This Tomato Chutney is beyond easy to make! It’s great with cheese, perfect with pasta sauces and even better in sandwiches!
Whilst making tomato chutney might seem daunting, I promise you it couldn’t be easier. Plus I’ll show you a cheat way to whip it up super quick too! Follow me…
Easy Tomato Chutney
Tomato chutney is not only great for its versatility and delicious flavour, but it’s also great because it’s so easy to make. Before we get into that let’s take a quick look at what you’ll needed:
- Tomatoes – Fresh tomatoes work best here. Try and use nice, ripe good quality tomatoes to allow them to shine in the chutney.
- Onion – I prefer red onion, but white will work just fine.
- Vinegar – I use a bulk of red wine vinegar, but like to add balsamic vinegar to deepen the flavour. Plus balsamic and tomatoes is a match made in heaven.
- Sugar – Brown sugar works best. I find regular granulated sugar too sweet.
- Chilli – This is optional, but a red chilli adds a very gentle background heat which works nicely with the tomatoes.
- Garlic – Again, not a crucial ingredient, but does add a gentle background flavour.
How to make Tomato Chutney
At its absolute heart, all you need to do is throw your ingredients in a heavy-bottom pan and simmer until it thickens into a jammy-like texture.
How long does it take to cook chutney?
For best results you’re really looking to simmer for around 1-1.5 hours. This will slowly reduce down the sauce, allowing the flavours to marry together. It also gives plenty of time for the tomatoes/onions to soften and break down, which in turn results in that nice glossy/jammy texture.
Quick Tomato Chutney
You can speed things up a little and make a ‘cheat’ chutney. To do this you’ll want to ensure two things. First is that you very finely dice your tomatoes and onion. Because you don’t have long enough for them to fully break down, you don’t want to end up with large chunks of onion or tomato. Second is make sure you fry off the onion (and chilli/garlic) before incorporating the other ingredients. This will soften them, again, because they won’t have chance to soften just through simmering them.
The texture and flavour of a quick chutney won’t be quite the same, but for all intents and purposes it’s still delicious. Just rapid simmer until the chutney thickens instead of cooking it low and slow.
Process shots: add onion, chilli and garlic to oil (photo 1), fry until softened (photo 2), add sugar, tomatoes and vinegar (photo 3), rapid simmer until thickened (photo 4).
How to serve Tomato Chutney
How to use Tomato Chutney?
Tomato chutney of course goes brilliantly in Sandwiches (notably my Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich) and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, but it also works perfectly in a burger or on a cheese board. I also like to add a dollop of this into tomato pasta sauce too!
How to store Tomato Chutney?
I usually store it short term, but you can preserve it for much longer. For short term just allow to completely cover and tightly cover in the fridge for 4-5days (longer at your discretion). I’ve added a note in the recipe card about preserving chutney 🙂
And there we have it! All my top tips for the perfect tomato chutney. Let’s tuck into the full recipe shall we?!
How to make Tomato Chutney (Full Recipe & Video)
Easy Tomato Chutney
Equipment
- 2 Jars (see notes)
- Large Pan & Wooden Spoon
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Ingredients
- 1lb / 500g Fresh Tomatoes, finely diced (here I use Vine-Ripened)
- 7oz / 200g Red Onion, finely diced
- 1/2 cup / 100g Light Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup / 60ml Red Wine Vinegar
- 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 Red Chilli, deseeded & finely diced (optional)
- 1 clove of Garlic, minced/finely diced
- dash of Olive Oil
- Salt & Black Pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add onion, chilli and garlic to a large pan over medium heat with a dash of olive oil. Gently fry until they begin to soften. Don't allow them to char.
- Add in tomatoes, sugar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Give it all a good stir.
- For a quick chutney just place it on a rapid simmer and stir until it reduces down. This should take around 20mins. Whilst it's quick, the texture won't be as thick/glossy and the flavours won't be quite as developed, but it still does the trick. Or, keep on a low simmer for 1-1.5 hours, stirring occasionally until the chutney reduced to a jammy consistency. Check for flavour preference (see notes).
- Allow to cool then serve or store (see notes).
Quick Demo
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition:
If you loved this Tomato Chutney Recipe be sure to Pin it for later! Already made it or got a burning question? Give me a shout in the comments below!
Absolutely the best and easiest recipe. This is the first time I have made this. Fabulous. We used our own home grown tomatoes. I tripled the amounts and got 3 good jars. Did the long version as we like to have it for the winter. Will definitely make more. Oh. I put a bit of cayenne in it to give it a bit of zing. Thanks Sue. (NZ).
Thanks so much for the review, Sue! C.
Made exactly per recipe and it is delicious! Took less than an hour to thicken into a beautiful yummyness. I did use super fresh farm stand tomatoes which did not hurt 🙂
So great to hear! Thanks for the review 🙂 C.
Does as the name says Easy Tomato Chutney, followed recipe taste’s absolutely beautiful.
My wife who doesn’t usually like tomato chutney tastes some and immediately put cheese the chutney on a cracker and thoroughly enjoyed the tomato chutney.
Great to hear this went down well!! 🙂
O my word!
Easy as to make and to tweet depending on cupboards.
My first batch was made with my homegrown yellow tomatoes minus the chilli.
It didn’t have time to improve in flavour as it got eaten within the week.
2nd batch simmering now but I’ve used red tomatoes a couple of runner beans, Sherry wine vinegar and a handful of capers. NO CHILLI AGAIN
Fingers x it tastes as good as the first.
Great to hear this went down well, Nicky!! 🙂
This chutney is exactly what I was looking for! I absolulove it. I did use a tad less sugar and it was perfect. Thank you!!
So happy to hear it went down well! 🙂
As a first time making any Chutney it is too sweet for me, but I am using a home grown glut of Tomatoes, so maybe that skewed the taste. Unfortunately I read “flavour preference” after I had followed all the instructions. For my palette I would start at half the sugar as I guess you can increase before storage.
Hi Mike, like you said this is very easy to adjust to your preference. Hope it hits the spot next time round with a few adjustments 🙂
I added some extras (finely chopped some cauliflower and courgettes and cooked with the onions, for extra body and to use them up) mustard seeds and smoked paprika added with the tomatoes …slow cooked and absolutely delish…!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
That’s awesome to hear! Thanks so much for popping back for a review 🙂
Had never made a chutney , not even sure that I even liked chutney 😀. Decided to give it a try and absolutely loved it. Not really a big fan of cooking but I am making my second batch as I type this comment.
This is so awesome to read, Colleen. Thanks so much for popping back to share you feedback! Chris. x
I love tomato chutney but have never tried making it. Perfect timing as we are about to get our second crop of tomatoes this year.
Love it! Can’t wait to hear how it goes down 🙂
Oh wow – this is gorgeous and so full of tomato flavor! Best of all, I love your suggestions for a quicker, “cheater” version of this tomato chutney – with your tips to very finely dice the tomatoes and onion and then fry the onion completely to soften it before adding other ingredients. Sometimes there’s just not enough time to let a pot burble away on the stove – so great to have the option to still make this when time is short!
Thanks so much Shelley! Always great to have a cheat version up your sleeve 🙂
hey, why not the crockpot? or sous vide hands-off approach?
This looks great! I’m just waiting for my homegrown tomatoes to ripen and then the chutney making can begin!
Love it! Bet it will taste amazing with homegrown tomatoes 🙂
Never knew making tomato chutney was so quick and easy. Gotta try your recipe, would go really well with south indian dosa’s
Oooo I bet it would! 🙂
I love the richness and thickness of this tomato chutney recipe. I can’t wait to give it a try!
Hope you love it! 🙂