My first foray into homemade ketchup making was this summer when I had buckets of Roma tomatoes to use up. It was so good, I may never buy ketchup again!
But now that I’m doing the low carb thing, I can’t use it because it’s loaded with sugar. So I scoped out my local grocery stores for some sugar free ketchup with none to be found. Which is strange to me because Diabeetus is very common down here in the South. No sf BBQ sauce either which is just crazy – it’s the Carolina’s people, don’t tell me nobody around here makes a sugar free BBQ sauce? Apparently not. I’ve heard a lot of talk about Walden’s Farms SF products and remember using some long ago when I lived in CT and could find the stuff. Nobody in my area has ever heard of it. Grrr.
Anyway, I set out to make my own using my original recipe as a baseline. Pretty much the same recipe but with Stevia instead of sugar. It was really good – even my husband liked it and he’s not a huge fan of the Stevia flavor usually. It’s got a little kick to it from the Cayenne pepper that I like, but you could omit if you don’t want it spicy at all.
Anyway, I set out to make my own using my original recipe as a baseline. Pretty much the same recipe but with Stevia instead of sugar. It was really good – even my husband liked it and he’s not a huge fan of the Stevia flavor usually. It’s got a little kick to it from the Cayenne pepper that I like, but you could omit if you don’t want it spicy at all.
Sugar Free Ketchup
Ingredients
- 1 28 oz can tomato puree
- 1/2 c white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1/2 tsp whole cloves
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 Tbsp dehydrated onions
- 1 inch piece cinnamon stick, broken
- 4 packets stevia, approx 1 Tbsp
- (I used purevia)
Instructions
- Add tomatoes, cayenne & stevia to a small saucepan and bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer until it reduces by half – about half an hour–stir occasionally.
- In another small saucepan, combine onion, vinegar, cinnamon, cloves and celery salt. Bring to boil, remove from heat, and strain out solids.
- Add strained vinegar and salt to tomato mixture. Simmer for 20 – 30 minutes or until ketchup is desired consistency. I ran mine through a magic bullet to get it nice and smooth after it cooled which you can do if you like a really smooth ketchup.
- Store in a clean glass jar for up to a month in the fridge.
- Add horseradish for cocktail sauce or chopped pickles and mayo for thousand island dressing. So good you’ll be tempted to eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon! The perfect topping for this burger!
- Category: Condiment
- Cuisine: Ketchup
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Tbsp
- Calories: 10
- Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 1.7g
- Protein: 0g
Moonyean says
HI Mellissa,
I am going to make this and putting this in my Carb Manager as a recipe but need to know the number of servings the entire recipe makes. If a serving was 1 T what would that be? Thank you in advance for such a wonderful site.
Moonyean
Mellissa Sevigny says
Depending on cooking time everyone gets a different yield – I recommend making it first and seeing how much you end up with. I do provide the nutrition info per 1 T serving in the recipe already.
Elissa says
I have been wanting to make this and finally did. It doesn’t taste like bottled ketchup (not that that’s a bad thing though) and it is sooooo good. So good, in fact, that I then went on to make bbq sauce and thousand island using this. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Mellissa Sevigny says
You’re welcome Elissa! Recently used my last jar up and had to resort to store bought for my son until I have time to make more – tasted it and YUCK! Forgot how good the homemade stuff is by comparison! Glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know!
M says
I just tried this recipe – I used a 28 oz tin of tomato puree (tomato paste) and followed your instructions – except it still tasted like puree at the end! Did you mean to use tinned (canned) tomatoes instead of puree??? thanks!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Here in the States, paste is really thick and sold in smaller cans – what is labeled puree here is literally pureed tomatoes and it’s still pretty runny. If you used paste then that might have been the problem!
M says
Yep that would be the reason! In Ireland/UK puree is sold in a tin or tube and is the really thick one!
Thanks for letting me know :)
Mellissa Sevigny says
Sorry about that! Hope your next batch works out better!
Andrea at Opulent Cottage says
Having the best time pinning all of your recipes today, and getting a good laugh in the meantime :) Thanks for the inspiration!
Stacey says
Can you give the nutritional counts for this recipe??
Mellissa Sevigny says
Done! :)
Stacey says
Thanks!! I want to make it for the cauliflower tater tots!!!
Anna says
This sounds awesome! Do you think it would be possible to can this guy and make a few batches at a time? I’m lazy and I don’t want to have to make this every week (my family is obsessed with ketchup, but my oldest has ADHD, so I’m cutting all sugar… ). I love the horseradish idea and may add a teeny bit to my ketchup too!!
Mellissa Sevigny says
I don’t see why it wouldn’t can well Anna – let us know if you try it!
Jayne Cari says
I cooked this up using 1 Tbl of stevia (Kal brand), I didn’t have packets. I can only taste the stevia. Not all stevia must measure the same. It’s awful. I can’t even taste the tomatoes. What a rookie.
Mellissa Sevigny says
So sorry Jayne! If you used a concentrated stevia product it would be just a tiny bit – I was using the truvia brand which is cut with other stuff. The best practice is to start with a small amount and go from there. So sorry it was ruined!
Sara says
Loooooove it!
My tomato purée is still simmering, but I’ll be the happiest girl in town when the ketchup is ready. A few months ago I started a super, super strict diet and my doctor told me that I can’t eat any ketchup because the store-bought one has lots of sugar and weird things, so homemade will be perfect!!
Also, I’m making your Chocolate Orange Garbanzo Cake for my mother’s boss, I hope she likes it, because it sounds great, great, great!
Thank you, have a nice day! :)
Susan In Idaho says
Hi THANK YOU! For this I love meatloaf but it just doesn’t taste the same without Ketchup baked on the top… Anyhow do you think this could be canned? I am planning a garden and would love to have this available for the winter months without using store bought. Any hints as to the ratios? Umm I don’t know what a URL is… please email me so I can do this right never put anything on a blog before. Thanks!
mingskrencik says
Do you know how many carbs are in this recipe?
Tracy Mtn says
Man, my kitchen smells so good! I puréed whole tomatoes & used apple cider vinegar ( b/c that’s what I had in the house). Used an immersive blender to smooth out texture (don’t have a magic bullet). Took a half pint out to save as ketchup, Yum! Made BBQ sauce of the rest. Added Wooster, a bit more vinegar & a couple spoons of coconut sugar. OMG!! Thanks so much for the recipe!!!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Right? Love this stuff! Can’t even stand store bought anymore because I’m totally spoiled! Thanks for the feedback, so glad you like it too!
Ashley says
This is simmering on the stovetop as we speak and already tastes amazing!! I had been wanting to do a homemade ketchup for a long time now – I followed your recipe to a T except I used 4 tbls. granulated coconut sap rather than stevia for a different healthy sweetener.
How long do you find this keeps in the fridge? Does it freeze well? Although I love ketchup I don’t cook very many meals that it goes with.
Thanks :)
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Hey Ashley! Glad you are enjoying the ketchup! I am totally spoiled from store bought now that I started making my own! It keeps in the fridge for a month with no problem – mine never lasts longer than that but with the vinegar I assume it would last longer. I’ve never tried freezing it but I don’t see why you couldn’t. Let me know if you try that and how it works! I haven’t heard of coconut sap and now I’m curious so I’m going to google it! Thanks!
Crazy Garden Chick says
Oh this is WONDERFUL! I never got the point of ketchup, use tomato paste I always say. This is awesome though!! So hay how about something banana blueberry and baked?? I always do bread and or muffins but I feel a tad like something different. Ideas??
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Hey CGC! Definitely try making your own ketchup at least once – it’s so worth it! But I warn you, you’ll be spoiled for life so make big batches! Banana, blueberry and baked….hmmmmm…..going on my inspiration list of things to work on! I’ll see what I can come up with. ;)
Lady Kady says
Lately every recipe I have looked at on food gawker, has been from your blog! I love it! I am Gluten and Lactose free and try to keep sugar free so your recipes really suit. I’m going to try flax pizza this week and now will have to try homemade tomato sauce!! I have been trying to find a sf variety here in Australia to no avail…keep up the tasty healthy treats!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thanks LK! Glad you’re enjoying the recipes! Hope we’ll keep seeing you around! :)
Good Girl Gone Green says
I have not ventured into making my own ketchup yet, but I have been looking into doing it. Thanks for the recipe. One thing, I wanted to follow you on twitter but it says you do not exist! I’m GGirlGGreen :)
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thanks GGGG! I didn’t know my twitter link was broken so I appreciate you mentioning it so I could fix it! Hope you like the ketchup – it’s pretty easy and so worth the time it takes!
Allison Sellers says
Hi, I am really enjoying your recipes and want to thank you for taking the time to create them as well as making them delicious ?. I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ? and we have the Walden Farms sauces, dressings etc. Available to us….. Let me tell you this about that…. They are gross. I will go without before buying them. However, I now I don’t have to, because I found you! Just starting my low carb lifestyle and really liking this way of eating and the results. Thank you again!
Kelly the Happy Texan says
Ok, Im making this next week but I have to tell you I am cracking up over diabeetus. Lol! Omg, that’s what we say too because of that guy on the commercial. Not that there is anything funny about having diabeetus.
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Diabeetus is no laughing matter Kelly. Shame on you. My father in law has diabeetus, as does my mother. I hope I don’t get diabeetus someday. But if I do, I’ll still laugh when I read it spelled diabeetus because having diabeetus is no excuse to not have a sense of humor…especially about your diabeetus. (I just giggled like a 12 year old girl – don’t tell anyone)