Here are THREE good reasons you should try this homemade and healthy ketchup recipe:
- No high-fructose corn syrup, and you get to control how much–if any–sugar goes in.
- Homemade really does taste so much better than bottled ketchup.
- With just 4 basic ingredients, this healthy ketchup couldn’t be easier to make!
Once you try homemade ketchup, you’ll never want to buy store-bought ketchup again.
When I was little, my mom joked that we should’ve bought stock in Heinz for how much ketchup I ate.
Looking back, I think the issue was that I really never liked the taste of meat.
So I’d put a ton of ketchup on my burgers and then they wouldn’t taste like meat… they’d taste like ketchup! 
Healthy Ketchup
Loosely inspired by a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens
- 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes (450g)
- 1/4 cup sliced onion (35g)
- scant 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar) (12g)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- sweetener of choice, to taste (or omit for unsweetened ketchup)
- 1/8 tsp powdered ginger (omit if desired)
- optional pinch garlic powder or minced garlic
Healthy Ketchup Recipe: Preheat oven to 400 F. Roast first two ingredients 40-45 minutes, or until the tomatoes are shriveled and most of their liquid is absorbed. Then blend with all other ingredients. Let cool before putting in the fridge, and for thickest results leave uncovered a few hours even after putting in the fridge. (Recipe yields 345g, or about 1.5 cups.)
View Healthy Ketchup Nutrition Facts
Links Of The Day:
The secretly-good-for-you chocolate brownies that are high in protein, gluten-free, oil-free, vegan, and can be completely free of added sugar!
Has anyone used sweetener? I am wondering how much to add. I can’t wait to try this recipe, thanks Katie!!
Just wanted to point out that if you’re making homemade ketchup just to get rid of the “stuff” that in regular ketchup, Heinz does have an Organic Ketchup product and we use it at home. I don’t think it was any more expensive (or very little) than the regular kind but the ingredients list has no Corn Syrup or HF Corn Syrup.
But I’ll see what my wife has planted in our garden this year and see if she wants to give this a try. 🙂
Regular Heinz:
TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICE, ONION POWDER, NATURAL FLAVORING.
Organic Heinz:
ORGANIC TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE ORGANIC TOMATOES, ORGANIC DISTILLED VINEGAR, ORGANIC SUGAR, SALT, ORGANIC ONION POWDER, ORGANIC SPICE, NATURAL FLAVORING.
I have a sugar-free healthy ketchup recipe, too! It is so much better than heinz….I’m not even a huge fan of ketchup. I’m a mustard girl all the way!
Its so funny that you said you used so much ketchup so you couldnt taste the meat. I use to do the same thing, i’d slather any meat with whatever kind of sauce i could, ketchup, hot sauce, bbq whatever i could. Now i’m a vegetarian lol
I’m a MUSTARD girl through and through. I love all different types and can’t get enough! Even on pizza (yes- really. Try it.). But, I do also like ketchup- but don’t use it nearly as often.
Making my own mustard and ketchup is on my to-do list and you make it not seem so scary!
I love the protein fries too.. I’ll never turn down some great baked tofu!
but but but… It doesnt look the same! My brain will know and will trick my taste buds. ;p
Just out of curiosity how long do you think it’d last in the fridge? Love homemade
At least 3-4 days.
do you know how long this will keep in the fridge?
see above 🙂
Looks great! How long do you think it will keep for?
3-4 days
Sounds great? Have loads of extra tomatoes.
Can this be frozen for later use?
Sorry, I haven’t tried.
I have frozen tomato soup, so I am going to try to freeze this. It should work. It might separate a little, but nothing a good shake wouldn’t fix.
I freeze lots of things and my guess is that you can freeze it although it will probably get a little watery as a result.
This is one of the first ketchup recipes I am actually wanting to make from scratch! I too am a life-long Heinz lover. When I buy it now though, I buy Organic Heinz (no HFCS) or Simply Heinz (also no HFCS, though I don’t believe it’s organic). Homemade is definitely almost always the best way to go with just about any food, but if store-bought needs to happen, at least there are some lesser evils out there with Heinz ketchup 🙂
I just bought some cherry tomatoes (orange ones!) from the farmer’s market this weekend. Perfect timing on this post! I love ketchup!!
This looks like a great base for homemade cocktail sauce. I can’t wait to try it. My sister is getting 3-5 lbs of tomatoes every day from her garden. I’m sure she could spare some for this experiment. 🙂
I can take or leave ketchup, especially on fries. I prefer ranch for that (or sweet potato fries if I’m going to eat them at all). However, my brother considers ketchup a vegetable. We went on a cruise when he was little and the people at the table next to us in the dining room joked they were going to buy stock in it because he had used so much.
such a great idea! I hate having sugar in ketchups so I definitely have to try this recipe. Whole Foods has an unsweetend ketchup which I like but like you said, everything is better homemade 🙂
Katie
I was with you, smothering meat with sauce as I never really cared for it. I have recently had to start eating some animal protein again due to major dietary restrictions I now have and still don’t care for most–I usually add a lot of salty seasoning or tamari. And since I avoid added sugars homemade ketchup will be a great condiment for me! Hadn’t thought about making it. Thanks for the recipe!
Ann
Katie
Made this for dinner and the kids agreed it was great!
Thanks
Ann