Freezing Tomato Paste

Tomato paste is one of those ingredients that most of my recipes only require a few tablespoons of. Even if I buy the tiniest can, I end up with way more than I need, and in the past I had to throw it out on many occasions. Luckily I realized that you can freeze tomato paste, and now I always keep a batch in my freezer in nice tablespoon sized servings.

It's super simple! To do this, first measure out tablespoons of the paste onto a plate or pan, and freeze until hard.



The balls don't freeze rock hard though, so you'll want to wrap them individually rather than tossing them all in a bag together or it will get messy. Cut some small squares of plastic wrap or Press & Seal and wrap up the balls. You can store them together in a ziplock or tupperware.

(The first time I made these, I tried wrapping the balls and *then* freezing them, but the paste froze all in the creases of the wrap & it made it very hard to open them. Definitely freeze first!)



When it is time to cook, I just pull one straight from the freezer, unwrap, and plop it in the soup/sauce/whatever. No need to thaw or measure!