Tomato powder is hands down one of my very favorite products to have in my food storage. I love it because it’s:
- Inexpensive — especially when compared to things like tomato powder or tomato sauce
- Pure — just 100% tomatoes with no additives or preservatives
- Healthy — check out all these health benefits of tomatoes
- Versatile
Tomatoes are a critical ingredient for your food storage pantry and tomato powder gives you even more options for tomato-based recipes. Here are TEN ways you can use tomato powder:
1. Homemade tomato sauce
2/3 cup powder + 2 cups water = just a bit more than one 15 oz can
2. Homemade tomato paste
6 T powder + 1/2 cup water = one 6 oz can
3. Tomato juice from scratch
1 cup powder + 8 cups water = one 64 oz bottle
4. Marinara sauce — Use this recipe for homemade or this popular Survival Mom recipe.
Combine together in a large pot:
1 T. freeze-dried or fresh onion
4 Cups Water
1/2 Cup tomato powder
1.5 tsp freeze-dried parsley
1.5 tsp freeze-dried basil
1.5 tsp freeze-dried oregano
1.5 tsp freeze-dried Italian seasoning
1.5 – 2 tsp salt
1.5 T garlic powder
1/4 Cup brown sugar
Bring to a simmer and cook on Low for an hour.
5. Red meat sauce
Simply add some sausage or ground beef (fresh or freeze-dried) to the marinara sauce above. You might also consider mushrooms (fresh or freeze-dried) and tomato dices (fresh, canned or freeze-dried)
6. Enchilada sauce —
- 1/3 cup tomato powder
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 1 T. cumin (adjust to taste)
- 1 T. chili powder (adjust to taste)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3-4 cups water
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp freeze-dried onions (or use fresh)
Full recipe and instructions here:Â Homemade Enchilada Sauce.
Or use tomato powder instead of tomato sauce in the recipe found on Survival Mom here: Stock Your Pantry From Scratch: Enchilada Sauce
7. Tomato soup (just like Campbell’s)
- 6 tablespoons water plus 4 T flour
- 1/4 cup water plus 3 T instant milk powder (or 1/4 cup whole milk)
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 2/3 cup tomato powder
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
See full recipe and instructions here: Copycat Cambell’s tomato soup
If you like soup, check out the No-recipe soup!
8. Spanish rice
Just add a tablespoon or two of tomato powder plus some onion, garlic and a bit of green chili (I use freeze-dried) to a pot of regular rice before you cook it. You’ll end up with some yummy Spanish rice.
9. Homemade ketchup
- 6 T. Tomato powder
- 1/2 cup water
- ¼-1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- â…› teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
10. Barbecue sauce
- 1-1/2 cups Dark Brown Sugar, packed
- 6 T Tomato Powder
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 2-1/2 teaspoons Ground Mustard
- 2 teaspoons Paprika
- 1-1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- â…› teaspoon pepper
I’ve received numerous questions about my selections and the best food storage company to use. Read about my recommendations and why.
Misty Marsh
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How long does this keep once it is opened?
Laurie, I had tomato powder open for a year. It still mixed okay. The problem I found was it hardened in the jar it was stored in and I had to scrape off the amount I wanted. Now I have stored it in a plastic bag and it is not getting hard.
>Inexpensive — especially when compared to things like tomato powder or tomato sauce
Guessing you meant “tomato paste or tomato sauce”.
I haven’t ever noticed tomato powder in the store. Do you order it online?
Laurie,
Cheryl is spot on. It will last for a year or two after opened, but can get hard like brown sugar. Keeping it well sealed solves this problem
Yes, James! That is what I meant. THanks for catching that!
Jen,
I get mine at Thrive Life. I’ve found theirs to be the highest quality when I’ve compared brands. But you can find it other places. Here is a link to it on Lisa’s online Thrive store: http://www.survivalmom.thrivelife.com/tomato-powder-1.html
beprepared.com has a group special this month for tomato powder. 12 #10 cans for $16 each. Best price I have ever seen!
Thanks, Linda!
My son bought campbell dry tomato soup just like you see chicken noodle cup a soup in a box. That was 15 years ago. He add them to flour and shake chicken in and fried them. Taste so good. Wonder what happen to campbell tomato soup mix in a box.
I remember that!! You should be able to add some tomato powder and seasonings for the same flavor.
Once it’s gotten hard, is there any good way to loosen it up again?
Chip it out, add water 🙂
When that happened to mine, I chipped it out and then ran it through my mini food processor (or you could use a spice mill or a coffee grinder). Now I store it in a jar with plastic wrap under the lid, and it’s less likely to get hard as a rock.
When making the ketchup recipe, do you have to cook it at all, or just mix everything together?
Enchilada sauce never has tomato of any kind. It’s red because of chili powder. Been cooking over fifty years.
Do you have a recipe for powdered V8 juice. I want to make some in bulk to mix up as needed and maybe use for other things by just adding warm water to reconstitute it.
I’ve never seen a recipe for this but it sounds like an interesting project. I would look at the ingredients in V-8 and then assemble the various vegetables — either dehydrated or freeze-dried. Then, I would put each veggie in a blender until it was a fine powder. At that point, you would have several different veggies in powder form and you could combine them with water in varying amounts until you arrive at a flavor close to V-8.
When making the marinara or anything else with lots of spices should they be bloomed before using? Would this technique or process help the tomato powder any? Today on the Savory Spice website is the first I’ve ever heard of Tomato Powder. I’m excited about discovering this product, I can see it being used in numerous ways, I’m just trying to find what processes will produce the best flavors.
I use tomato powder to enhance vegetable soup, add to sautéed onions or mirepoix.
This could be instead of adding chopped tomatoes, or addition to tomatoes in soup. It makes the flavor more intense. I never thought about adding it to the water used to cook rice. See above, but it’s a good idea.
If you can your own tomatoes, save the peels!
Dehydrate or set in oven lowest temperature (170F) a few hours…keep an eye on them!
Once TOTALLY DRY, powder them…magic bullet, coffee grinder etc.
I usually place them back in the oven to insure there are super dry. Store in a glass bottle.
I usually make my own powder and store it in a small canning jar with an oxygen removal packet. I also keep it at the front of my seasonings so I can give it a shake every time I see it. I had bought some previously and it hardened into a clump.