We love Bloody Marys. And heck the kids just like to drink the Bloody Mary mix. But we were forever tweaking it to suit how we liked it, and that got old, because hey it’s expensive. I figured, why not just start from scratch. I found a recipes on Allrecipes for tomato juice cocktail and worked from there. Given the fact that a lot of juice makers start from concentrates, using tomato paste just made sense and is super cheap.

I used this KDD Tomato Paste that I buy in bulk (it’s good to have it around the house) as a base, along with a stick of celery, celery seed powder, Watkins Black Pepper, Better Than Bullion Beef Base (gives a nice salty and umami punch) and Tabasco sauce.
Add the tomato paste to a blender (I use my little Nutribullet) with a cup of water, stalk of celery, teaspoon celery seed powder, half teaspoon black pepper, teaspoon beef base and a few shakes of Tabasco.

And blend. After blending it’s going to be thick, but give it a taste and see if the seasonings need adjustment. If so, go for it. We like ours salty and spicy.
After you’ve adjusted your seasonings, mix with 2 more cups of water and determine if it is as thick or thin as you like, and adjust with water to your liking.
Some other things that can be added (but we don’t): Worcestershire sauce, pickle juice, lemon juice (we just squeeze a lemon in it), clam flavoring (if you like that, I’d probably get some Better Than Bullion Clam Base), soy sauce, horseradish. I did add cucumber at first, but it quickly became overwhelming. You name it. It’s all about what you like.
Then, garnish to your liking…

Here, I used celery salt on the rim, Dilly Beans, Penrose Pickled Sausage Copycat, Marinated Mushrooms, olives, smoked cheddar from Renard’s Cheese, and a meat straw.
Bloody Mary Mix
Ingredients
- 4.7 ounce container tomato paste
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 teaspoon celery seed powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Watkins Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Better Than Bullion Beef Base
- 3 dashes Tabasco sauce
- 3-4 cups water
Instructions
- Add tomato paste, 1 cup water, celery and seasonings to a blender. Blend. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking and blend. Add water until the consistency is as desired.
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