A handy jar of tomato puree is very helpful when preparing any tomato-based dish. Here, I show you how to blanch tomatoes and then puree them to help preserve your summer harvest. All you need to make this pantry staple are 2 ingredients and about 15 minutes of hands-on time.
About tomato puree recipe
Tomato puree is simply blanched or cooked tomatoes blended to a fine consistency and then strained with or without salt.
If you have a glut of tomatoes and don’t know what to do with, my simple suggestion is to puree them and freeze them in an ice cube tray.
Add frozen tomato puree cubes to any dish where tomatoes are an essential ingredient, including pasta, sauces, curries and more!
Making homemade tomato puree is very easy. All you need to make it is some fresh tomatoes and a pot of boiling salted water. Feel free to use any type of tomato as long as they are ripe.
Depending on the type of tomato, the consistency of the puree will be thin or thick. I use ripe, red and fleshy tomatoes like romas that yield a thick puree.
This tomato puree is made without any preservatives, so it has a shelf life of about 12 to 15 days in the refrigerator and 3 to 4 months in the freezer.
Step by step guide
How to make tomato puree
Prepare the tomatoes
1. First wash the tomatoes very well. I used 1 kg of tomatoes, but you can easily scale the recipe up or down depending on your needs.
Using a paring knife or a small knife, make a ½-inch criss-cross cut in the base of the tomato (not along the stem).
2. Now take a big pan and heat water in it. The water should be enough to submerge the tomatoes.
I used 2 liters of water for 1 kg of tomatoes. Make sure the tomatoes have room to move and the pan is not crowded.
3. Add salt. I added 2 teaspoons of salt. You can easily halve or double the salt depending on the amount of tomatoes you are using.
4. Let the water come to a rolling boil over a high heat.
Blanch and puree tomatoes
5. Gently place the tomatoes in the hot water. Feel free to use a slotted spoon to help you. Cook tomatoes in boiling water for 2 minutes.
6. Turn off the heat and soak the tomatoes in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. Cover the pan with a lid.
Alternately, blanch the tomatoes in hot boiling water for 2 minutes and then in cold water for 2 minutes.
7. Drain the tomatoes using a colander or strainer. Let them cool to room temperature.
8. When tomatoes are at room temperature, peel them.
9. Remove the stem end of the tomato.
10. Using a clean chopping board and clean knife and with clean hands roughly chop the tomatoes.
If you have a powerful high speed blender, you can put whole tomatoes in it. No need to cut them.
11. Add chopped tomatoes to a blender jar or grinder jar.
12. Puree until smooth.
13. Place a bowl or pan under a juice strainer. Add the tomato pulp to the strainer.
14. While straining, stir with a spoon and press the pulp while stirring so that all the puree and pulp are strained leaving only the seeds in the strainer.
15. You will see a nice red tomato puree collected in the bowl.
Storage advice
16. Pour homemade tomato puree into a sterile glass jar. To sterilize the jar, boil the jar and lid in hot boiling water for 5 minutes.
You can refrigerate the puree for up to a week without further processing.
17. You can pour the puree into an ice cube tray to freeze, then cover the tray loosely with parchment paper or foil before freezing.
Once they are frozen, remove them and place them in an air-tight box or in a sealed zip-lock bag in the freezer. Place only cubes in any dish.
18. For canned tomato puree, pour tomato puree into sterilized canning jars. Seal the jars and boil in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove and let them cool. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks afterwards.
Recipes using tomato puree
Brighten up your recipes by adding this homemade tomato puree. I am sharing some recipes from the blog where tomato is one of the main ingredients. Add this homemade tomato puree to any dish where tomatoes are a must or where you want to add some tangy flavor to the dish.
Simple tip: You can easily replace chopped tomatoes with tomato puree. Replace 1 medium tomato with 1 ¼ cups tomato puree.
tomato the pasta of food
- Pasta Arabiatta
- Red sauce pasta
the sauces & Pizza
- pizza sauce
- ketchup
- Margherita Pizza
- Veggie Pizza
Indian Recipes using tomatoes
- Tomato Rice
- Tomato chutney
- Tomato curry
- Tomato stalks
soup With tomatoes
- Tomato soup
- Cream of tomato soup
- Tomato Carrot Soup
- Minestrone Soup
FAQs
Tomato sauce is usually cooked to concentrate the tomato flavor and often has added sugar. Tomato puree is made from only blanched and peeled tomatoes.
Unless you have a very high-powered blender like a Vitamix, I don’t recommend it. Tomato skin becomes papery when cooked and can add a strange texture to your food. That said, peeling tomatoes using the blanching method described above is pretty easy.
Absolutely! Boil the puree in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat until it reduces to your desired consistency.
More DIY recipes to try!
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Vegetable stock (stovetop and Instant Pot)
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Pumpkin puree recipe
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Applesauce Recipe (Unsweetened)
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Coconut milk recipe How to make coconut milk
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Tomato Puree Recipe (Homemade and Preservative Free)
Thick, smooth homemade tomato puree made from scratch. I show you how to blanch tomatoes and then puree them to help preserve your summer harvest. All you need to make this pantry staple are 2 ingredients and about 15 minutes of hands-on time.
Q. Time 5 minutes
cooking time 5 minutes
Blanching time 15 minutes
total time 25 minutes
Prevent your screen from going dark while making the recipe
Prepare the tomatoes
Wash the tomatoes very well several times in clean, fresh water in a colander or strainer. Make a ½-inch criss-cross slit in the base of the tomato (not along the stem).
Bring water and salt to a rolling boil over high heat.
Blanching tomatoes
Add tomatoes one by one in hot water.
Continue to cook for 2 minutes on the same high heat.
- Switch off the heat after 2 minutes and keep the tomatoes submerged in water for 10 to 15 minutes. While the tomatoes rest in the hot water, cover the pan with a lid.
Then drain all the water tomatoes using a colander.
Let them cool to room temperature.
Remove the peel. Cut off the eye part of the stalk and discard it.
Roughly chop the tomatoes.
Tomato puree
Add the chopped tomatoes to a blender or grinder and puree until smooth. Do not add any water while blending.
Strain the tomato puree through a juice strainer.
Stir and press the pulp with a spoon to strain out all the puree and pulp leaving only the seeds.
Preserved tomato puree
Pour into a sterile glass jar and refrigerate.
You can even pour into the ice cube tray. Cover the tray loosely with a parchment paper or foil.
Freeze and use later. Just pop the cubes into tomato puree or any dish that calls for tomatoes.
This homemade tomato puree stays good for 12 to 15 days in the fridge and 2 to 3 months in the freezer.
- Types of Tomatoes: You can use any type of tomato to make the puree. The consistency of homemade puree will be thin or thick depending on the type of tomato. But make sure that the tomatoes are ripe.
- Pickles and Tomatoes: If the tomatoes are too tangy, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar while blending.
- Congestion: For long-term storage, freeze puree in ice cube trays. Once they are frozen, remove them and place them in a steel container or box or ziplock bag. Seal the container or box tightly.
- Cleanliness: Make sure the chopping board, knife, juice strainer, bowl and your hands are clean.
- Sterile jar: To sterilize the jars, you can boil the jars and lids in hot boiling water for 5 minutes or rinse the jars and lids with hot water.
- Canning: Add the tomato puree to a sterile canning jar. Seal the jars and boil in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and let them cool. Refrigerate for later.
- Substituting tomatoes with tomato puree: Replace 1 medium tomato with 1 ¼ cups tomato puree.
nutrients
Tomato Puree Recipe (Homemade and Preservative Free)
No. per job
calories 180 Calories from fat are 18
% Daily Value*
thick 2 grams3%
1 gram of saturated fat6%
Sodium 4701mg204%
potassium 2370 mg68%
carbohydrates 39 grams13%
12 grams of fiber50%
26 grams of sugar29%
protein 9 grams18%
Vitamin A 8330IU167%
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) 1 mg67%
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) 1 mg59%
Vitamin B3 (niacin) 6 mg30%
Vitamin B6 1 mg50%
Vitamin C 137 mg166%
Vitamin E 5 mg33%
Vitamin K 79 µg75%
calcium 100 mg10%
Vitamin B9 (folate) 150 µg38%
iron 3 mg17%
magnesium 110 mg28%
Phosphorus 240 mg24%
zinc 2 mg13%
* Percent Daily Value is based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This homemade tomato puree recipe was updated from the blog archives first published in April 2020 and republished in February 2023.
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