Oh, tomato paste. It’s one of those pantry staples that is always needed, but it can be difficult to use it up. But, I learned there are some genius ways to use up tomato paste.
After using tomato paste to make pizza sauce, I went on a mission to find other ways to use it up. I was pretty impressed with the many tomato paste ideas I found.
If you’re struggling to use up those small cans, here are some fun and affordable ways to use up tomato paste.
Make It Into Pizza Sauce
Like I mentioned, this is our favorite way to use tomato paste. Making pizza sauce from tomato paste is a pretty cool way to save money, and create a sauce that will last a few weeks.
Use It To Make Ketchup
This might be the best way to use up a whole can of tomato paste, because you need at least 2 6-ounce cans to make it.
Making ketchup with tomato paste also means you will clean out your pantry with every spice you have lingering in the cupboard.
You also need 1/4 cup of vinegar to make homemade ketchup. White vinegar is fine, but you can make it fancy by using apple cider vinegar.
The most-used spices in homemade ketchup are onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano, salt pepper and sugar. These are all items you probably have in your spice rack right now.
Other ingredients can include all spice, mustard powder, cayenne, and celery salt. But, if you don’t have them, no need to panic. Just use 1/2 a teaspoon of each spice, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and the vinegar.
Bonus: you don’t need to cook this tomato ketchup recipe! Just like our pizza sauce recipe, this is a no-cook recipe that has lots of flavor.
Freeze Tomato Paste
Have you ever frozen your tomato paste in ice trays? This is one of the most used tomato paste hacks known.
Just spoon the leftover tomato paste into each ice cube mold, and freeze. Once frozen, place the cubes in a freezer bag. They can last up to 4 months in the freezer.
If you’re like me, and don’t have ice cube trays, you can scoop dollops of tomato paste onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or plastic wrap. Budget Bytes shared her process for freezing tomato paste, and I loved how easy it is to do.
Can I Make Tomato Sauce From Tomato Paste?
Yes! This tomato paste hack nearly blew my mind, because it’s just so brilliant. Since it is concentrated tomato puree, you can make some cheap and delicious spaghetti sauce from tomato paste.
Here’s the quick recipe: add one cup of warm water to 3/4th cups of tomato paste. Stir together with a whisk, or place in a blender and blend together until smooth.
To turn tomato paste into pasta sauce, add in garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
This recipe is pretty similar to our pizza sauce recipe. If you want to take it to the next level, you can put your pasta sauce in a slow cooker or Instant Pot, add a bay leaf, and let it simmer. Yum!