Tomato powder substitutes

Flavour-wise this is the closest thing there is, because much tomato powder is literally dried tomato paste. Paste is a touch sweeter and less roasted-tasting, and it brings the same deep red colour and the same glutamate savouriness. The problem is water. In a soup, chilli or braise this swap is invisible. In a dry rub it turns the mix into damp clumps that will not coat meat evenly and will not keep on the shelf.

Best for

soups and stews, chilli, pasta sauce, braises, meatloaf

Fry the paste in a little oil for a minute before adding liquid. That caramelises it and gets it closer to the roasted note tomato powder has.

The only substitute that stays genuinely dry, which makes it the answer for rubs, seasoning blends and backpacking meals. Grind dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes in a spice grinder until fine, then sift. The taste is noticeably more intense and sweeter than commercial tomato powder, with a slightly leathery, almost smoky edge, and the texture is a shade coarser, so a rub made with it looks flecked rather than uniform.

Best for

dry rubs, spice blends, popcorn seasoning, shelf-stable camping meals, compound butters

Only oil-free, fully brittle sun-dried tomatoes will grind. Oil-packed ones smear into paste. If yours are leathery, dry them in a low oven for 20 to 30 minutes first and cool completely before grinding.

It looks like the obvious answer on the shelf and it is dry, which is a real advantage, but read the label honestly: it is mostly salt with MSG, chicken flavouring and a little dried tomato. Used as a straight swap your dish comes out aggressively salty and more savoury than tomatoey, with a slightly orange rather than deep red colour. It is genuinely good in rice and beans and wrong in a barbecue rub.

Best for

Mexican rice, beans, soups, savoury seasoning blends

Not vegetarian in most brands. Remove essentially all other salt from the recipe and taste before adding any back.

Works when you have no paste and no powder but do have a jar of passata or a can of puree. Simmer it down in a dry pan, stirring, until it darkens and holds its shape on the spoon. It ends up tasting brighter and fresher than tomato powder, less roasted, and it is still wet. Do not try to take it all the way to a powder in a pan; it scorches into something bitter long before it dries.

Best for

sauces, soups, curries, braises

Reduce over medium-low heat and stir constantly at the end. Deduct the reduced volume from the recipe's liquid.

The honest least-bad option for a dry rub when you truly have nothing tomato in the house. Be clear about what you are getting: paprika supplies the red colour, the sugar supplies the sweetness and the citric acid supplies the gentle tang, and together they read as tomato-adjacent rather than as tomato. There is no fruity depth and no umami. It works surprisingly well on grilled chicken and badly in anything where tomato is the point.

Best for

dry rubs, grill seasoning, snack seasoning

Citric acid is potent. If you have no citric acid, leave it out rather than substituting lemon juice, which would make the rub wet. Smoked paprika works too but pushes the mix strongly toward barbecue.

Last resort, and only in wet cooking. Ketchup has tomato concentrate in it, but it also carries a lot of sugar, vinegar, onion and clove-ish spice, so a chilli made with it tastes sweet and tangy in a way that is unmistakably ketchup. In a barbecue sauce or a meatloaf glaze, where sweet and tangy are wanted anyway, it is good.

Best for

barbecue sauce, meatloaf glaze, sloppy joes, baked beans

Pull back the recipe's sugar by about a teaspoon and its vinegar by about a teaspoon per 3 tablespoons of ketchup used.