Substitute Tomato Paste For Tomato Sauce With A Few Tweaks

Picture this: It is spaghetti night and you are assembling all the ingredients for a delicious meal. You have the long pasta noodles, the parmesan cheese, and even the ingredients to make a super flavorful garlic bread. But you find yourself staring at a can of tomato paste instead of tomato sauce. What do you do next? Well, lucky for you, a can of tomato paste can be easily transformed into a tomato sauce with just a few steps.

The difference between tomato paste and tomato sauce is only a few ingredients. The paste is a thick substance made of concentrated tomatoes. Typically, the paste is comprised of Roma tomatoes that are cooked and then strained to remove the seeds and skin. The tomatoes are then cooked again to get rid of any water. As a result, you are left with a thick, concentrated paste with a strong tomato flavor. Depending on the brand purchased, the paste may contain slight seasonings and preservatives, but the core recipe is just tomatoes.

Meanwhile, tomato sauce is a liquid, pourable substance that is made of the juice of whole tomatoes with a combination of other ingredients like salt, seasonings, different kinds of vinegar, onion, garlic, and vegetables. Flavored tomato sauces, like toasted garlic and four cheese, are commonly found in grocery stores . With this information, it is clear to say that tomato paste can be made into tomato sauce by adding a few simple ingredients like water and seasonings.

Making tomato sauce out of tomato paste is extremely easy. All you have to do is mix equal parts tomato paste and water. This step helps rehydrate the paste while also creating a sauce-like texture. Once the two ingredients are blended, add seasonings until you reach your desired taste. You can add salt, pepper, onion powder, parsley, basil, oregano, and more. For a more flavorful sauce, try adding olive oil, minced garlic, and onion. If you want to get fancy and make a chunky tomato sauce, peel and chop some tomatoes and cook them down for about 10 minutes before adding them to the mixture. 

Once the basic sauce has been made, you can add even more ingredients to enhance the flavor, such as different dairy products like hard cheeses and cream or even a dash of sugar to cut the saltiness and add a sweet kick. 

If you find yourself with double-concentrated tomato paste — or even triple-concentrated tomato paste — you will want to use more water and less paste because the paste carries a stronger flavor than regular tomato paste. Therefore, you may only want half the amount of extra concentrated tomato paste in the recipe and then add more until you get the desired taste and texture for the sauce. Now, the tomato paste has been transformed into a decadent sauce that is ready to make pasta, pizza, chili, or even a creamy tomato soup.