Homemade Tomato Paste

I use tomato paste with so many dishes, it’s really such a staple for so many different cuisines and dishes. From Italian pastas, to Indian curries and Kenyan beef wet fry. As much as possible, I like to make ingredient staples from scratch - this way I have better control over what goes in them and how they are processed. So whether it’s mayonnaise, jam or tomato paste I’ll find a way to do it myself.

The great thing is that here in Kenya, I have access to super local fresh ingredients at local markets - it makes processing tomato paste pretty affordable. This is my homemade tomato paste, small batch and made with a blender. 

Ingredients

• 10 pounds tomatoes - I’m using the plum tomatoes that are easily available from Kenyan markets, the great thing about making this from scratch is you have a lot of control over the final flavour

• 2 tbsp olive oil 

• 2 tsp salt

• ½ lemon (or 2 tbsp citric acid)

Tomatoes, lemon, olive oil & salt

How to Make Tomato Paste

Prepare

Preheat the oven to around 180 degrees celsius and arrange the oven for one large baking tray. 

One baking tray in oven preheated to 180C

Chop tomatoes into quarters - for this recipe you can leave the skin on.

Tomatoes chopped into quarters

Cook down the tomatoes 

Heat the olive oil over a high heat until it shimmers in a large pan. Add the tomatoes and salt, cook until the skin is starting to pull away from the skin. 

Tomato skin starting to pull away from flesh

At this point, blend the tomatoes until very smooth (you can also pass the paste through a food mill but for simplicity I prefer to simply blend the paste). 

Tomatoes blended until smooth

Add lemon juice to blender and pulse again.

Squeeze juice from 1/2 lemon

Pour the pulp into one large baking pan - if you are making a larger batch you may want to divide into two baking pans to speed up the cooking process.  

Pouring the tomato pulp into a baking pan

Place the baking sheets in the oven and check on the tomatoes every half hour, stirring the paste and switching position of the baking pan so that the mixture reduces evenly. 

Over time the paste will start to reduce to the point where it doesn't fill the baking sheet any more.

The paste is done when shiny, brick-coloured and reduced by more than half. This should take between 3 to 4 hours - depending on the juiciness of your tomatoes. There shouldn’t be any remaining water or moisture separating from the paste at this point. 

Brick coloured paste

You can process the paste by dividing into jars and processing in a water bath. This will keep in a cool dark place for up to 1 year. However, once you open a jar, refrigerate for up to one week. 

I prefer to freeze the paste into ice cubes instead, this way you can always take out a portion to be used as needed. It will keep for up to 9 months in the freezer.