Passata, chopped tomatoes and tomato paste

Similar flavour, different concentration

• Make a simple tomato sauce from passataChoose this complete no-chopping first sauce if onion and garlic preparation are still unfamiliar.

Passata is sieved tomato with a smooth, pourable texture. Chopped tinned tomatoes contain pieces and tomato liquid. Tomato paste, commonly called concentrated tomato puree in the UK, is much thicker and more concentrated. A spoonful of paste is not the same ingredient as a spoonful of passata.

Names vary between countries. Read the product description and ingredients, not just the word puree. Plain products can still contain salt. A ready-made pasta sauce may contain oil, herbs or other ingredients; it is not the plain starting product for this comparison.

The first task below makes one small onion-and-garlic sauce with either passata or chopped tomatoes. It includes a measured optional paste addition. Allow about 35 to 45 minutes including preparation, possibly longer while learning the cuts. Serve it with ready-to-eat bread so there is no second cooking job. For a first sauce without any chopping, use the separate plain-passata lesson instead.

For a simple two-portion sauce base

• Measuring accurately without stressUse scales for grams and marked spoons for 5 ml and 15 ml measures.
• Read food labels before you cookCheck the actual ingredients, suitability, dates and after-opening directions.
• Open a can and use cooked beansFor chopped tomatoes follow its safe opening method, but KEEP the tomato juice rather than using the bean-draining steps.

• Use 250 g plain passata OR 250 g chopped tomatoes including their juice, one whole medium onion, one sound garlic clove and 2 level 5 ml teaspoons olive or rapeseed oil, 10 ml in total. This sauce quantity can accompany roughly two modest portions; appetite and the accompanying food change serving size.
• Optional: 1 level 5 ml teaspoon concentrated tomato paste. For the first comparison leave salt, chilli and herbs out; you can judge the tomato and the tender onion without several changing flavours. Check all labels and the suitability of the bread before starting.
• Have 30 ml drinking water mixed with the measured tomato in a jug, a SEPARATE 30 ml water reserve for the onion-softening stage, and a SEPARATE 60 ml water reserve for later sauce adjustments. Do not count the same water twice.
• Use a sound hob-compatible roomy saucepan of at least 1.5 litres or a 20 to 24 cm frying pan with adequate headroom, its coating-safe cooking spoon, timer, dry oven gloves and full stable trivet. Have a stable board, suitable knife, small garlic bowl, separate dish for optional paste and clean utensil rest ready. For a tin without a usable ring pull, have a clean compatible can opener and its instructions; also have tongs or the opener's lid lifter for a loose sharp lid. Use only an intact can, not one bulging, leaking or damaged at a seam.
• Set out scales, a clean bowl for weighing tomato, a jug, marked 5 ml teaspoon and 15 ml tablespoon measures, a clean sample cup, separate tasting spoons, used-utensil plate, two clean serving bowls and serving spoon. Prepare clean shallow lidded containers and a label for any food you will save. No blender is required.

Build the sauce

• How to dice an onion without stressComplete the whole onion preparation before heating.
• Garlic colour: fragrant, golden or burntUse its safe peeling and chopping steps before the short pale-garlic stage.
• How to soften onions without burning themReach a tender cooled thick piece before adding garlic.
• Hot oil: shimmer, smoke and when to stopSmoking oil must cool where it is; do not pour the tomato jug into it.
• Storage and reheating basicsKeep the original cooking clock and follow the full cooling, freezing and single-reheat routine.

1. Wash hands and prepare everything with the hob OFF. Dice the whole onion into similar 5 to 10 mm pieces by its complete lesson. Peel and chop ONE garlic clove into roughly 2 to 3 mm pieces by the garlic lesson, stopping at any awkward tiny end. Put garlic in its bowl, park the knife, clear skins and clean the preparation area before heating.
2. Open the tomato package as directed. If using a tin, follow the linked can-opening steps without handling a cut edge. Stir the contents with a clean spoon so pieces and juice are distributed; tare the weighing bowl, then weigh 250 g of the combined tomato, not drained solids. Transfer it to the jug and mix in the 30 ml water. Close and promptly store unused tomato as explained below. Measure optional paste into a separate clean small dish before heat; do not search for it during the garlic stage.
3. Follow the complete onion-softening method with this whole onion and the 10 ml oil. Stay at the pan and stir about every minute. A gentle sizzle, pale gloss and a cooled thick piece without raw crunch are the useful checks, often reached in 8 to 12 minutes but not at a guaranteed time. Only use that lesson's measured water correction for a calm, lightly coated FOOD-FILLED pan, not smoking oil.
4. When the onion is tender, switch off and support the pan on its trivet with dry gloves if the handle is hot. Let vigorous sizzling settle. This replaces the onion lesson's final serving step; do not add a second quantity of oil. Stir the prepared garlic through the onion, then return the pan to LOW heat. Stir gently across the base until the garlic smells more noticeable and is still mostly pale, often around 30 seconds. Do not lean over to sniff or wait for brown garlic.
5. If using the prepared 5 ml paste, stir it through the onion and garlic over LOW heat for roughly 30 to 60 seconds. It should disperse through the food, not blacken on an empty patch of pan. Keep the tomato jug ready. If ordinary food starts lightly catching, switch off, let activity settle and add the prepared tomato now rather than chasing darker colour. For blackened garlic or paste, stop; let the pan fully cool, discard the failed base, clean and dry it, then restart with fresh ingredients and lower heat. If oil smokes, switch off safely and leave the pan stationary to cool; do not add tomato or water. Use the hot-oil lesson for the smoke or fire decision.
6. For the normal calm food pan, pour the prepared tomato and water close to the pan with your hand clear of splashes, then stir. Use medium-low heat only as needed to reach small gentle bubbles, then lower enough to maintain them. Stir across the base and edges every minute or two. Hard boiling and forceful spitting are not needed.
7. Begin checking after about 10 to 15 minutes of gentle bubbling. Passata should coat the spoon yet flow off it; chopped tomato may retain soft pieces and need 15 to 20 minutes or longer for a less watery result. To check a piece, switch off, let bubbles settle and use the cooking spoon to put a little in the sample cup. Cool to comfortable warmth and taste with a separate clean spoon that will not return to the pan. Tender pieces and an enjoyable tomato flavour are the goal, not a completely smooth chopped-tomato sauce.
8. If still watery with tender pieces, return to LOW uncovered heat for another two minutes, stir and check again. If too thick while otherwise cooking normally, switch off, let bubbles settle, add 1 measured tablespoon water, 15 ml, from the separate sauce reserve and stir before resuming gentle heat. Reassess before another addition; there is no need to use all 60 ml. Do not use this as a smoking-oil remedy.
9. Finish with the ring OFF and the pan securely on its trivet. Spoon sauce into the standing clean bowls, using dry handle protection if needed. Eat promptly with the ready-to-eat bread; cool each mouthful before eating. Separate any untouched portion to save now, rather than leaving the whole pan warm while deciding. Let equipment cool safely before washing.

Choose the product by the desired texture

Choose passata when you want a smooth tomato base without an extra blending task. Choose chopped tomatoes when visible soft pieces suit the sauce. The onion will still give this particular practice some texture whichever tomato you choose.

Paste is a small concentrated addition here, not the main 250 g tomato ingredient. A 5 ml addition may make flavour fuller and the sauce slightly thicker. It does not make it necessary to add salt or sugar automatically.

A stewed or deliberately chunky result is not a failed smooth sauce. Decide the texture you want before starting. If a smooth product is the aim, using passata is simpler than cooking chopped tomatoes and then improvising with a hot blender.

Substitute with a plan

• Blend food without splashes or unsafe shortcutsFor a later smooth version, follow its supported cold-first equipment and storage routine.
• How to fix food that tastes too saltyUse the full separate cooked-base test rather than an equal-volume guess.

For THIS small method you can replace the 250 g passata with 250 g chopped tomatoes INCLUDING their liquid. Keep the same initial water and use the written texture checks, accepting pieces and a possibly longer simmer. Do not drain tomato as if it were a can of beans.

Do not replace that 250 g with 250 g concentrate. There is no single dilution that recreates every passata's flavour and consistency. If concentrate is all you have, choose a complete recipe designed around it rather than guessing the missing main ingredient while a hot pan waits.

If you want to blend a later batch, decide that route before cooking and use the complete blending lesson, including its permitted temperature and cold-first routine. This first task does not require it. A blender is not permission to leave cooked sauce on the counter for hours.

If the finished sauce is unpleasantly salty, reducing it further concentrates that salt. Use the separate small cooked-food dilution test or stop; do not add raw passata, sugar or a potato and assume the salt has gone.

Store the opened remainder

• Storage and reheating basicsKeep the original cooking clock and follow the full cooling, freezing and single-reheat routine.
• Storage and reheating basicsUse a suitable container, expansion space and the full thawing routine if freezing.

Opened uncooked tomato and finished cooked sauce are different storage jobs. Follow each pack's opening instructions. Transfer unused tinned tomato into a clean covered food container, label its opening date and retain the pack's deadline; do not store it in the open tin. Refrigerate opened products as their labels require. A paste tube can have a different limit from a passata carton.

For untouched cooked sauce, begin shallow cooling when cooking ends. Refrigerate within 1 to 2 hours at 0 to 5 C and use within 48 hours or an earlier applicable ingredient limit. Use the linked full routine to label, freeze permitted portions promptly, fridge-defrost and reheat only once until steaming hot throughout. Cooking is not a rescue for tomato already unsafe before it went in.

Try a comparison

• Pasta portions, sauce amount and finishingUse its complete sauce-first meal and pan plan on a later attempt.

Make only one batch at a time. On a later attempt use the same 250 g quantity, whole onion, clove, oil and starting water with the other tomato product. Leave paste out of BOTH batches for that comparison. Write down the product, time after gentle bubbling began, any extra water and whether soft pieces or a flowing coating remained.

On a separate later attempt, use the same chosen tomato with the measured 5 ml paste option. That changes one ingredient rather than the onion, tomato, heat and seasoning together. You do not need two simultaneous pans or a deliberately burnt sample to learn the difference.

For a complete pasta meal later, read the portion-and-finish lesson FIRST and prepare its sauce before pasta cooking. Follow its own sauce quantities and pan plan; do not add this whole-onion base on top of its separate plain sauce by accident. Today's bread serving already completes the practice.