This flavorful healthy carrot ketchup has the best sweet and spicy taste, and is perfect for dipping your fries in! Quick and easy to make, it's a tasty and healthy alternative to tomato ketchup and is suitable for the AIP and low histamine diet.
Have a peek at my air fryer carrots for another way to enjoy this tasty vegetable!
With tomatoes off the menu for many of us with allergies or intolerances to them, so too is regular tomato ketchup. So of course we need a ketchup substitute for our healthy fast food (or perhaps less healthy . . . !).
Making this chunky carrot ketchup recipe is super simple, with just a little time spent steaming the vegetables. We use apple cider vinegar, a touch of garlic and flavorful spices to give that 'zing' that makes ketchup so good on your fries!
Looking for other tasty tomato-free sauces? Do check out my bell pepper nomato sauce and my green pasta sauce!
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⭐ Why this recipe is so good
A healthy 'nomato' ketchup. We swap out tomatoes for carrots as they have the best natural sweetness to make the sauce.
Full of spice. Although we aren't making a 'spicy' ketchup, we get a lovely zing from ginger, garlic and spices.
Suitable for an AIP diet. We use vegetables, sweeteners and spices that are suitable for the autoimmune protocol. It's also a low histamine ketchup if apple cider vinegar is tolerated.
🥕 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Carrots - I use regular orange carrots, but you can add a purple carrot in too if you like!
- Beets - make sure they are fresh uncooked beets and definitely not those ready-prepared in vinegar!
- Ginger - I suggest using fresh ginger root as it has a lighter flavor than ground ginger.
- Salt - personally I use pink Himalayan salt for its health benefits, but regular table salt can be used also.
📖 Swaps and variations
Add black pepper. This will provide a bit of heat to the carrot ketchup, but isn't suitable for those on the AIP diet.
Leave out the cinnamon. If it doesn't work for you, leave out the cinnamon and add a tiny touch of extra turmeric instead.
🔪 Step by step instructions
Just a few steps to make this low histamine carrot ketchup, and all are very easy to do:
Step 1
Dice the carrots and beet into small pieces (image 1).
Step 2
Place the diced carrots, beet and garlic clove in a steamer basket in a pot with water at the bottom. Steam for 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are fork tender (they don't need to be very soft), then set aside to cool (image 2).
Step 3
Add the vegetables, garlic, apple cider vinegar, spices, ginger, olive oil, maple syrup and salt to a blender cup (image 3).
Step 4
Blend the mixture, adding a couple of tablespoons of water (or more if needed) to adjust the consistency to preference (image 4).
💭 Recipe tips and notes
- Dice the carrots and beets into small similarly sized pieces so they cook in the same time.
- Steam the carrots until they are fork tender, using a knife to check they are cooked through.
- Adjust seasoning to taste preference. Add even more spice if you like!
- This is a more chunky ketchup but you can add a little more water to the blender to thin the sauce as required.
📋 Frequently asked questions
Carrot ketchup has a lovely sweetness, with acidity from the apple cider vinegar and a hint of spice.
You can easily leave the beets out and replace them with more carrots if you prefer.
Carrot ketchup can be used in similar ways to regular tomato ketchup, such as on my paprika sweet potato wedges, as a sauce for my honey chicken burger, or any other dish you like!
All the ingredients in this ketchup score 0-1 on the SIGHI list. It uses apple cider vinegar, which scores 1 on the list. White distilled vinegar can be used as a swap, which scores 0 on the list. Vinegar is, however, debated as a low histamine food and some persons may not be able to tolerate.
🥣 More healthy sauces
Enjoy savory sauces such as my red pepper nomato sauce on pasta, or sweet sauces such as my simple mango coulis for desserts. Some recent recipes to try out:
I'm always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And I love to hear from you - so please do leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐ if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Carrot Ketchup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 carrots tops and tails removed, diced
- 1 small beetroot tops and tails removed, diced
- ⅛ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
- pinch salt
- 3 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Place the diced carrots, beet and garlic in a steamer basket (or other steamer) and steam for 10-15 minutes until they are fork tender. Set aside to cool.
- Add the vegetables, garlic, apple cider vinegar, ginger, spices, olive oil, maple syrup and water to your blender. Blend to a thick sauce. Adjust with more water to preference.
Notes
- Dice the carrots and beets into small similarly sized pieces so they cook in the same time.
- Steam the carrots until they are fork tender, using a knife to check they are cooked through.
- Adjust the amount of vinegar and seasoning to taste preference. Add even more spice if you like!
- As we use beets, this has a thicker consistency, but you can add a touch more water for a thinner sauce.
- You can add a grind of black pepper for more spice, but this will mean it is not suitable for an AIP diet.
- Please note that nutritional information is offered as a courtesy. It is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- apple cider vinegar, garlic and ginger, which score 1.
Bridget says
Are you referring to the large carrots sold individually? Or a bag that includes maybe 8-10 carrots of medium size?
Claire says
The recipe calls for 5 carrots, and you would want medium to large in size. If you're on a low histamine diet, please be mindful of the notes around apple cider vinegar before use 🙂