Instructions
- Rinse the tomatoes well, remove the stems, and cut into chunks.
- Fill a blender jar with the tomato chunks and blend until the tomatoes have all reduced into a sauce.
- Place a stainless steel strainer over a large pot on the stove (or over your slow cooker pot), and pour the tomato sauce into the strainer. Use a stainless steel spoon or a spatula to press the tomato sauce through the strainer into the pot below. In this step we are straining out the skin and seeds of the tomatoes.
- Repeat with the remaining tomatoes. Some people like to add in red peppers and other vegetables to their tomato paste. If you want to add in other vegetables, now is the time to do it. I, personally, prefer to keep things simple and just use tomatoes. I add in other vegetables, spices, and seasonings, as needed, depending on the recipe that I'm using the tomato paste in. That said, I do like to add a dash of olive oil to the tomato paste as it reduces on the stove.
- Heat the sauce over low heat until simmering, stirring every once in awhile and checking on the consistency. As the water evaporates away, the sauce will continue to thicken. As is starts to get thicker, you will want to turn the heat down lower and check on the tomato paste more often because it is more likely to burn. When using a slow cooker on low, you can leave the tomato paste unattended for longer periods of time, but as it starts to thicken, you will also need to check on it more often to prevent it from burning.
- To give the tomato paste a more caramelized flavor, and reduce it even further, you can bake it on clean baking pans on low heat in the oven. Scrape the tomato paste from the bottom of the tray with a spatula, stirring it into the rest as you frequently check on the consistency. Some people do the entire process of making the tomato paste in the oven, but I prefer to reduce it to a sauce on the stove first.
- Once you've achieved the desired consistency, the tomato paste is ready to be used in recipes, or ready to be stored. I usually freeze excess tomato paste, but you can can it instead. If you do decide to can it, from what I understand, you should add some citric acid, which can be in the form of a bit of lemon juice, to the paste before canning. If it's concentrated enough, though, it may not need it.
Nutritional Information
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I’m going to try this with the (millions) of yellow cherry tomatoes I have. I think I’ll try cooking it down in the microwave.
Good luck with it! I’ve never tried with cherry tomatoes so I’m not sure how much sauce they give, but I’d love to hear how it turns out.
I am trying this tomato paste and have had it on the stove for awhile! Would like to put it in oven but I don’t see a temp to set oven to. Could I put it in baking dish instead of a baking sheet?
Hi Julie,
I’m sorry I took so long to get back to you. We celebrated my son’s birthday this weekend with a big party, and I came back to a lot of comments! I’m today fully recovered, I think. 😉
When baking in the oven, I usually use the lowest temperature setting to use it as a dehydrator. I didn’t post a specific temperature because all ovens are different and some have a much higher temperature as their lowest temperature.
You can use whatever you have available. I like to use a sheet because it speeds up the process by increasing the surface area of the tomato paste. It will take a bit longer if you use a dish, but, of course, the length of time will depend on how much you’re making, the type of tomatoes used, etc.
Just be careful to check on it and stir it relatively often to prevent burning!
Hi.sounds easy and semple receipi?i want to know how many hours to cook it?
Hi Analisa,
It really will depend on the tomatoes you use, the temperature you are using, and the method.
What you want to do is carefully cook it down until enough water has evaporated away to give it the consistency that you want.
As it gets thicker, you’ll have to keep a closer eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn!
Important to note – don’t cover the slow cooker. Do’h. It turned into tomato water. Ugh. Totally messed it up. I’ll try again next time. Im very excited for the next attempt.
Good point!
Thank you for pointing that out.
Yes, you are trying to get the water to evaporate away, so if you cover it, it will keep condensing on the lid and falling back in. I’ll have to cover than on my next update. 😉
Great writing style, witty to read finally without too much personal rambling and clear easy to visualize instruction. Thanks!
Thank you, Frances!
That’s exactly what I’m aiming for! I really appreciate your comment. 🙂
I saw how to make tomatoe paste. Can’t wait
Hi Karen,
I hope it goes well for you! 🙂
Is this Karen George from Arizona?
can you just dehydrate the tomatoes then add water when you want paste
Hi Deana,
If you want to dehydrate the tomatoes for making a paste, I’d actually recommend making your own tomato powder!
It’s a great way to have tomatoes preserved without taking up a lot of space, and by using a powder, it’s quite easy to mix up a tomato paste whenever you need one. 🙂
I’m looking to make tomato paste from scratch, but I have a question regarding using citric acid. Is it really necessary to use as an ingredient at all for making the paste?
Hi Nyla,
If you re-check my recipe, you’ll see that I don’t use citric acid when making it.
I think some recipes add citric acid for safely canning the tomato paste later on. I don’t normally preserve in that way, so I’m not really sure the full reasoning behind it.
I usually store mine in cube trays. You can read, exactly, how I freeze my tomato paste to maximize space here.
Hello Tracy – So glad i found your recipe. Always wonder if i could make my own tomato paste @ home. Love tomato paste in my stews but tired of using can tomato paste with preservatives. Will let you know how it turns out, thanks. Ade in Nassau, Bahamas.
Hi Ade,
So jealous of the Bahamas as I’m quite cold right now! 🙂
Yes, it’s actually quite easy, and I love always having a supply in my freezer. May it go well for you!
Thank you for a simple recipe on making tomato paste! My only deviation is once the tomatos were soft enough I used my Vitamix to blend everything; no need to strain. 😉
Hi Mo,
Great! I’m so glad it worked out for you.
I’m jealous of your Vitamix. I need to look into buying myself a more powerful blender myself. My suspicion is the power of your blender also helped keep things smooth- which is great because you saved yourself my least favorite step. 😉
i have another question, if we want to add other veggies, do we add them in the blender?
Yes! I think that’s probably the best place to add in any extra veggies. That way you can strain out any seeds or skins that the other veggies may also have. 🙂
you say that we can pop it in low heat in the oven to thicken it more, could you please explain this step more? what degrees and how do we know when the recipe is ready to be moved into the oven? also, when do we add the olive oil? thanks!
Hi Erica,
The reason I suggest moving it to the oven is because you are a lot less likely to burn it there after it starts to get really thick. I’m very good at leaving things unattended and burning them, so I like to prevent that by removing the last bit of moisture in the oven. You’re really using it as you would a dehydrator.
I say “low heat” because different ovens have different low heat settings. Mine’s lowest setting is around 50ºC. By spreading it out on a tray, you’re giving it more surface area and allowing the moisture to escape more quickly. I normally place it in the oven when it’s thick, but I want to thicken it slightly more. You don’t need to switch the oven, though, and can continue to thicken it on the stove. Just make sure to continue to stir and monitor it carefully as it thickens to prevent burning.
I would spread it out on a tray and pop it in the oven, on a convection/fan setting to help remove moisture more quickly, at the lower temperatures for your oven. (I’d try to keep it below 150ºF to prevent burning.) You’ll still need to keep a watch, and stir occasionally, but you’re a lot less likely to burn the tomato paste, wasting all of your tomatoes and effort!
You can add in the oil either before or after you thicken it (or leave it out completely, and just add the olive oil to whatever recipe you’re making with the tomato paste.)
Thank you very much Tracy! I’ll try this soon for pizza sauce.
You’re welcome!
I’m sure you’ll be making the best pizza in town! 🙂
Hi Tracy,
I was wondering… I already have tomatoes fro my garden that have been canned, which are already peeled and seeded. Can those be used to make tomato paste? Also, can yellow tomatoes be used?
Best regards,
Nesmari
Hi Nesmari,
I don’t see why you couldn’t use your canned tomatoes. You just need to reduce the liquid amount to make the paste.
As for using yellow tomatoes, I’d also say yes. I haven’t personally tried it, but the process would be the same. Some tomatoes will have more or less seeds, etc., so with some tomatoes you may need more tomatoes to get the same amount of paste. Other than that, I don’t see a problem with using any type of tomato. 🙂
I just received about 8 lbs of small to medium sized round tomatoes from my CSA. I was hoping to make paste, and came across your recipe. I’m so excited to make it! I don’t have silicone cube trays. Do you think I can just use my basic plastic ice cube trays?
Hi Lucy,
Most definitely! Any ice cube tray will work.
I just like those particular ice cube trays because the shape of the ice cubes fits so well into bags and wastes zero space in the freezer. I think having the cubes stacked so closely together also helps prevent so much surface area from being exposed to air, which keeps the cubes fresher.
When you stack the cubes in the bag, the bag stands up by itself, which makes storage easy. You can flip through all of your bags like you would with a filing cabinet!
All of that said, I used to use regular ice cube trays too, and it worked out just fine! 😉
If you’re going to be making a lot of things to freeze (I make pumpkin puree, pesto sauce, fruit cubes, etc. this way), I do think they’re a good investment.
If you’re just doing this as a one time thing, and wouldn’t otherwise use them, then it probably isn’t worth buying them! 🙂
I have some small Roma tomatoes from a friends garden and I’d like to make this pizza sauce, but want to know how many tomatoes by weight. Would you know the weight I would need for this recipe?
Well I am making pizza sauce that needs tomatoe paste.
Ok wow… I just read over your recipe again and realized your recipe is the one I was looking for. I have been looking at so many recipes on what to do with tomatoes. Sorry please disregard my previous comments. I’m excited to try this recipe to add fresh tomatoe paste to my pizza sauces and other recipes.
No Problem, Lauren. 🙂
How did it go for you?
i am so thankful for all this ideas I thought that I could do it this way but wasn’t sure but now I am and I didn’t know about the slow cooker this is so helpful to me I will make this and than make my spaghetti sauce thank you so much I am getting excited but I made tomato juice by putting it in blender but my husband drinks it with the seeds and skin so easy
Hi Rita,
I’m happy to have helped. I hope your tomato paste turns out beautifully! 🙂