What to use instead of ketchup
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Sweet-sour tomato base in a mayonnaise-based sauce
It brings three things at once: tomato body, sugar and vinegar, all pre-balanced, which is why so many diner sauces are built on it.
Tomato sauce with sugar and vinegarRan out
1 cup tomato sauce + 1 tbsp cider vinegar + 1 tbsp sugar + 1/4 tsp salt per 1 cup ketchup
Thinner, so the sauce ends up looser. Fresher tasting and less of the cooked-down sweetness.
Tomato paste built upRan out
2 tbsp tomato paste + 2 tsp sugar + 1 tbsp white vinegar + 1/4 tsp salt makes about 1/4 cup
Thicker and more concentrated than ketchup, so a yum yum sauce comes out denser and darker red.
Banana ketchupRan out
1:1 by volume
Sweeter and fruitier with a spice note behind it. It reads clearly different in a thousand island and works well in a fry sauce.
Cocktail sauceRan out
1:1 by volume, then drop any horseradish the recipe calls for
Already carries horseradish and lemon, so the sauce comes out sharper and hotter. Useful in a comeback sauce.
What doesn't work: Marinara or pizza sauce. Both are herbed with oregano and basil and barely sweetened, so a yum yum sauce made with either tastes like oregano mayonnaise and the sugar-vinegar balance that made it work is gone.
Glaze that caramelises on meat
Sugar plus acid plus tomato solids reduce and brown on the surface, setting into a shiny lacquer rather than drying out.
BBQ sauceRan out
1:1 by volume
Sweeter and often smoky, so it browns and burns faster. Drop the oven 25F or glaze it later.
British brown sauceRan out
1:1 by volume
Darker and far less sweet, with tamarind and date behind it. The glaze sets matte rather than glossy.
Tomato paste with honey and vinegarRan out
2 tbsp tomato paste + 1 tbsp honey + 1 tbsp cider vinegar
Thicker, so it stays where you brush it. Honey browns faster than the corn syrup in ketchup, so watch the last five minutes.
What doesn't work: Tomato paste on its own brushed over a meatloaf. There is no sugar to caramelise and no acid to balance it, so it dries into a dull dark crust that tastes raw and slightly bitter instead of glazing.
Sweet tomato seasoning fried into rice
Concentrated enough that it colours and flavours the rice without adding much water, so the grains fry rather than steam.
Tomato paste with sugarRan out
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste + 1 tsp sugar + 1 tsp rice vinegar per 2 tbsp ketchup
Deeper red and more concentrated. Fry the paste in the oil for 30 sec before the rice goes in or it tastes raw.
Banana ketchupRan out
1:1 by volume
Sweeter and fruitier. It caramelises faster in the pan, so the rice takes on more colour in less time.
What doesn't work: Fresh chopped tomatoes. They are around 94 percent water, so the rice steams instead of frying, the grains clump, and the colour comes out pale pink rather than the red that the dish is named for.