Tomato paste vs puree vs sauce: grams per cup compared

A US cup of tomato juice weighs 243 grams and canned whole peeled tomatoes 240 grams. Tomato sauce weighs 245 grams, marinara and tomato puree 250 grams, pizza sauce 252 grams and tomato paste 262 grams. Ketchup is heavier at 272 grams and BBQ sauce heaviest at 288 grams. One rule explains every figure: the more solids and sugar in the jar, the heavier the cup.

All weights are for a US cup of 236.5882365 ml; a tablespoon is a sixteenth of it. A range means the sources disagree by more than this site’s tolerance for that kind of ingredient, so no single figure is chosen. King Arthur’s figure is shown where this site records one, with the verdict on it. Each ingredient’s own page has every source and the full reasoning.

Every one of these is water carrying tomato solids, mostly sugars, acids, pectin and cellulose, which are denser than water, so every cup outweighs a cup of water at about 236 grams. The US standard of identity for tomato concentrates (21 CFR 155.191) fixes the ladder: tomato puree carries at least 8% but less than 24% tomato soluble solids, and tomato paste 24% or more. Paste therefore weighs about 5% more per cup than puree and 7% more than sauce, and each converges tightly across USDA FoodData Central and the Hunt's, Contadina and Cento labels, within 2%.

The thinnest products sit just above water. Tomato juice, about 94% water, weighs 243 grams in both of USDA's canned juice records. Whole peeled tomatoes in juice weigh 240 grams per cup in USDA's records and 240-244 on the Hunt's, Contadina, Red Gold and Muir Glen labels; the juice fills the gaps between the tomatoes, so there is no air to account for.

The other canned tomatoes depend on what they are packed in. The standard for canned tomatoes (21 CFR 155.190) lets them be packed in tomato juice or in puree or paste, and the packing liquid sets the weight. Crushed tomatoes in their own juice weigh 242-244 grams per cup and crushed tomatoes in puree 260 grams. Diced tomatoes split by brand too: USDA, Hunt's and Red Gold measure 240-242 grams, Del Monte 252 and Muir Glen 260. Both get a range on this site, because one number would be wrong for half the cans on the shelf.

The ready-made sauces fall between sauce and paste. Pizza sauce is made thicker than pasta sauce so it does not soak the dough: USDA and the Contadina, Ragú, Dei Fratelli and Red Gold labels all give a quarter cup at 63 grams, 252 grams per cup. Marinara, about 88% water, weighs 250 grams on the Rao's, Ragú, Classico and Bertolli labels. USDA's two marinara records list half-cup servings of 132 and 135 grams, which would make marinara heavier than tomato paste, and this site rejects both.

Ketchup and BBQ sauce are heavy for a different reason: sugar. USDA puts ketchup at 68.5% water with 27.4% carbohydrate, 21.3% of it sugars, plus about 2.3% salt, which makes it about 15% denser than water: 17 grams per tablespoon, 272 grams per cup. The same USDA record also lists a 240-gram cup, which is simply the weight of a 240 mL label cup of water, and this site rejects it. Sweet supermarket BBQ sauce carries 33-38% sugars, and USDA and the Sweet Baby Ray's, Kraft and Bull's-Eye labels put it at 36 grams per 2 tablespoons, 288 grams per cup.

King Arthur's chart lists two of these, and both fail the same way. Tomato paste at 2 tablespoons = 29 grams is 232 grams per cup, and pizza sauce at 1/4 cup = 57 grams is 228 grams per cup: both lighter than water, which a tomato product cannot be. Two tablespoons are one fluid ounce and a quarter cup two, and 29 and 57 grams are those fluid ounces read as weight ounces, the same mistake as King Arthur's 227-gram cup of milk, rejected here on the same physics.

Substituting one product for another by the cup changes how much tomato goes in: a cup of paste carries roughly three times the tomato solids of a cup of sauce. Weigh from the can when it matters. A 6-ounce can of paste holds 170 grams, a 15-ounce can of sauce 425 grams, a 29-ounce can of puree 822 grams, a 28-ounce can of whole or crushed tomatoes 794 grams, a 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes 411 grams, and a 24-ounce jar of marinara 680 grams.