Tomato Conversions
Tomato Conversions & Equivalents
Tomato conversions are a must-know for home cooks who want to create delicious, well-balanced dishes. Tomatoes come in many forms—fresh, canned, diced, pureed, paste, and even sun-dried—each bringing a unique flavor and texture to recipes.
Knowing how to convert between these forms allows you to adapt to what you have on hand and still achieve excellent results. For example, when a recipe calls for tomato paste but you only have fresh tomatoes, understanding how to substitute ensures you don’t sacrifice flavor.
This knowledge becomes even more critical when you try to reduce waste. If you have an abundance of ripe tomatoes, you can turn them into a puree or sauce that matches the consistency of canned options. Similarly, knowing how to rehydrate sun-dried tomatoes or thin out tomato paste opens up more possibilities in your kitchen.
With tomato conversions, you can also confidently adjust recipes to suit your taste. Add depth to a soup with paste or lighten a sauce with fresh tomatoes. Mastering these conversions makes your cooking more flexible, creative, and resourceful. No matter the form of tomatoes you start with, you’ll always know how to make them work for your meal.
Tomato Conversions
| 1 small tomato | = | 3 - 4 ounces |
| 1 medium tomato | = | 5 - 6 ounces |
| 1 large tomato | = | 7 ounces |
| 1 cherry tomato | = | ½ - 2 ounces |
| 3 medium-round tomatoes | = | 1 pound |
| 8 plum tomatoes | = | 1 pound |
| 15 - 20 cherry tomatoes | = | 1 pound |
| 25 to 30 cherry tomatoes | yield | 2 cups chopped |
| 1 pound fresh tomatoes | yield | 1½ cups chopped |
| 1 pound of fresh tomatoes | yield | 3 cups pureed |
| 2½ pounds fresh tomatoes | yields | 3 cups chopped, drained |
| 2½ pounds fresh tomatoes | yields | 2½ cups seeded, chopped, cooked |
| 2 cups chopped tomatoes | = | 1 pound |
| 1 (14½ ounce) can tomatoes | = | 5 to 6 whole or about 1 pound |
| 1 (16-ounce) can tomatoes | = | 2 cups |
| 1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes | = | 3 cups |
| 1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes | = | 10 to 12 whole or about 2 pounds |
| 1 (35-ounce) can tomatoes | = | 4 cups |
| 1 bushel of tomatoes | = | 53 - 56 pounds |
| 1 bushel of tomatoes | = | 30 quarts |
Tomato Paste Conversions
| ⅜ cup tomato paste + ½ cup water | = | 1 cup tomato sauce |
| 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste | yields | ¾ cup |
Other Important Ingredient Conversions
| BEAN CONVERSIONS | INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS |
| HERB CONVERSIONS | MUSHROOM CONVERSIONS |
| GRAIN CONVERSIONS | PASTA/RICE CONVERSIONS |
| INGREDIENT CONVERSIONS | TOMATO CONVERSIONS |
Cher schlotterer
I am wondering, if I dehydrate 8 medium tomatoes, how much tomato powder should I expect?
TerriB
I don't have any tomatoes (canned or fresh for a recipe that calls for 2 28oz cans of tomatoes. How much tomato sauce can I substitute for the canned tomatoes?
Donna
One bushel gave me one pint.
Diane
I use one 6 oz Tomato Paste to 1 cup water for 14 oz of Tomato Sauce.
Cassie
I grow my own tomatoes and roast them off when I have enough ripe ones. My question is what is the ratio of roasted tomatoes to fresh chopped tomatoes?
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Cassie, great question and one I had to research a little. I found a recipe from Mark Bittman for roasted tomatoes that calls for 24 fresh plum tomatoes that yields 2 cups of roasted tomatoes. Since there are about 8 plum tomatoes per pound, that means 24 plum tomatoes equals around 3 pounds of fresh plum tomatoes. So I'm going to say 3 pounds of fresh plum tomatoes chopped should yield about 2 cups roasted. If anyone has a better conversion, please share.
Rose M Alexander
1 (28 ounces) can tomatoes = 10 to 12 whole or about 2 pounds
Please explain how 10 to 12 fresh tomatoes is equal to 2 lbs. Most often one tomato is equal to one pound. By your metric, if I substitute fresh for canned 30 lbs of fresh tomatoes is equal to 15 (28 ounces) of canned tomatoes.
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Rose, thanks for pointing this out. Most canned tomatoes are plum tomatoes which are not nearly as big as steak tomatoes that can be huge and possibly weigh around a pound. Try buying a 28 ounce can of tomatoes and count how many are in there. You may be surprised.
Kanira
I was wondering how many tomatoes are used in one container of store bought tomato sauce. This is because I need to know how high the vegetable : junk ratio is... I want to know how much sauce I need to have an accurate supplement for real vegetables.
Cheryl
How many cups of tomatoe juice will an 11qt basket of tomatoes yield?
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Cheryl, check out http://www.pickyourown.org/info.htm. From my research on the net, I learned "3 pounds tomatoes yield one quart of juice". So the question is how many pounds of tomatoes in an 11 quart basket?
Cheryl
I have an old recipe of my grandmothers I’m trying to convert? Lol
Jessica
How much pasta sauce is equivalent to 5-6 roma tomatoes?
Virginia
How many tomatoes do I need to make a gallon of them.
brian boomer
Hello, I am growing super sweet tomatoes in the fall and will make salsa. Does 1 pint equal one pound? Approximate. thank you.
G. Stephen Jones
A pint of water weighs about a pound but you are asking about tomatoes. Hmmm. It really depends on the size of the tomatoes and how many can fit into a pint container. And how are they processed? Whole, sliced, chopped, etc. Also, you realize pints are volume measurement and not weight measurement so it is a little confusing. I found a site that discovered 1 pound is equal to 25 to 30 cherry tomatoes, 8 plum tomatoes or 3 medium round tomatoes. I'm going to guess there are about 18 to 20 cherry tomatoes in a pint so that means no, 1 pint does not equal 1 pound.
Theresa Vince
I have a recipe using 1 gallon of tomatoes. Approximately how many medium tomatoes is that?
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Theresa, the problem with converting a gallon of tomatoes to whole medium tomatoes is you are trying to convert liquid measurement to weight measurement. If you could tell me the weight of that gallon tomatoes, we could easily convert.
Carlene M Gentry-Carriveau
How many pounds of tomatoes in 2/3 bushel?
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Carlene, 1 bushel of tomatoes equals 56 pounds so 2/3 of a bushel would be about 37 pounds.
Marilyn
Can I use tomato paste to make tomato juice to use in a recipe?
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Marilyn, I have never made tomato juice from tomato paste but I did a little research and it appears you can. For every can of tomato paste, add four cans of water. If you give it a try, please let me know your results.
Anne
I would like to know how many pounds of tomatoes does an 11 quart basket hold?
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Anne, a bushel of tomatoes weighs about 56 pounds. There are about 30 quarts per bushel so that means 30 quarts weighs about 56 pounds. That means one quart weighs about 1.87 pounds so 11 quarts should equal around 20 pounds if I'm doing my math correctly.
Janie
I have a recipe for salsa that call for 30 tomatoes . I have an assortment of San marzano and plum. I’m tripling the recipe so want this to be consistent. How many pounds do you think 30 tomatoes would equal? Right now I’m figuring 2 plums =one Med size tomato and most San marzano = one
Katherine
I have a recipe that calls for 5 quarts of tomatoes - approximately how many tomatoes (field)?
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Katherine, let's see if I can get my math correct here. 1 medium tomato = about 6 ounces. There are 32 ounces in a quart so 5 quarts would be 160 ounces. If you divide 160 ounces by 6 ounces, you get 26.666 tomatoes. You can weigh a few of your field tomatoes to come up with a closer average if you like. Hope this helps.
Rede Batcheller
An error = ha ha! It's PLUM tomatoes. I suspect Charles E. Mispel 'gotcha'. Anyway, there is no such thing as far as I know as plumb tomatoes.
G. Stephen Jones
Thanks for letting me know and now fixed.
“It is a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.”
― Andrew Jackson
Pamela
I’m making spaghetti sauce without meat and all my recipes call for 30 lbs. of tomatoes. I want to use canned crushed tomatoes. How many cans (15 oz.) would equal 30 lbs. tomatoes??
Wade B Lawrence
You indicate 1 lb. Of tomatoes yields 3 cups of puree. Since a cup of water weighs 8 oz. and tomato puree is heavier than water, three cups of puree weighs at least 24 oz., or 8 oz. more than the weight of tomatoes you started with. I haven't measured, but a pound of tomatoes yields more like 2 cups of puree, at most.
Kevin
Thanks for the conversions, I'm sure it helped a lot of people. I used the chart to freeze fresh Tom's out of my garden. Just for an approx when I follow recipes. I actually weighed out my Tom's because of the different sizes and varieties. But the chart conversions were right on.
David Mack
I'm trying to convert tomato juice into tomato sauce. Is there any way you could suggest a ratio. It's for chili. I've had a couple cans of juice that I don't drink. And would like to make chili with them.
G. Stephen Jones
David, I didn't know the answer to this, so I searched and found this: "Tomato juice can be used in most recipes calling for tomato sauce. However, since it is very thin, simmer the juice over heat to thicken it up. You can also do this by making a roux, mixing in fat and flour to get it to the consistency you desire." Hope this helps.
Jackie
This may seem silly, but here goes! My recipe for canning a pasta sauce calls for 8c of tomato puree. It does not specify fresh or canned, although it does give directions for fresh.(stating to cook down til you have the consistancy you like. My question : Could I substitute canned puree at a 1:1 ratio, or would canned be too thick?
G. Stephen Jones
Jackie, that's not a silly question at all. I don't know if there is a difference, but I would have no problem substituting canned or tubed tomato paste for fresh, homemade tomato paste.
Carolyn
Hello! What valuable information you provide. My questions are these...I am making salsa to be put into pint jars. My girlfriend does hers by buying a bushel of tomatoes. She is measuring the peppers, onions and jalapenos by the gallon bag of each. My tomatoes won't all ripen at the same time, so I need to figure out how many tomatoes I will need. I can divide my gallon of veggies into cups, but don't have any idea how to do this! I keep getting SO confused, lol can you help me?!?!
G. Stephen Jones
Carolyn, we need a math major to answer your question. I'm sorry, but I really don't have a good answer for you.
Aaron Cady
A gallon bag holds 16 cups of crushed tomatoes. When they're whole the airspace cannot be directly accounted for. To do so you would have to take a representatve sample of the whole tomatoes, crush them, measure out a cup, weigh it (weight 1), weigh the gallon of whole tomatoes (weight 2). Divide weight 2 by weight 1, multiply the result by 16, and that's how many cups of crushed or diced tomatoes you'll get from the gallon bag of fresh ones. Two tablespoons of paste is equivalent to a cup of crushed, so a gallon of crushed tomatoes could be used to make a pint of paste.
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Aaron, thanks for these conversions. When I first looked at it, I thought, how can a gallon ziplock bag hold 16 cups of crushed tomatoes, but there are 2 cups in a pint, 2 pints in a quart, and 4 quarts in a gallon, which means 16 cups in a gallon but that is for a liquid. Wouldn't crushed tomatoes have more volume because they are not liquid?
Aaron Cady
It depends on how crushed one means by crushed. Mine are barely distinghishable from sauce, so it works. If they were really big chunks I'd go by weight, not volume.
Linda Kunkel
I have a recipe for salsa that calls for 6 quarts of tomatoes. I would like to use cans of diced tomatoes but have become brain dead in trying to do the math. Please help….
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Linda, to substitute canned diced tomatoes for fresh tomatoes in your salsa recipe, the general rule is that one 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes is roughly equivalent to 1.5 to 2 cups of fresh tomatoes, depending on the brand. Since 1 quart is equal to 4 cups, your recipe calls for 6 quarts, which equals 24 cups of fresh tomatoes.
Now, using the average of 1.5 cups per can of diced tomatoes: 24 cups ÷ 1.5 cups per can = 16 cans of diced tomatoes. So, you would need about 16 cans of 14.5-ounce diced tomatoes to replace your recipe's 6 quarts of fresh tomatoes.