Summer time is quickly approaching and with it comes Barbecue Season! Oh how my family LOVES to barbecue! Your stomachs are soon to be full of hot dogs, cheeseburgers, ketchup and High Fructose Corn Syrup… {boo}!
We have been purchasing brands that don’t contain High Fructose Corn Syrup for quite some time now, but when I realized how cheap and delicious it was to make my own. I have begun to look forward to Ketchup making every year. The whole family gets excited about it and the kids help too! It’s incredibly easy too which means I am a very happy mama! Make this homemade ketchup, host a barbecue with your friends and announce that the ketchup is homemade… your deck will echo with sounds of amazement! Kudos to you and enjoy the positive attention!
Homemade Ketchup
Ingredients:
6 oz. can Tomato Paste
1 cup Water
2 Tbs Vinegar
3 tbs Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp All Spice
1/4 tsp Salt
Directions: Combine wet ingredients
stir in sugar & seasonings
*your ketchup may thicken in the refrigerator, if this happens just add water until you have reached the desired consistency again.
Before establishing my own homemade ketchup recipe I tried several recipes I found online from many other bloggers and recipe websites. I’m starting to wonder if they are trying the recipes they are posting or if they are just being lazy and re-posting other recipes as their own. Either way, I was not pleased… so I began experimenting in the kitchen and made my own which I think was a total success {Michael, the professional taster here at Bread & With It, agrees}!
I found that the best way to start was to establish the right consistency. No one will want to eat your homemade ketchup if it is soupy. If it’s too thin, odds are it probably tastes way too much like tomato paste… not good. To find the consistency you prefer add the 2 tablespoons of vinegar first then slowly add water until you have achieved your desired consistency (for me 1 cup of water worked beautifully).
Once your desired consistency is established slowly add your seasonings one at a time and stir well so they don’t clump. If you think it needs a little more garlic, add some. Not sweet enough? Add more brown sugar (if you really want to kick it up a notch I highly recommend using homemade brown sugar). At this point you really want to make sure the Ketchup meets your taste so that when you share it with friends and family you can truly say it is YOURS!
Even though this recipe will store in the fridge for 3 months due to the vinegar’s bacteria killing properties, I like to make a large batch of my ketchup and then can them in jars, the convenience of it means I am not constantly making ketchup all the time but we ALWAYS have homemade ketchup. Canning Homemade Ketchup means you will be able to bust this stuff out at any spur of the moment get together with friends and family without having to prepare ahead of time!
Like you, I would prefer to make larger quantities and can my ketchup. Do you double or triple your recipe? Do I need to make any adjustments to the recipe? Thanks for sharing!
Great! Actually, I alter my recipe to accommodate a full 6lb can of tomato paste that I buy at Costco. Here is where I discuss that and the recipe: https://breadandwithit.com/canning-homemade-ketchup/