A Smarter Way to Buy Tomato Paste

There are a handful of advancements in food packaging that make you wonder: “Why didn’t they always make it like this?” I’m thinking of upside-down ketchup bottles, easy-to-use velcro-style packaging seals for small foods like rice or lentils and biodegradable snack packaging. However, as a food writer and recipe developer who goes through a lot of different foods and despises waste, my all-time favorite innovation is the humble tube.

Specifically, tubes of tomato paste are vastly superior to small cans because, quite simply, tubes stay fresher longer. Most recipes call for only a tablespoon or two of the concentrated tomato product, and for good reason. Tomato paste is incredibly rich and bright and can even act as a thickener for sauces. Too much paste can actually overpower a dish, making it taste metallic and overly tart. If you buy a standard-size can of tomato paste and need only a spoonful for your recipe, it’s bound to sit in the back of your fridge, dry out and even grow mold when you inevitably forget about it.

Tomato paste tubes, on the other hand, have an airtight resealable cap that keeps the product moist and fresh for several weeks. Canned tomato paste, like other canned tomato products, stays good for five to seven days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The tube allows you to squeeze out your desired amount, seal it back up with the cap, then refrigerate until you are ready to use it again. If you typically only buy cans of tomato paste, it may be time to upgrade to tubes if you care about freshness and food waste.

What Is Tomato Paste?

Tomato paste is simply super-concentrated tomato puree. In On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchenauthor and food science expert Harold McGee explains tomato paste like this: “Tomato paste is tomato puree cooked down so that it contains less than a fifth of the water of the raw vegetable. Tomato paste is thus a concentrated source of flavor, color, and thickening power.”

Once the tomatoes are cooked down to a thick paste and much of the water evaporates, the mixture is strained to remove seeds and skin and then cooked again to its final rich, thick consistency. There are typically no ingredients added to tomato paste, whether in can or tube form, though some brands add salt or citric acid, a naturally occurring acid from citrus, to adjust acidity and help preserve the paste.

You can often find paste sold as “double concentrate,” which simply means the paste has even less water content compared to regular paste. For most recipes, you can use either variety; however, using double concentrate will simply result in a richer, stronger tomato flavor.

Canned vs. Tube Tomato Paste

While canned and tube tomato pastes are essentially the same thing, there are some subtle differences. The biggest difference you’ll notice is the upfront cost. Most canned tomato pastes come in 6-ounce cans, but you can find 12-ounce and even 18-ounce cans. The small ones are most common and are quite economical, often sold for a couple of dollars or less, and yield about 10 tablespoons.

Tubes of tomato paste are often more expensive than canned versions. Sizes vary, but expect anywhere from about 4.6 ounces to 6.5 ounces. At my local grocery stores, the price per pound of a generic and even name-brand canned tomato paste is about $2.75. On the other end, however, a tube of tomato paste costs about $8 per pound and up to $9.70 per pound. The yield on tubes of tomato paste is about 9 tablespoons for the 4.6-ounce size. Is the higher price of tube tomato paste really worth it? It largely depends on how often you use it.

How to Use Tomato Paste in a Tube

The benefit of tubed tomato paste is you can leave it in your fridge for about a month and use it whenever you want. It’s also very easy to squeeze out precise portions of tomato paste (it’s just like squeezing out toothpaste) as opposed to digging a spoon into a can.

Use tomato paste from a tube anywhere you’d use paste from a can. It’s that simple. The concentrated tomato flavor adds depth to tomato sauces, stews, soups, gravies and glazes for meatloaf or even roasted vegetables. Tube paste is ideal if you plan to use just one or two spoonfuls at a time.

Canned is better when a recipe calls for larger amounts of paste, simply because you’ll save money. For example, tomato paste is a crucial ingredient for rich stocks like the base of demi-glace. It starts by roasting bones (typically veal bones) coated in a good amount of tomato paste, along with mirepoix, then adding the deeply browned ingredients to a pot and simmering with water. Roasting the tomato paste further concentrates the flavor, reduces the natural tartness of the paste and even helps thicken the liquid. You could easily use a can or two of paste in recipes like this.

Storing Leftovers

Whether using canned or tube versions, tomato paste must be stored in the refrigerator to help prevent the potential spread of harmful bacteria. For even longer storage, you can freeze leftover tomato paste. Try spooning or squeezing 1-tablespoon portions into ice cube trays, then freezing until solid. Transfer those cubes of frozen tomato paste to a zip-top bag or airtight container and freeze until ready to use.

The Bottom Line

Ultra-concentrated tomato paste is the backbone of many soups, stews and tomato sauces. It’s made by extracting a great deal of water from tomatoes, about a fifth of the water in fresh tomatoes. It provides a rich, slightly sweet flavor when roasted or cooked in a touch of oil and can even help thicken a sauce.

You can typically find canned and tube versions of tomato paste. While both contain essentially the same product, the tube version will last nearly a month stored in the fridge thanks to its airtight cap. You can store leftovers in the freezer for even longer, but the tube allows for more precise measurement and is perfect for anyone who uses tomato paste only occasionally. Be sure to read the labels of the tubes to ensure they can be recycled and avoid any with extra ingredients aside from salt and citric acid.