Chilli And Tomato Chutney: It’s Simply The Best
Preserve summer’s bounty with this sweet and spicy chilli and tomato chutney. It goes with just about everything, but is especially good with cheese, eggs and avocados. It’s so delicious, you’ll want to use it again and again. Make it as hot or as mild as you like. It keeps well too, so is perfect for gifting.
I do love a good chilli relish and this one is excellent if you have a surplus of tomatoes. Because of the lack of sun this year, ours weren’t the best flavoured we’ve ever grown, but they work wonderfully in this delightful early autumn preserve. As for chillies, we always seem to have more than we need.
Dive Right In
- What’s The Difference Between Chilli Jam and Chilli Chutney?
- Why Make Chilli And Tomato Chutney?
- Chilli And Tomato Chutney
- Ingredients
- How To Make Chilli And Tomato Chutney
- What To Eat With Chilli And Tomato Chutney?
- Other Chutney Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- Pin It
- The Recipe
What’s The Difference Between Chilli Jam and Chilli Chutney?
Well some people call this preserve tomato chilli jam and others chilli and tomato chutney. There really isn’t much difference between the two as far as I can tell. They both contain more or less the same ingredients.
To my mind, jam is sweet and chutney is savoury. I’ve thus gone for the latter name as this tomato and chilli relish isn’t massively sweet and it contains onions, garlic, vinegar and fish sauce as well as sugar.
You can use both jam and chutney interchangeably and the cooking methods are similar.
Why Make Chilli And Tomato Chutney?
If you enjoy homemade preserves or like to add a personal touch to your meals, this chilli and tomato chutney is ideal. It’s also a useful recipe if you have a surplus of either tomatoes or chillies or indeed both.
Here are a few more reasons why you’ll want to make it:
- Heat Level – Spice up your meals with this delicious homemade chilli and tomato chutney. You can adjust the level of chilli heat to your liking. It’s easy to make the chutney mild, fiery or something in between.
- Homemade Goodness – Homemade tomato and chilli jam is fresher and often tastier than shop-bought versions. Mine uses less sugar and salt too. And there’s no need to worry about preservatives and unnecessary additives.
- Preserve The Seasons – Chutney is a great way to preserve seasonal produce and enjoy the flavours of summer tomatoes and chillies all year round.
- Versatile Condiment – The combination of umami tomatoes and spicy chillies mixed with sweet and sour makes it a perfect accompaniment to a variety of dishes. These range from cheese to eggs, to fritters and burgers or sandwiches. It also makes an excellent addition to soups, casseroles, stews and sauces.
Chilli And Tomato Chutney
Chutney is such a brilliant condiment to perk up a meal or savoury snack. And this homemade chilli and tomato chutney is up there with the best.
Unusually, this chutney is made by processing the tomatoes in two ways. Half are blitzed to make a purée and the other half are diced. This gives an almost jam like consistency to the finished relish, which is probably why it’s so often called tomato and chilli jam I guess.
I made a single batch a couple of weeks ago and it was so good I’ve just made another one, but double the amount this time. My cupboards are now well stocked. It took just over an hour to cook the quantity given in the recipe card. When I doubled the amount it took nearly two hours.
But don’t be put off by the time taken to cook. Most of it is hands off. Really the chutney just needs an occasional stir. And once made it will keep well for quite some time.
In fact, as with most chutneys of this type, this chilli and tomato chutney tastes better if you give it a few days to mature.
Ingredients And Substitutions
Sugar is a must in this recipe, it helps to preserve the chutney. I use golden granulated sugar, but ordinary granulated or caster sugar is fine. Salt is another must and garlic and ginger are needed for flavour. I’ve featured other ingredients worth more than a mention below.
Chillies
You need red chillies for this recipe so as not to detract from the glorious deep red colour of the final preserve. The type of chilli you use will determine how hot your chilli and tomato chutney will end up. If you don’t like too much heat use a mild chilli. Progress to one with a medium or hot heat if you like.
We used our homegrown locoto chillies (Capsicum pubescens) which are fairly hot, but not fierce. Once harvested, we cut them into halves and remove the seeds, as they’re plenty hot enough already. In any case CT needs the seeds for his breeding programme. We then freeze them so we can take out a half whenever we need one for cooking.
If you have medium to hot chillies and don’t like the heat, remove the seeds and membranes before using.
If you’re not sure how hot your chillies are, here’s a useful Scoville guide listing over 120 chilli varieties.
Tomatoes
Although well flavoured tomatoes are ideal, this is a good recipe for utilising end of season tomatoes that haven’t had as much sun to ripen them fully. This is because you cook the tomatoes down and in so doing concentrate the flavours.
Large thin skinned cooking tomatoes with lots of flesh and not too many seeds are best. I used a mix of homegrown Brad’s Black Heart, Snakebite and Black Beauty. None of these are particularly thin skinned.
Don’t be put off if you don’t have the “right” tomatoes though. Use whatever you have or can get hold of.
Onions
Onions are always worth using in a chutney. They give such good flavour and also help to bulk things out a bit. For preference red onions are the ones to go for in this recipe. They’re just the right colour. However, if you only have brown onions, it’s fine to use them instead.
Vinegar
Red wine vinegar is a good one to use for this recipe as it’s the right colour for the job. However, I don’t stock it, so I use my favoured apple cider vinegar instead.
Fish Sauce
Fish sauce may seem like an odd ingredient to use, but it gives the chutney a more complex flavour profile. If you’re vegan or vegetarian like me, make sure you use a vegan fish sauce. The fishy element is replaced with seaweed.
If you don’t have any fish sauce, use tamari or another good quality soy sauce instead.
How To Make Chilli And Tomato Chutney
How hot you make your chutney will depend on the type of chilli you use, how many and whether you remove the seeds and placenta. See the section on chillies for more information on this.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions, timings and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Blend Tomatoes
Roughly chop the chillies, garlic and ginger. Then blitz them in a blender or food processor along with half of the tomatoes until puréed.
Step 2. Dissolve Sugar
Pour the purée into a large saucepan or preserving pan (affiliate link).
A preserving pan, also known as a maslin or jam pan is ideal for preserves. They’re wide at the top, which enables steam to escape easily and also quite deep so hot bubbling liquids are less likely to splatter over the sides. They also have handles and a lip so that you can easily pour your chutney or jam directly into containers.
One day I’ll get one.
Set the pan over a medium low heat. Add the sugar, vinegar, salt and fish sauce, then bring the mix slowly up to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Step 3. Add Tomatoes
Peel and finely chop the onions then add to the pan.
Dice the remaining tomatoes and add those to the pan too. If any skin comes off whilst you’re doing this, remove it, but otherwise don’t worry about peeling.
Step 4. Cook
Boil the mixture, but not too vigorously, for about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it actually takes will depend on the wateriness of the tomatoes, the type of pan and heat level.
If you double the quantities, you’ll need to increase the cooking time.
Stir from time-to-time to stop anything catching on the bottom and burning. This is particularly important towards the end as it becomes thick.
The chutney is done when it’s dark red, thick enough to spread and is no longer watery. It will become firmer as it cools.
Step 5. Store
Use a sterilised ladle to pour into sterilised jars whilst still hot, then seal and label. To seal, screw sterilised lids on tightly as soon as you’ve finished filling the jars.
I rarely label as I always think I’ll remember what’s in my jars, but my memory isn’t as good as I think it is and I usually regret it.
In order to avoid spillages, it’s best to use a sterilised jam funnel (affiliate link) to fill the jars.
I also like to cover mine with wax discs (affiliate link) prior to sealing. Although they’re not strictly necessary, I find chutneys store better with them on.
The chilli and tomato chutney will keep for at least nine months if kept in a cool, dark place. Once opened, store in the fridge and eat within a couple of weeks.
Top Tips
Don’t worry if you don’t have the right size jars. As you can see from the images above, I used a variety of sizes.
Always sterilise an extra jar, because final quantities aren’t exact and it’s really annoying if you have leftover chutney with nowhere to put it.
What To Eat With Chilli And Tomato Chutney?
Use this chutney pretty much as you would tomato ketchup or chilli sauce. It’s just a slightly chunkier version. Dip your chips into it, spread it on sandwiches or dollop it onto your avocado toast.
It’s particularly good in a cheese sandwich. And it’s a must for cheese and crackers or a cheeseboard. Brie and chilli and tomato chutney is a perfect pairing. It also goes well with eggs in all their forms.
And don’t forget to use it when you next enjoy burgers and fritters. Or why not blob some over your pizza?
But don’t limit things to just these types of meals, a spoonful peps up a casserole, stew, soup or sauce very nicely.
Add a little to an equal mix of mayonnaise and natural yoghurt and you have a quick and easy party dip.
Chilli and tomato chutney also works well as a marinade for tofu and tempeh. Give it a go and let me know what you think.
Other Chutney Recipes You Might Like
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this chilli and tomato chutney, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for making preserves?
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Choclette x
Chilli And Tomato Chutney. PIN IT.
Chilli And Tomato Chutney
Equipment
- preserving pan (affiliate link) optional
- jam funnel (affiliate link) optional
- 3 250ml jam jars (affiliate link) optional
- wax discs (affiliate link) optional
Ingredients
- 1 kg ripe tomatoes
- 6-8 red chilli roughly chopped – keep seeds in or remove, depending on how hot you like it
- 5 clove garlic roughly chopped
- 30 g root ginger roughly chopped
- 300 g golden caster sugar
- 150 ml apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp sea or rock salt
- 1 tbsp vegan fish sauce (can use tamari or other soy sauce instead)
- 2 red onion finely diced
Instructions
- Blitz half of the tomatoes in a blender or food processor along with the chillies, garlic and ginger until puréed.6-8 red chilli, 5 clove garlic, 30 g root ginger
- Pour the purée into a large saucepan or preserving pan.
- Add the sugar, vinegar, salt and fish sauce, then bring the mix slowly up to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.300 g golden caster sugar, 150 ml apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp sea or rock salt, 1 tbsp vegan fish sauce
- Dice the remaining tomatoes and add to the pan along with the diced onions.2 red onion
- Boil the mixture, but not too vigorously, for about an hour to an hour and a half. Stir from time-to-time to stop anything catching on the bottom and burning. This is particularly important towards the end as it becomes thick.
- The chutney is done when it’s dark red, thick enough to spread and is no longer watery. It will become firmer as it cools.
- Pour into sterilised jars whilst still hot, then seal and label. To avoid spillages, it's best to use a jam funnel to fill the jars.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
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sounds great. I like it hot!
cheers
You and me both Sherry. Yay for chillies!
This sounds great. Can I used canned chopped tomatoes instead of fresh?
I haven’t tried it with tinned, but I don’t see why not. It won’t taste exactly the same Just go for some good quality tinned toms that don’t taste “tinny”.
I’m definitely on the low end of the heat scale but will enjoy this.
Haha you must get a few surprises with your unlabelled jars. I do that with some bits I pop in the freezer thinking I’ll remember what it was. Have to thaw it to find out!! :))
Oh yes, I do that with the freezer too. It’s so annoying, but obviously not annoying enough to mend my ways.
Use mild chillies for the chutney and you’ll get the flavour without too much heat.