Crushed tomatoes substitutes

The same product one step earlier. Canned crushed tomatoes are whole peeled tomatoes that have been broken up at the factory, so doing it yourself in the bowl costs you thirty seconds.

Amount

one 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, juice and all for one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Then

tip them into a bowl and squeeze them apart with your hand, or pulse 2-3 times in a blender - stop while there are still pieces, or you have made passata

Best for

any recipe calling for crushed tomatoes, without exception, when you want to control how chunky the sauce ends up, chilli, braises and long-simmered pasta sauces

Taste

the same, and often slightly better - whole peeled cans tend to hold the better tomatoes

Texture

whatever you decide it is, from coarse pieces to nearly smooth

Look

indistinguishable once it has simmered for ten minutes

Pantry

Likely in your cupboard

Suits

vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

1. 01Use the juice in the can as well. That liquid is a large part of what the recipe is counting on, and pouring it away leaves the sauce short.
2. 02Crush by hand or pulse briefly. A full blitz turns it smooth and you lose the texture you opened the can for.
3. 03Cans of whole peeled tomatoes often hold better fruit than crushed, so if you have both, this is the one to open.

There is no other swap on this page that is the same product. If a can of whole peeled tomatoes is in the cupboard, the search ends here.

The same tomatoes cut into cubes and firmed with calcium chloride so they keep their shape, which is exactly the property you need to work around.

Amount

one 28 oz can diced tomatoes, juice and all for one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Then

press them against the side of the pan with the back of a spoon as they cook, or pulse the can 2-3 times before it goes in

Best for

chilli, soups and stews where cubes of tomato are welcome, when the sauce will cook for at least 40 minutes anyway, recipes you can blend at the end

Texture

distinct cubes rather than soft pulp, unless you break them up

Look

identifiable cubes floating in thin liquid instead of one thick red sauce

Pantry

Likely in your cupboard

Suits

vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

1. 01Give them 10-15 minutes longer than the recipe says. Diced tomatoes are treated with calcium chloride to stay intact, so they will not soften on crushed tomatoes' timing.
2. 02For a smoother sauce, pulse the can 2-3 times in a blender before it goes in the pan rather than cooking it longer.
3. 03If the recipe simmers for under 20 minutes, blend rather than wait - short-cooked diced tomatoes stay noticeably firm.

Calcium chloride is the single fact that explains every complaint about this swap: the cubes are engineered not to collapse.

Sieved, smooth uncooked or lightly cooked tomato. It brings the same water and the same tomato flavour and none of the pieces.

Amount

28 oz (about 3 ½ cups) passata or canned tomato puree for one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Then

if it looks as thick as ketchup in the jug, thin it with 2-3 tbsp water per cup before it goes in

Best for

marinara, pizza sauce and any sauce meant to be smooth, when the recipe would have been blended at the end anyway, children or anyone who picks lumps of tomato out

Texture

completely smooth - the sauce coats rather than sits in pieces

Look

an even, glossy red sauce with nothing to catch the eye

Pantry

Likely in your cupboard

Suits

vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

1. 01If the dish wants visible pieces, add one chopped fresh tomato or half a can of diced in the last 10 minutes.
2. 02US canned tomato puree is thicker than Italian passata; thin it with 2-3 tbsp water per cup if it does not pour freely.
3. 03Passata is often lightly salted while crushed tomatoes usually are not, so taste before adding the recipe's salt.

For a pizza sauce this is not a compromise but an improvement, since you were going to want it smooth anyway.

Tomato paste is crushed tomatoes with most of the water boiled out, so putting water back is genuinely most of the way there.

Amount

1/3 cup tomato paste + 2/3 cup water for 1 cup crushed tomatoes

Then

better still, fry the paste in the pan's hot oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until it darkens from bright red to brick red, then whisk the water in off the heat

Best for

when a 6 oz can of paste is the only tomato in the house, chilli and braises, where deep cooked-tomato flavour suits the dish, scaling a sauce up when you have run short of the canned tomatoes

Taste

deeper, sweeter and less sharp than canned crushed, because the acid has cooked down along with the water

Texture

completely smooth, with no pieces at all

Look

a darker, more brick-red sauce rather than the fresher red of a just-opened can

Pantry

Likely in your cupboard

Suits

vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

1. 01A whole 6 oz can of paste is about 2/3 cup, so with 1 1/3 cups of water it makes about 2 cups - a little more than a 14.5 oz can of crushed.
2. 02Fry the paste in oil for 1-2 minutes before the water goes in. Undercooked paste tastes tinny and slightly raw, and this is the step that fixes it.
3. 03Add ½ tsp lemon juice or red wine vinegar per cup at the end. Paste has had its brightness cooked out and this puts the edge back.

This is the swap most often done wrong, and the mistake is almost never the flavour - it is using the paste undiluted.

In the US, canned tomato sauce is a thin cooked puree, often already carrying salt and sometimes onion, garlic and herbs. That seasoning is the part to watch.

Amount

28 oz canned tomato sauce (two 15 oz cans is close enough) for one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Then

simmer it uncovered about 10 minutes longer than the recipe says to make up for the extra water

Best for

smooth sauces where a little added seasoning does no harm, when tomato sauce is what is stacked in the cupboard, baked dishes such as lasagne, where the sauce sits between layers

Texture

thinner and completely smooth, so it slides off pasta unless you reduce it

Look

a looser, paler red sauce that pools on the plate

Pantry

Likely in your cupboard

Suits

vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free

1. 01Read the label. If salt, sugar, onion or garlic are on it, cut the recipe's salt by about ¼ tsp per cup and taste before adding more.
2. 02Simmer uncovered 10 minutes longer than the recipe says - it is thinner than crushed and the sauce will otherwise be loose.
3. 03Do not confuse this with a jar of finished pasta sauce, which is a cooked dish rather than an ingredient.

The naming is the trap here: American canned tomato sauce is an ingredient, while British and Australian shoppers reaching for something called tomato sauce will find ketchup.

Fine as the tomato base of a sauce you are still seasoning. Not the swap for a dish where you want to control the salt exactly.

A genuinely good sauce and a different one. Fresh tomatoes have far less concentrated flavour than canned and a lot more water to drive off.

Amount

about 2 lb (900 g) ripe plum or Roma tomatoes for one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Then

core them, pulse briefly in a blender or grate them on a box grater, then simmer 15-20 minutes longer than the recipe says to cook the extra water off

Best for

high summer, when the tomatoes are actually ripe, light, fresh-tasting pasta sauces, when there is no can in the house at all

Texture

looser and more watery until it has reduced, with visible skin flecks unless you peel them

Look

a paler, more orange-red sauce than a canned one

Pantry

Likely in your cupboard

Suits

vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

1. 01Allow 15-20 minutes extra simmering, uncovered. This is not optional - the sauce is watery until that water has gone.
2. 02Add 1 tbsp tomato paste per 2 lb of fresh tomatoes if you have any. It puts back the concentrated savoury depth that canning provides and fresh fruit does not have.
3. 03Use plum or Roma tomatoes rather than salad tomatoes: fewer seeds, less water, more flesh.
4. 04Out of season, canned beats fresh every time. Cans are packed from ripe fruit; a pale winter tomato has almost nothing in it.

Peeling is optional in a rustic sauce and worth it in a smooth one - drop them in boiling water for 30 seconds and the skins slip off.

Best in summer with ripe fruit. In winter a can of crushed or whole peeled tomatoes is the better tomato.

Intensely savoury and almost completely dry, which is the opposite of what crushed tomatoes are for. They are a seasoning, not a base.

Amount

No workable amount - there is no water in them to be the sauceper one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Best for

nothing on this page - listed because the jar is tomato-coloured and people try it

Texture

chewy pieces in whatever liquid you added, never a sauce

Look

dark brown-red fragments in a thin broth rather than a red sauce

Suits

vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

1. 01Use them alongside a real tomato base rather than instead of one: 2 tbsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes stirred into a sauce made from paste and water adds depth the paste cannot.
2. 02If sun-dried tomatoes are genuinely the only tomato you have, they will not make a sauce. Cook something else and use them on bread or in a salad.

The same logic rules out tomato powder and dried tomato flakes on their own: the missing ingredient is the water.

There is no amount that works as the tomato base. Use them as a flavouring on top of one.