Tomato Puree

One US cup of tomato puree weighs 250 grams (8.8 ounces). Going the other way, 100 grams is about 0.40 cups.

Also called canned tomato puree, tomato purée, tomato pulp, passata.

Tomato paste, puree, sauces, canned tomatoes, juice and ketchup compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

Canned tomato puree weighs 250 g per US cup (8.8 oz), a density of 1.057 g/mL. USDA, three producer labels and a manufacturer's specific-gravity specification all land between 247 and 252 g, a spread under 2%, so this is a high-confidence single figure.

Tomato puree is tomatoes cooked and strained, then concentrated part of the way to paste. The US standard of identity (21 CFR 155.191) defines it by its tomato soluble solids: tomato puree, also called tomato pulp, carries at least 8% but less than 24%, and anything from 24% up is tomato paste. That puts puree between tomato sauce and paste, and its weight per cup sits between them too: sauce 245 g, puree 250 g, paste 262 g. Italian passata is the same kind of product, sieved tomatoes cooked down lightly, and weighs the same per cup when it is in the same solids range.

USDA SR Legacy "Tomato products, canned, puree, without salt added" (FDC 170460) publishes 1 cup = 250 g, and the salted version carries the same cup weight. Producer labels converge on it: Hunt's lists 1/4 cup at 62 g (248 g per cup), and Contadina and Cento both list 1/4 cup at 63 g (252 g per cup). Red Gold publishes something rarer, the physical specification its puree must meet: a minimum specific gravity of 1.045 at 9.9 °Brix, and 1.060 at 13.0 °Brix for its extra-heavy grade. Those work out to 247 and 251 g per cup, bracketing USDA's 250 g.

The physics is straightforward. Tomato solids, mostly sugars, pectin and cellulose, are denser than water, so the more of them a product carries, the heavier the cup. Puree at around 10 °Brix is about 5-6% denser than water; paste at 24% solids and above is about 11% denser. Because the solids range is set by regulation, brands cannot drift far, which is why the sources agree so closely here and why puree, like paste and sauce, earns a single figure while crushed tomatoes, with no equally tight standard, do not.

Practical guidance: a 29-oz can holds 822 g, about 3 1/4 cups, and a 15-oz can holds 425 g, about 1 2/3 cups. One tablespoon weighs 15.6 g and 1/4 cup weighs 62.5 g. When a recipe calls for puree and you only have paste, two parts water to one part paste gets close to puree's solids, but weigh the result rather than measuring it by the cup. When substituting sauce for puree, expect a slightly thinner, seasoned result for about 2% less weight per cup.

King Arthur's ingredient weight chart has no row for tomato puree, so there is no King Arthur figure to check here. The chart does list tomato paste, at a figure this site rejects; the tomato-paste entry explains why. The tomato products comparison page shows puree beside paste, sauce, crushed and diced tomatoes and ketchup.