Pantry Staples
Best Tomato Sauce (Canned) Substitutes
Out of Tomato Sauce (Canned)? Here are 1 real substitutes, ranked and ratio-backed.
1. Tomato paste + water
Ratio: 1/3 cup tomato paste whisked with 3/4 cup water per 1 cup tomato sauce
This is essentially the reverse of how tomato sauce is concentrated into paste — a close, reliable substitute since it's the same base product diluted back out.
Best for: sauces, braises
Tomato paste thinned with water is the closest substitute for canned tomato sauce specifically because it's the same base product at a different concentration — canned tomato sauce is essentially a less-reduced version of what tomato paste becomes after extended cooking, so diluting paste back out approximates sauce's consistency and flavor closely rather than trying to fake it with an unrelated ingredient.
The ratio matters here more than in many substitutions: too little water and the result stays closer to a thick paste than a pourable sauce, too much and the flavor becomes watery and underdeveloped — roughly one part tomato paste to two or three parts water gets close to standard tomato sauce's consistency, though taste and adjust, since paste concentration varies somewhat by brand.
Because this substitution uses the same core ingredient rather than a genuinely different one, it's one of the more reliable, low-compromise substitutions on this site — the flavor is close to a real match rather than an approximation requiring separate flavor adjustments the way a dairy or egg substitution typically does.
Fresh tomatoes cooked down with a bit of the same water-and-paste logic are worth mentioning for a cook who has ripe tomatoes on hand but no canned product at all — simmering chopped fresh tomatoes until they break down and reduce gets to something close to canned tomato sauce's texture and flavor, though it takes considerably longer than simply thinning paste and the result varies more with tomato ripeness and variety.
Canned diced or crushed tomatoes, run briefly through a blender, are a faster middle-ground option than cooking fresh tomatoes down from scratch, since the canning process has already done most of the cooking — the texture comes out slightly chunkier than a smooth commercial tomato sauce unless blended thoroughly, but the flavor is close.
Need to convert Tomato Sauce (Canned) first? See its conversion page.
Frequently asked questions
What ratio of tomato paste to water approximates tomato sauce?
Roughly 1 part tomato paste to 2-3 parts water gets close to standard canned tomato sauce's consistency, though exact ratios can be adjusted to taste since tomato paste concentration varies somewhat by brand.
Does the diluted-paste substitute taste the same as canned tomato sauce?
Very close, since it's essentially the same product at a different concentration — canned tomato sauce is a less-reduced version of what becomes tomato paste after further cooking, so the flavor overlap is genuinely high compared to most substitutions.
Can crushed tomatoes substitute for tomato sauce?
Yes, blended smooth if a uniform sauce texture is needed — crushed tomatoes are chunkier straight from the can, but pureeing them approximates tomato sauce's smoother consistency reasonably well.
Is jarred pasta sauce a good substitute for canned tomato sauce?
Only in recipes where the additional herbs, garlic, and oil already in a jarred pasta sauce won't clash — since pasta sauce is a finished, seasoned product rather than the plain base canned tomato sauce typically is, it changes a recipe's flavor more than a like-for-like substitute would.
Does the substitution change a recipe's salt level?
It can — tomato paste and canned tomato sauce aren't always salted identically per equivalent volume, so tasting and adjusting seasoning after diluting paste is worth doing rather than assuming the salt level will match exactly.