Tomato ketchup! Slurrp…the very mention of the name can make your mouth watery. It’s even hard to imagine any single dish where ketchup packets can’t serve as perfect accompaniment! You can take ketchup with nearly anything; it’s only going to enhance the taste of the dish, rest assured.
Ever wondered if there could be any other way of using all those bulk ketchup bottles that you keep buying for use at home? There’s no end to running your imagination wild and while we’re on the subject of ketchup, we bring to you today some of the most unusual (but definitely delicious) ways to use your conventional tomato ketchup. Do give them a try!
8 Most Unusual yet Delicious Uses of Tomato Ketchup
Add ketchup to soup – Sounds weird, right? However, trust us, you wouldn’t be able to resist this recipe after adding this delicious twist to it. Moreover, not just ketchup, you combine it with ketchup paste to make the creamy base of the soup. You can then enjoy this yummy soup with almost anything – stir fries, cheeseburger, or roast chicken.
Stir in ketchup with coffee – This has to be the weirdest of all; the very mention of it is enough to get eyebrows raised. Would you even want to risk adding it to your favorite coffee brew? We bet you would when you’d taste some amazing southwestern steak tacos filled with an absurd but lip-smacking blend of a strong cup of coffee with a dash of ketchup. If you like to spice things up a bit, sprinkle some chili powder over the sauce to lend it a spicy kick.
Make your own Thousand Island at home – Crave for Thousand Island dressing but too lazy to go to the store? Just mix equal portions of mayonnaise and tomato ketchup, add a bit of relish to the mix, and finish with a few squirts of Worcestershire. It may be faking through the authentic Thousand Island recipe but it sure is worth a shot. And who knows you may like it so much that you wouldn’t want to buy the original ever again! Simple, easy-to-make, and different too.
Add an orangytinge to Pad Thai – If you thought that ketchup has no place in Thai or Asian cuisine, then you’re probably mistaken. Pad Thai Noodles get their orange tint and unbeatable tangy flavor from adding ketchup. It’s not just vinegar in Pad Thai; the sauce that covers the noodles to lend that unique taste contains ketchup too.
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Make ketchup even sweeter –Ketchup is slightly sweet, yes, but it’s more of tangy. Add a unique twist to your favorite tomato sauce by making it even sweeter. Add a carton of fresh strawberries to the already-sweet ketchup; for a spice kick, you may throw in a few spices and a dash of hot pepper sauce. Spread this over your favorite sandwiches and serve them at your next house party.
Pour ketchup over kabobs – You may have never tried this before because kabobs are usually best served with coriander or coriander-mint chutney, an Asian delicacy served at most restaurants. But here you can try a delectable twist by mixing ketchup with soy sauce, crunchy peanuts, and Chinese five-spice powder. It tastes amazingly delicious and for the icing on the cake, sprinkle some lime juice over the kabobs to enhance their flavor.
Add ketchup to Italian cuisine – Italian meals are generally characterized by hot barbeque sauces or white marinara sauce (who can forget the yummy pasta in marinara sauce and pizzas covered in barbeque sauce?) Well, the American favorite condiment has now entered Italy as well. Try adding sausage, mushrooms, olives, or any other vegetable or meat topping over a ketchup-covered pizza base. It tastes yummy!
Forget fish and tartar sauce; now pair it up with ketchup – Fish and chips is a deadly combination served in a number of restaurants and even smaller food joints across the world. This amazing dish is enhanced with a generous serving of tartar sauce which makes it super tasty! Now you can replace tartar sauce with the good ol’ tomato ketchup.
You can even use this tangy spread over small fish sandwiches. Mix ketchup with mayonnaise and Cajun seasoning and spread the blend over a toasty cocktail roll.
Other Uses of Ketchup You’d Have Never Heard Of!
Besides their conventional and intended use in cooking and eating, the bulk ketchup bottles purchased can have some amazingly unusual uses which are hard to imagine.
– Shine your silverware – Did you know that tomato ketchup is an excellent cleansing agent too? It contains about 4% of acetic acid which works great at restoring the shine of copper, brass, and silverware. What’s more, ketchup is cheaper, highly effective, and even an eco-friendly substitute to the otherwise toxin chemical-laden cleaning agents in the market. You can even try mixing ketchup with a bit of Worcestershire sauce for best results in metal cleaning.
– Fix green coloring in blonde hair due to chlorine water – Sometimes naturally blonde or bleached hair may have a slight touch of green hue to them which is a result of chlorinated pool water. To get rid of the unwanted color, use tomato ketchup on your hair after the dive to neutralize its effect. The ketchup’s red luster and acidic nature is great at removing the green color from salt or chlorine water.
Just shampoo your hair as usual, apply ketchup through your hair, leave it on for about 5 minutes or so, and rinse with water. Ketchup is an excellent hair conditioner too, restoring its natural oils.
To Sum Up
Tomato ketchup is a simple yet delicious accompaniment with possibly every dish on the planet. A meal is literally incomplete without this some-sweet-some tangy sauce in it. Do try these amazing recipes using ketchup packets and also put the sauce to use for cleaning purposes as detailed in this post. You’d be amazed to know what all this simple red color sauce can do!