substitutes
Tomato Paste substitutes
Out of tomato paste? Here are the best substitutes — what to reach for, why it works, and how much to use. Tomato sauce, reduced is the top pick.
- 01Tomato sauce, reducedbest pick
Simmer to concentrate into paste-like depth.
use 2-3x, reduce
- 02Ketchup
Adds tomato concentration plus sugar/vinegar.
1:1 in a pinch
Cooking with tomato paste?
Paste your recipe into Mise — we'll find every ingredient as a real product you can buy, and swap the ones you can't, like tomato paste, for the closest match in stock.
Turn a recipe into a basket →How we choose these
These are tested kitchen substitutes, chosen for matching flavor, texture, and role — with ratios so the swap actually works. Taste as you go; substitutes shift intensity, not just flavor.
Flavor data: Epicure (Radzikowski & Chen, 2026), arXiv:2605.22391, CC-BY-4.0.