Ketchup at last

 So after making my spaghetti sauce I mentioned that I still had tomatoes left for Ketchup, or Catsup if you prefer. I was very excited about that since it forced me to make it sooner rather than later. This was super simple to make. I left the skins on the tomatoes, through the ingredients in the slow cooker (see a pattern here? Everything goes into the slow cooker!), and 8 hours later I had lumpy Ketchup.

The only down side about making this myself would be the ketchup smell that permeated the air in my house. But it made me confident that I was making what I set out to make. It was also very messy to use my blender because my blender doesn’t work as well as it should - the top shot off when I turned it on and made a mess everywhere! I think Santa should get me a hand immersion blender for Christmas so I can leave it in the pot when I blend. (... update: I couldn't wait for Santa. I had a store credit at bed bath and beyond and went over there to pick out my new toy which I've used a couple times in the last week since its purchase ;)...)

I really like that there is very little salt in this recipe. I tried to cut down on the amount of blending I had to do when the ketchup was finished by pureeing everything before I started the cooker. I am sure that this helped but I still had to puree in the end.

I still have a little ketchup in the refrigerator, so I just canned all of it. This made 4 pints.

Slow Cooker Ketchup 15 tomatoes (about 3lbs), chopped 1 can (15.5 oz) tomato paste 1 onion white or purple, chopped 1 cup brown sugar ½ cup red wine or apple cider vinegar (I used vinegar) 1 tsp. salt Pinch of dried red chili flakes Put all of the ingredients into a large Crock Pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir occasionally. Puree when done. Add spices to suite your taste—cinnamon, cloves, paprika, celery seed, peppercorns, bay leaves and basil are commonly simmered into homemade ketchup.

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This can store in the fridge for up to two weeks or freeze for up to six months. I canned and sealed them so they would last a little longer in the cabinet. So far the kids don't know the difference. But I know it is sooo much better for them!


Learned from the Ranch Dressing, and put my Ketchup in an empty bottle when it was finished. My son didn't say a word and asked for more and more as if it was the other Ketchup. ;)