The next recipe for our Wok Wednesday journey calls for ketchup, which is no big deal, but most ketchups have high-fructose corn syrup, just like the one sitting in my fridge right now. My goal is to adapt all of the WW recipes for my paleo lifestyle, and so far the task has been fairly easy. Stir-fries are always pretty healthy and with a few tweaks here and there I think I can manage to paleo-tize all of the recipes. I even found a way around all the rice by making some stir-fried cauliflower rice. A few people have already tried it and gave two thumbs up- give it a go too!
Ketchup is a funny creature, you either love it or hate it. I am in the middle where I only like it on French fries but really prefer mayonnaise and mustard, or malt vinegar on my fries. Now that French fry munchings are few and very far between for me, there is no need for ketchup in my diet, until now with the WW recipe coming up next week. I kept this ketchup very basic leaving out the ususal essence of allspice, cloves, and onions as I wanted the tomato flavor to shine. To intensify the tomato flavor I used Dutch processed cocoa powder (old cooking secret), apple cider vinegar, a pinch of mustard powder, and this…
Yup, baby food. “Just prunes” by plum organics is a great base for getting sweetness into the ketchup without having to use a ton of added sugar. Sure it’s still carbs, but a nice way to decrease all the extra sugar that sneaks up into our daily meals. I am using the natural sweetness of the prunes plus a smidge of honey to round out the sauce. I find the baby food has a smooth texture which is what you want in a ketchup. Don’t get me wrong, if I had all day and a bunch of fresh produce I would be making my own ketchup, but I just don’t have that amount of time- and my guess is that you don’t either.
Play around with this ketchup to find your perfect balance of ketchup heaven. Like, wouldn’t ginger-pear be nice, especially for Asian dishes? I’m also thinking of taking it a step further and creating a banged up BBQ sauce. Boo-yeah!
- 3.5 ounce packet “just prunes” organic baby food
- 2½ Tbs. organic, no salt added, tomato paste
- ¾ tsp. apple cider vinegar
- ¼ tsp. Dutch processed cocoa powder
- scant ⅛ tsp. mustard powder
- 2-3 pinches sea salt
- 1 tsp. honey
- 1 Tbs. water
- In a small jar, mix all ingredients until smooth.
- Store in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
Robin Sue
11 Comments
I’ve never made my own ketchup but this looks like a great recipe. My husband and I are both lifetime WW members, but have also gone the low carb route this past year. I always end up doing what feels right for my body, and lose weight doing it. Focusing on REAL food, keeping away from processed….focusing on eliminating the white sugar/white flour from my diet and eating as much fresh produce as possible. High protein/low carb works well for me.
We are fortunate that our Publix grocery stores carry their Greenwise organics (store brand) and their ketchup doesn’t have the high fructose corn syrup. Also our Whole Foods has one. But this recipe looks easy and doable, and I can’t wait to try it!! Thanks for sharing.
Yes like you, I feel so much better removing grains and sugar from my diet (if I do have a little cheat- I notice!)
Enjoy the ketchup recipe and have fun experimenting with various flavors!
Robin Sue
sounds delicious! and i love that you used baby food…awesome
Love this. i have been on an anti HFCS band wagon for a very long time. It is amazing what all it is in. I make mine with raspberries to add the sweet, need to give the prunes a shot sometime. Terrific post
Dave, raspberries sound wonderful. Years ago I had a book on how to make ketchup- there really are so many varitations, and Heinz has us believing that there is only one!!
You could go a step further and call this “High Fiber Paleo Ketchup” =) Looks uber simple, and I love it!
~Sharon
Sharon, that IS funny!! Yup “regular” ketchup;)
These Plum Organics and the Ella’s Kitchen organic baby foods are life savers for the on-the-go, reduced carb dieter. They are made of all fruits and/or veggies with no preservatives. They can be stashed in a purse or bag and grabbed when you need a little snack. I eat them all the time, but sometimes I do have to explain why a mommy of zero is carrying around baby food.
I hear about so many people using them as quick recovery meals after a workout too- good stuff!
so stoked that you took this on! now i’ll have something to put on my burger this weekend. if you get the BBQ dialed in, let us know!
Very creative Robin Sue – almost makes me wish I was a big ketchup fan.