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Raw Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)
There’s nothing quite like a good tomato sauce.
This simple but essential kitchen creation, also called tomato ketchup in the USA, goes so well with so many different things.
But whatever you call it, it’s a tangy, sweet, super tomato-y experience.
And now you can have it raw.
What I really, really wanted was a raw version of the tomato sauce I remember from my childhood, which was usually either Rosella or Heinz tomato sauce.
The kind of sauce you smear all over your hot potato chips, dunk a sausage roll into, or squirt all over a piping hot sausage in bread.
But all of the raw tomato sauce recipes I found added herbs, like basil or thyme, or spices, like cinnamon or chilli.
And that’s not the simple tomato sauce I remember.
So I found a recipe for an authentic “Heinz Tomato Sauce” experience, and just adapted it to raw.
Simple. Delicious. Tomato-y.
And there are so many different ways to enjoy it.
But my favourite way to eat my raw tomato sauce?
Slathered all over one of my delicious raw veggie burgers.
Good stuff.
Raw Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)
To create this raw tomato sauce (ketchup), I adapted a recipe for an authentic "Heinz Tomato Sauce". Simple. Delicious. Tomato-y. Goes with everything.
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Makes: 250 ml (8 serves)
Calories per serve: 16.4kcal
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomato halves , soaked 1-2 hours (27g)
- 1 med tomatoes , Roma / Italian (65g)
- 2 med medjool dates (40g) or 1/4 cup agave nectar (60g)
- 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (30ml) *
- 1 1/2 tbsp water , from soaking sun-dried tomatoes (30ml) *
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp onion powder
- 1/16 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp guar gum (optional)
Method
- Cover sun-dried tomatoes with water and soak for 1-2 hours.
- Drain sun-dried tomatoes, and reserve 30ml of soak water.
- Blend everything until smooth.
Preparation
- Before: 1-2 hours (for pre-soaking sun-dried tomatoes)
- During: 10 mins
- After: -
- Need: Blender
Notes
* Australian tablespoon = 20mlNutrition Information
Serving: 30g; Calories: 16.4kcal; Carbohydrates: 3.5g; Protein: 0.6g; Fat: 0.1g; Sodium: 218mg; Potassium: 147mg; Fiber: 1g; Sugar: 1.7g; Vitamin A: 100IU; Vitamin C: 3.3mg; Calcium: 40mg; Iron: 0.5mg
Tips
- If you use semi-dried tomatoes (soaked in oil), you’ll need to drain them thoroughly to remove as much oil as possible, skip the soaking and possibly leave out the extra water as well.
- Sun-dried tomato soak water is a fabulous substitute for stock, so keep any leftover soak water for flavouring soups, dips and savoury dishes.
- I used Roma tomatoes in this recipe, but you could use any kind of fresh tomato. Play with it and see what you like best. Homegrown heritage tomatoes would be awesome in this raw tomato sauce.
- Note that 1 Australian tablespoon = 20ml, not 15ml, like the American tablespoon.
- The best kinds of salt to use are Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt. These both contain lots of minerals, in addition to salt, and add extra flavour and nutrition to the sauce.
- The guar gum is not necessary. It just helps to stop the water separating out over time, but you can just mix it back in with a spoon easily enough.
- You can use xanthum gum instead of guar gum if that’s what you have.
- This tomato sauce lasts very well in the fridge. I had one batch that we took a month to eat, and it was completely fine even after that long. If you use fresh onion and garlic it may not last quite as well, but then it’s so delicious, why would it?
Take it further
- The onion powder, garlic powder and guar gum are not raw ingredients. If you want to make this recipe completely raw, you could use fresh onion and garlic instead (use 2-4 times as much) and leave out the guar gum. This will probably reduce how long this sauce will keep for, perhaps only 5-7 days, although I haven’t actually tried it for myself.
- You could also try making your own onion and garlic powder, maybe by blending, drying and grinding them? I’ll let you know if I ever attempt this one.
- Next time tomatoes are in season, you could dry your own tomatoes in the dehydrator, and then you can be sure they’re 100% raw (and even more delicious!)
My inspiration
I have so many fond memories from my childhood of the classic Heinz tomato sauce, and I just really, REALLY wanted to re-create that experience.
There’s just nothing like the sweet, tangy, tomatoey taste of a good ketchup recipe, so I was determined to find a recipe that I loved.
But every recipe I found for raw tomato ketchup added all sort of odd things that I knew would just spoil the experience for me.
So I went back to basics. Instead of looking for “raw” recipes, I went looking for “authentic” recipes, and found someone who had re-created the genuine Heinz tomato ketchup flavour, using traditional cooking methods.
And then I just used my years of experience adapting recipes, to translate what they’d done into the raw equivalents, and this amazing concoction is what emerged!
I love it when a recipe turns out as well as this. And now my taste buds are finally satisfied.
Have an awesome day!
I studied Biochemistry and Genetics at Monash University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science, with Honours.
I've always had a passion for natural health, having grown up with asthma, eczema and numerous food allergies, and I wanted to help my kids avoid the same issues.
I love blending science and alternative approaches to find the best of both worlds, and I'm always looking for ways to create more amazing health and happiness in my life.
Learn more about me
Alex says
Hallo Nikki,
I made the sauce the other day and it was mind-blowingly amazing. My hubbie almost eat the entire bowl, that is how much he loved it! great stuff! Thanks!
Nikki says
Hi Alex,
Yes, it is very good, isn’t it? We’ve been making double batches that barely last two days around here. We use it for everything – pizzas, as a dip, as a sandwich spread, in the middle of half an avocado, as a pasta sauce, as a salsa. It’s AMAZINGLY versatile and we LOVE it! :D
Jake Sterling says
I am not, myself, focussed on raw food; however, I do know something about kitchen safety. If you make this ketchup with raw fresh onions the length of time it will keep will be in direct proportion to how much vinegar you use. There is not much danger in the spoilage of high-acid foods like this. Botulism, which is the most dangerous, cannot grow in acid environments. (But be careful about storing things like pesto for extended periods of time, even in the refrigerator. Pesto, which is low in acid and where oil on top prevents oxygen from getting to the sauce, is an ideal environment for the growth of botulism.) What will probably happen with this ketchup is that it will start to ferment. You might notice that it starts to get fizzy. This isn’t very dangerous, but it is a good indication that it is time to throw it out. The other thing that might happen is that it might start to develop mold on top — likewise, throw it out if this happens.
Nikki says
Hi Jake,
Thanks for the information. This recipe uses onion powder and garlic powder instead of the raw fresh alternatives, but you could use those if you wanted to make it 100% raw.
Our ketchup’s never lasted long enough to go off, but of course you always need to be super careful with hygiene in the kitchen, whether you’re preparing raw food or anything else. And if anything you make tastes funny, looks funny or smells funny, then it’s always safest to throw it away. “If in doubt, throw it out!”
And if you do ever make any raw food dishes, I’d love to hear back about your experience with how well they last for you.
Jake Sterling says
Okay, here is my favorite raw recipe. It is a recipe that has been in my family since I was little. Raw tomato sauce for pasta or “Pasta con Pomodori Crudi”. The original recipe called for 1/2 lb. of mozzarella cheese, but it works very well without it. I suppose you could also substitute the cheese with something else, kidney beans or tofu, for instance, but I can’t think of any raw food that would work well. This is a sauce that is best made from the middle to the end of the tomato season, when you can get really fresh and very ripe tomatoes.
SAUCE
2 lbs. very ripe tomatoes
2 cloves garlic (minced)
20 fresh basil leaves (chopped)
1/8 tsp. dried oregano
1 tblsp. flat-leafed parsley, finely chopped
A good pinch of freshly ground pepper
5 tblsps. olive oil
PASTA
6 qts. water
2 tbsps. salt
1 lb. pasta (Ziti, Penne, or Mostaciolli)
Peel and coarsely chop the tomatoes and combine with the other sauce ingredients in a large bowl. Cover the bowl and set it aside at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Don’t refrigerate them! This period of time allows the tomatoes to combine flavors with the olive oil, basil and garlic. It really makes a huge difference in the flavor.
Cook the pasta, drain it and, while it is still very hot, dump it over the tomatoes. Stir it up and serve it immediately. The heat of the pasta will also warm up the tomatoes (which is one of the reasons why you don’t want to refrigerate them).
Nikki says
Hi Jake,
Thanks for sharing!
Solara says
yummy! Thanks for sharing Jake. My little one LOVES pasta and I don’t like the super processed sauces you buy in the sauce and I prefer to eat raw food but he likes cooked. I’m sure he’d love this! And I’d feel better myself :).
Solara says
And off course the ketchup recipe has to be tried out as well. Looks fabulous!
Nikki says
Hi Solara,
That’s the great thing about this recipe – you can use it in so many different ways.
It’s so nice to find foods that your kids love to eat and you know are so much better for them. I hope you both enjoy it!
Craig says
Just a small correction: There is no extra nutrition or real benefit from using Himalayan Salt, or anything else other than regular sea salt/table salt. If you look it up, there are a lot of grandiose claims on the internet, but when you find a qualified source they will tell you it’s all nothing but marketing.
Nikki says
Well, I guess there’s no definitive answer either way, which is why I like to let people make up their own minds.
It’s possible that there’s nothing extra in Himalayan salt, not even the minerals that make it pink. And it’s also possible that “it’s all marketing” is a way to create uncertainty and sidestep the issue.
I’m a big fan of Josh Axe’s work, and it’s generally pretty educational, so here’s an article of his on pink salt for anyone who’d like more information to help them decide:
Pink Himalayan Salt Benefits that Make It Superior to Table Salt @ Dr Axe
joem says
Himalayan salt is not a miracle and can be replaced by another rock salt, but it must not be processed or cooked. Because NACL is very harmful and concentrated, more than white sugar. This is the only essence of the problem.
Nikki Stokes says
Hi Joem,
Thanks for adding your thoughts on this. I definitely agree that using minimally processed ingredients is the key to health.
Fiona says
Two parts here:
1. SALT:
Having written books and run healthy lifestyle programmes, both voluntarily and in an employed capacity, we have always been interested in the use of salt, how much, which kind also. People have laughed in my face about our informed choice to use Himalayan Salt or unrefined greyish slightly damp sea salt. Here is our experience:
We have moved home quite a bit, and lived in three different countries. Each move requires 6-8 weeks to sort out where to buy high quality food from, food that nourishes our bodies, an investment in our health now and into the future.
So we generally have a 6-8 week period where we have to survive on supermarket food. During this period we find we have to eat much more to be satisfied, which taught us that there is no financial advantage to eating supermarket food. If we have to eat more, then we are buying more. We may as well pay the extra for chemical free food and eat less! And enjoy our food much more!!
Thus we have experienced life with both table salt, and then with other so called “better salts”. We have stayed at other people’s homes where only “table salt” is used.
I can tell you that our 25 year experience is that “table salt” requires using a lot more salt for flavour, it tastes empty. When using the “table salt” we find we crave the pink or grey salt, just as we crave fresh greens. To us, this is a signal that there is something in the pink or grey salts that our bodies want.
Have you ever wondered why “table salt” is so cheap? Or perhaps thought that the pink salt is a “rip off” because it costs more? (Note I am not saying that there is never “rip off” with pink or grey salt, unfortunately the world we live in is often not honest – the salt consumer needs to do his or her research to establish quality. I suspect some businesses out there are mixing table salt with pink salt to maximise profits, or some other process.)
In the original Gaps and Psychology Diet book, Dr Natasha-McBride explains that only 10% of harvested salt is actually used for human consumption, after being processed so other constituents can be used for industry, agriculture etc. Just like the familiar milk in the supermarket bottles, salt is highly processed, parts are extracted for other processes. That swung the choice for me.
And being farmers, have you ever wondered why the “salt blocks” sold for livestock uses full spectrum salt with minerals? Not just sodium chloride? (Table salt in the supermarkets is sodium chloride with some kind of additive to make the salt always flow well). If mammals need full spectrum salt with minerals, what makes us think that humans don’t?
So, at this time, we are content to source our salt from the best supplier we can find, sometimes we like to use both the pink and the grey.
2: RAW TOMATO KETCHUP
The recipe is wonderful. We used our own dried tomatoes, and because fresh tomatoes grown without chemicals are only available for a short time where we live, I just increased the quantity of dried tomato and added a bit of fresh carrot. The only thing I added apart from the bit of carrot was a little bit of allspice, oh and frozen garlic greens as I’d run out of dried garlic. I tripled the recipe.
Used at a gathering, half the bowl was gone in 15 minutes on a buffet table with a crowd of about 20. Served with Nikki’s Sausage Rolls.
This sauce is very versatile, can be used as a pizza sauce as well, with the addition of herbs etc. I’m in love with the simplicity and rawsomeness of this recipe. Thanks Nikki. :)
Nikki Stokes says
Hi Fiona,
Thanks for sharing your extensive experience with different kinds of salt. I agree that unprocessed is always better, and your experience definitely matches up with that.
And I’m so pleased that this raw tomato sauce has worked so well for you. I love the idea of using carrot plus extra dried tomatoes to substitute for fresh tomatoes.
And of course, as you say, it pairs exceptionally well with my vegan sausage rolls!
It really gives me a thrill to hear how my recipes are being used, and enjoyed, by people around the world! Plants are amazing :)