7 Tomato Sauce Substitutes That'll Save You a Trip to the Store (2024)

If you’re fresh out of it, you can likely craft a substitute for tomato sauce from what's in your pantry. Sure, you could channel your inner Italian nona and spend an afternoon stirring a pot of fresh tomatoes for hours on end, but pre-made tomato sauce is one of our favorite time-saving hacks.

Whether you're in desperate need of tomato sauce for lasagna, pizza, or a shakshuka-inspired skillet, don’t worry: You can create the same sweet-and-savory, velvety sauce from other tomato products. We show you how to save you a trip to the store with these substitutes for tomato sauce.

Canned Tomatoes

With a can of tomatoes, you can pull together a quick tomato sauce in about 20 minutes:

1. Sauté some finely chopped onion in a pot with olive oil, and then add a bit of minced garlic when the onion has softened.
2. Add tomatoes, and season to taste with salt, pepper, and chili flakes. If the tomatoes are whole or too chunky for your liking, crush them with your hands, a fork, or a potato masher.
3. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the sauce is to your liking.
4. For an extra smooth sauce, blitz it in a blender or food processor.

There, you’ve made your own speedy tomato sauce! Use this as a 1:1 substitute for pre-made tomato sauce.

Fresh Tomatoes

Using your grated tomato, follow the same steps for cooking canned tomatoes. The only difference is that you don’t have to cook fresh tomatoes for as long, especially if they’re ripe and sweet.

Tomato Paste

Tomato paste is a thick, concentrated paste made by cooking tomatoes down for a long time, straining them, and then cooking them again. This umami-rich paste can transform into a makeshift tomato sauce when mixed with water. Here's how:

1. Sauté tomato paste in olive oil with minced garlic, salt, pepper, and chili flakes.
2. Add water, roughly following a ratio of 1:1, tomato paste to water, and mix well.
3. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes to meld the flavors.

Tomato paste is not interchangeable with tomato sauce as-is, but you can use this tomato paste-water mixture as a 1:1 substitute for tomato sauce.

Tomato Soup

Tomato soup tends to be sweeter and more liquidy than tomato sauce, so it’s not a perfect 1:1 substitute. We’d avoid using tomato soup for something like pasta sauce, but it can add a nice tomato flavor to dishes. Start by adding less tomato soup than you would tomato sauce, and adjust to taste.

Ketchup

With a sweet and sour flavor profile and an almost gel-like consistency, ketchup is decidedly not tomato sauce. Please do not use ketchup as a sauce for pasta! Yet, like tomato soup, ketchup can add the sweetness of tomatoes to a recipe.

Tomato Purée

Tomato purée is thicker than tomato sauce but thinner than tomato paste. It can be turned into tomato sauce using the same method as tomato paste, but since it needs less dilution, don’t mix it with as much water. Tomato purée is not a 1:1 substitute for tomato sauce, but tomato puree-based sauce is.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes

You'll find sun-dried tomatoes packaged dry or marinated in oil, and with flavorings or plain. You can use them as a substitute for tomato sauce, but they have to be rehydrated first. Here's how to turn sun-dried tomatoes into a 1;1 substitute for tomato sauce:

1. For 1 cup of sun-dried tomatoes, pour 1½ cups of water into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. With the dried tomatoes in a large bowl, pour the boiling water over them and set aside until softened, about 1 to 2 hours.
3. Blend the rehydrated tomatoes with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or its marinade) to a smooth, thick consistency.
4. Add herbs and spices—dried basil, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder—to match the flavor of tomato sauce.