I love making my own condiments from scratch. It’s nice knowing exactly what is in your food and that you’re using the best ingredients you can. That’s why I like making my own bread. This recipe for homemade vegan ketchup is delicious and tasty. It’s perfectly sweet and tastes amazing on a veggie burger, portobello burger, breakfast hash, or used as a dipping sauce for sweet potato fries.
Making your own ketchup is actually really simple! There’s no need to buy it in a container when you can use fresh tomatoes and make ketchup that tastes amazing at home. After you make your own once, you’ll never go back to the stuff in a container.
How to make vegan ketchup from scratch
Time needed: 2 hours and 15 minutes
Making vegan ketchup is a simple process. And, it tastes so much better than anything you can buy in a store.
- Prepare the ingredients.
Wash and dice the tomatoes and set aside in a medium bowl. Then, peel and mince the garlic and ginger. Dice the onion.
- Brown the aromatics.
Over medium heat in a large pot, lightly brown the onion for about 5 minutes until translucent. Then, add the garlic and stir for another minute.
- Add the rest of the ingredients.
Add in the diced tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar, ginger and spices. Return to the heat and stir. Cook on medium till simmering, for about 10 minutes.
- Reduce heat.
Bring heat down to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes till the tomato is soft. Then, use an immersion blender and puree the mix till smooth. You can also use a regular blender and worked in batches. Just let the mixture cool a bit before blending.
- Return to heat and cook.
Return the mixture to the heat on medium low and cook for about 1 hour. Stir to prevent burning. Remove from heat when desired thickness is met.
- Strain and store.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove tomato skins and store in sealed containers for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
How to make vegan ketchup without sugar
Everyone is always looking to cut a bit of sugar from their diet. But, there is a reason that tomato sauce and ketchup has a bit of sugar added.
The acidity of the tomatoes is balanced out with the addition of sugar. When you purchase sauce at the store, you may notice they add sugar to this tomato-based item as well. I prefer to keep the sugar in this recipe as is, and then reduce it in other parts of my diet such as my coffee.
If you’re looking for a substitute, you can use coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar. Or, you can use maple syrup or date syrup. Keep in mind the flavor will be different if a substitution is used.
Recipe tips
- Use organic tomatoes – If you can, use organic tomatoes or fresh tomatoes from a farmers market. It really does make a difference in the flavor if you’re using high-quality tomatoes. And because tomatoes are the bulk of the ketchup, it’s one ingredient that really matters!
- Experiment with different spices and flavors – Add some cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick to this ketchup. Or, add in other Italian herbs that you like to cook with. This recipe is versatile and you can customize it to your liking.
- Keep a close eye while it simmers – You don’t want to leave this cooking without close supervision. If it simmers down too much, it will burn and be very difficult to clean.
- Scale the batch – Make a larger batch if you have a lot of tomatoes to work with. Then, you can share some of this ketchup with your friends and family.
- Can this recipe – You can use water bath canning to preserve this recipe for a longer time.
The Best Homemade Vegan Ketchup (From Scratch)
Ingredients
- 3 lbs organic tomatoes diced, roma
- ½ medium yellow onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 inches ginger peeled and minced
- 6 tbsp light brown sugar
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¾ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp ground mustard seed
- ¼ tsp celery seed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Wash and dice the tomatoes.
- Peel and mince the garlic and ginger, dice the onion.
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly, until browned.
- Add the tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar, ginger, and all the spices. Return to the heat and stir to distribute everything.
- Cook on medium for 10 minutes until simmering.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 20 minutes until the tomato is soft, stirring occasionally.
- Using an immersion blender and puree the mix as smooth as you can get it. You can also use a regular blender and work in small batches. Allow the mixture to cool a bit before blending.
- Return to heat and cook over medium low until reduced to desired thickness – about 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom.
- Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove tomato skins and store in sealed containers in the fridge. Keeps for up to 2 weeks.
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