Tinned tomatoes - meals coming out watery

Callie22

I use tinned tomatoes a lot and never have a problem with wateriness. For stuff like chilli and bolognaise I do tend to add a squirt of tomato puree and then simmer the sauce for a long time. I also generally add stock cubes etc directly to the sauce rather than diluting them with water, just because I feel that when you're adding liquid in the form of tomato juice you don't generally need to add loads of water too. I quite like the Knorr stockpots for this as they dissolve so well, but anything works.

Also, are you putting a lid on it after cooking whilst it's still hot? That can make a sauce watery as all of the steam will condense on the lid and drip back in.

Liz3yy

I used to have this problem when making lasagne. Now I reduce the sauce down until it looks almost too thick, then after preparing the dish I let it sit in the fridge to thicken even further before cooking. This also means the pasta sheets soften sufficiently without the need for cooking them separately.

Honey_Bear

MandM90 wrote: »

Definitely give plum tomatoes a try - you get much more tomato for your money IMO! All you have to do is break the whole tomatoes up with your spoon whilst in the pot.

In one of his tomato sauce recipes Jamie Oliver says not to break up the tinned tomatoes until after the sauce has cooked through as doing so too early makes the sauce bitter.

Spendless

Honey_Bear wrote: »

In one of his tomato sauce recipes Jamie Oliver says not to break up the tinned tomatoes until after the sauce has cooked through as doing so too early makes the sauce bitter.

I use whole tinned tomatoes the majority of the time. Chopped ones often cost more, so I've never seen the point in paying for something that takes seconds to do. We only usually have chopped ones if someone has bought them by accident, or if I've bought some with herbs/onions/garlic. I've never had an issue with bitterness, and I don't leave breaking them up until the end, I normally pour them out of the tin and 'chop' with a wooden spoon at that point.

MandM90

Spendless wrote: »

I use whole tinned tomatoes the majority of the time. Chopped ones often cost more, so I've never seen the point in paying for something that takes seconds to do. We only usually have chopped ones if someone has bought them by accident, or if I've bought some with herbs/onions/garlic. I've never had an issue with bitterness, and I don't leave breaking them up until the end, I normally pour them out of the tin and 'chop' with a wooden spoon at that point.

Never had an issue with bitterness either, but I usually add a splash of balsamic to tomato sauces, which may make a difference.

glider3560

Thanks for all the replies. I have just cooked a curry for portioning/freezing. Simmered for an extra ten minutes or so and added some tomato puree towards the end. Came out much thicker and no watery layer! That was with Aldi's cheapest tomatoes (Everyday Essentials, I think).

Looks like my problem may have just been not reducing the sauce enough.

anotheruser

Add flour?
Mix well.