Best: Annie’s Organic Original Bbq Sauce
The fact that this sauce is made with organic ingredients is just one characteristic that makes it one of the better options on store shelves.
“Each ingredient is simple and easy to pronounce, which indicates natural ingredients rather than synthetic additives and preservatives,” says nutritionist, founder, and author of The Candida Diet, Lisa Richards. From a nutritional standpoint, it is relatively low in calories per serving. Plus, it has only 1 gram of fat. Easy to see why it’s a winner!
Montgomery Inn Barbecue Sauce
The Montgomery Inn has two restaurant locations in Ohio and one in Kentucky, and rather than keeping their famous sauce to themselves, they decided to share it with the rest of the world.
Those who have the fortune of living close to one of their restaurants know what a treat it is to find this sauce available for purchase. It is most famous as a rib sauce, but we tried it with chicken and were equally impressed. The flavors all seemed well balanced, so we didnt experience any extreme tanginess or an overload of sugar.
If you dont live close to a Montgomery Inn or have never had the chance to try their ribs, we highly recommend you get this sauce! Those from Cincinnati claim it is the best BBQ sauce around, so try it and see if you agree.
Worst: Kraft Sweet Honey Bbq
Kraft’s BBQ sauce is likely one of the most popular options, as it has been tried, true, and dependable to provide a great flavor and texture. But it’s time to switch things up. If you’re looking after your health, that is.
“Unfortunately, it also provides a lot of unnecessary sodium and fillers, and at 340 milligrams of sodium, this BBQ alone provides a sizable portion of your daily sodium recommendation,” says Richards.
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Why Trust The Spruce Eats
Lindsay Boyers is a certified holistic nutritionist with extensive nutrition knowledge and food and beverage-testing experience. Shes developed over 1,000 original recipes and is constantly on a mission to find the healthiest, best-tasting options and ingredients across all food and drink categories.
Buying Guide: What To Know Before Buying
While purchasing the best sauce from the shelves at a supermarket, there are a few things you should take into consideration before making the final decision.
Of course, the wise idea is to make your own sauce at home. But realistically speaking, it is not always possible to make the sauce at home due to work pressure and other sorts of responsibilities.
Thus, the bottled sauce is the only option we should go for. Things we should consider before buying the best barbecue sauce are Quantity of salt and sugar in the sauce, labels, and flavors.
best bbq sauces reviews
1. Amount of salt and sugar:
We should be careful about the calorie and sugar intakes in our everyday meals. Thus, while buying barbecue sauce from stores or online, you should read the nutrition facts carefully to check out the sodium and sugar levels in the sauce. 500 milligrams per serving is the ideal amount of sodium to some extent.
Sugar is my second concern. When I make the sauce at home, I try to keep the amount of sugar very minimal.
Therefore, when I research before purchasing pre-made sauce, I try to avoid those sauces which have high fructose corn syrup as the main ingredient.
In the label, items are listed by their weights. So, if you see HFCS is the first or second ingredient in the sauce, which means you should avoid it.
Sometimes manufacturers also use Molasses or honey . Even if I go for sweet flavored sauce, I try to stick 15 grams of sugar or less.
2. Reading the Labels:
3. Flavor:
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Bbq Bros Rubs Ultimate Barbecue Spices Seasoning Set
Why youll love this:
This is a great set of BBQ rubs, in three different Southern styles. Im most partial to Carolina style rubs and sauces myself, but all of these are quite nice and flavorful in their own way, complimenting other dry rub additions or sauces very well.
The Carolina rub is simple, containing salt, paprika, garlic, onion, and red pepper, plus some other basic spices for these rubs. It has a nice spicy kick to it that I like, but may be a bit much for others tastes some think that the spice overpowers the natural flavors of the meat too much.
The Memphis style rub is probably what most people think of when considering BBQ rubs, a nice sweet rub with salt, paprika, brown sugar, a hint of red pepper , and simple spices. This one has a more subtle sweet flavor that goes well with just about anything.
The New Orleans style rub is similar in many ways, with the addition of garlic and onion as well as the more standard paprika, salt, sugar, brown sugar, red pepper, and silicon dioxide. Besides the addition of the silicon dioxide, I quite like this one all around I like it better than the Memphis style for most basic purposes.
All are quite good, and together give you 3 excellent starting places for cooking any kind of meat youd want to consider.
Sticky Fingers Carolina Classic Barbecue Sauce
If you prefer mustard-based barbecue sauces, you’re not alone. What Sticky Fingers Carolina Classic Barbecue Sauce does so right is successfully adding layers to the mustard. The result is a sweet and tangy sauce that manages to stay true to its roots. If you’re grilling and you want to add a tangy flavor profile, this is the stuff.
Forget ranch, Sticky Fingers Carolina Classic Barbecue Sauce is so legitimately tasty that it’s not uncommon to find this sauce used as salad dressing even at restaurants. If you think you hate salad and are quick to pass on your greens, give this sauce a try and you will be changing your mind.
While this version gives you that mustard flavoring that is popular in South Carolina, this company also makes Sticky Fingers Memphis Original Barbecue Sauce that tastes exactly like the best barbecue sauce you can find in Tennessee restaurants. Don’t miss that one either.
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Look For Ingredients You Recognize
ingredients that you cant even pronounceall-natural ingredientsingredients you should avoid
High-fructose corn syrup means a lot of added sugars the higher it is on the ingredient list, the more of it there is. Molasses, while a natural ingredient, is also full of unhealthy sugars and is a popular ingredient in barbecue sauces.
The fewer the ingredients the better. And preferably ingredients you actually know and can pronounce! Make sure to look them up online and take charge of what ingredients are being put in your body, so that the next time you come across the ingredient you know whether to stay away from it or whether it’s okay to consume.
Kraft Hickory Smoke Bbq Sauce
Do you perhaps find it hard to squeeze much needed BBQ sauce from the bottle? The Kraft Hickory Smoke BBQ Sauce offers you great tasting BBQ sauce for chicken that is easy to squeeze out of the bottle. Fortunately, this excellent BBQ sauce can be used as a marinade, dipping sauce, and condiment. The rich and thick texture of this BBQ sauce sticks to grilled or oven roasted chicken and gives it a smoky barbecue flavor. Being a superb mix of molasses, hickory smoke flavor, vinegar, spices, and tomato paste, the tangy flavor is irresistible.
Not just chicken, try this sauce with pulled pork, ribs, and brisket, and youll experience BBQ sauce at its best. The Kraft Hickory Smoke BBQ sauce comes in an 18-oz bottle and offers 50 calories and zero amounts of trans and saturated fat.
Why do we like it?
- Made with quality ingredients
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Dirt Sasquatch Bbq Espresso Chile Beef Rub
Why youll love it:
This is a really interesting and unique one. Its a specialized beef rub with a really nice earthy flavor, and very simple all natural ingredients with no fillers, something this rub really prides itself on.
Youre looking at a concise mix of brown sugar, espresso powder, activated charcoal, salt, and a few other spices like black pepper.
This makes for a very interesting flavor on meat, especially beef, but also pork. I wouldnt really recommend it for chicken, unfortunately the flavors a bit too rich and would overpower the light taste of chicken or fish.
But on that beef? Its really good. Espresso is a really interesting seasoning for a lot of things, because it acts more as a flavor enhancer than something that really stands out on its own. This makes the other, subtler flavors like the sugar and charcoal stand out a bit more, as well as anything else youd like to put it in, including spicier flavors if your tastes trend that way.
While not what Id call an everyday spice, this stuff is really nice to have around the house to experiment with, and is sure to get people commenting on your food once you start working with it.
What we liked
- Great flavor works as an excellent enhancer to other spices or the meats natural flavors.
- Really unique and interesting flavor profile.
- Really good price for the amount.
- All natural flavors with no filler.
What we didnt like
- Works great for beef and pork, but overpowers chicken and fish.
Make Sure The Flavor Complements Your Food
If you eat a lot of meat, a smoky, spicier barbecue sauceavoid unnatural sweeteners
The kind of sugar thats used can also impact the flavor, with artificial sweeteners often being very intense if there is too much in a sauce. A natural sugar will give it a nice flavor balance while also being a healthier option.
BBQ sauce is a great way to spice up a boring dish so don’t be afraid to explore and try new flavors. It’s always a great way to flavor vegetables so they are even more enjoyable for your family.
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What Makes A Great Barbecue Sauce
It’s all relative, but most pitmasters agree that balance is key to a great barbecue sauce. Most sauces are made with a tomato base, vinegar, some sweetener like honey or molasses and an element of heat. From there, sauces are fine-tuned with spices and flavors, such as mustard, garlic, fruit and smoke. Any sauce that’s too overwhelming in any one direction usually doesn’t work well. And super simple sauces without much spice or complexity often fall flat.
We tasted many traditional Kansas City-style sauces for this list, a host of vinegar-heavy Carolina-style sauces, some keto-friendly sauces, Bachan’s cult-favorite Japanese-style sauce and a few Alabama white sauces to see which ones really tickled our taste buds. We tried each one with plain unseasoned chicken breast since it’s a rather blank slate as far as classic grilled foods go. When tasting, we noted things like overall balance, heat, sweetness, overwhelming flavors or anything else that jumped out — both bad and good.
It took a lot of napkins to find the best barbecue sauce in 2022. Here they are.
What Is The Best Bbq Sauce For Ribs
Sweet baby ray has to be one of the best sauces for BBQ ribs. Most people love it, which is why it sells out in almost all stores. This sauce is quite sweet, at least on most parts. However, it has a unique tangy taste, and you will also feel the taste of pineapple juice when having it.
This sauce will make your beef or pork ribs so yummy. Also, the fact that it is thick makes it very ideal for basting all-around your ribs once they are ready. You get to experience sweet and tangy flavor all in one place.
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Best: Kinder’s Zero Sugar Bbq Sauce
This sauce is a tasty, low-calorie, smoky option with only 10 calories per serving. There’s no added sugar either, thanks to allulose.
“Allulose is a rare sugar found in raisins and figs and with 90% fewer calories than sucrose that won’t increase blood sugar or insulin, so it’s a win-win,” says Lauren Harris-Pincus, MS, RDN, author of The Protein-Packed Breakfast Club. “I love it on shrimp, chicken, salmon, or a veggie or turkey burger. It’s also great for pulled pork or chicken or to dress a cabbage slaw or grilled veggies.”
Best Honey: Good & Gather Organic Honey Bbq Sauce
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Can be a little too sweet
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Thin
Theres something about a really delicious honey barbecue sauce that makes you want to eat a plate full of chicken wings . And with the Good & Gather Organic Honey Barbecue Sauce, you can do that and a lot more. With the right balance of sweet, tangy, and smoky, its perfect as a dipping sauce, marinade, or glaze for meats and tofuor anything you want. Its sweetened with a combination of sugar, honey, and molasses, and as Targets own brand, its budget-friendly but still has some organic ingredients.
With the right balance of sweet and spicy, the Rufus Teague Touch O’ Heat BBQ Sauce is our overall pick. If you want to kick it up a notch, the Cowtown Night Of The Living Bar-B-Q Sauce has an extra hit of heat.
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How To Improve A Store
You have run out of your favorite barbecue sauce, and you have guests coming for dinner. The only option is to run down town and grab a bottle of underwhelming store-bought barbecue sauce, which tastes like sweetened tomato paste, to be frank.
Does this mean your BBQ is going to be a monumental disaster? Not at all! There is plenty you can do to improve a store-bought barbecue sauce:
The video below has some good suggestions.
Slap Yo Daddy Bbq Rub
Why youll love it:
apportioned with other flavors like Jailbird Chicken. Of these though, this is my favorite, and it weaponizes one of my favorite underrated seasonings: cumin.
You get a nice mix of flavors with sea salt, cane sugar, maple sugar, granulated garlic, chili, paprika, and cumin among a few other spices to round things out. Unfortunately this rub is nowhere near all natural, with quite a few fillers like soy lecithin rounding things out.
It tastes pretty good, despite that, and goes well with pretty much anything. As an all purpose rub it tastes good on any kind of meat youd care to test it on, and it imparts a really nice flavor to whatever meat youre cooking. It works especially well for making pulled meats, like a Mexican pulled pork, which already calls for cumin anyway.
The main issue here is the price you pay a premium for name brand rubs, and Im not entirely sure its worth it in this case. Its undeniably good, but not so good I need to pay a whole lot extra for it. The truth of the matter is with any rub, that if it ends up more expensive than just mixing it up yourself, its not worth it, and this mix falls into that category.
- Cumin goes well with a lot of foods.
What we didnt like
- Way overpriced for what it is cheaper to just mix it yourself without the additives.
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Check Labels Go For Low Sugar And Low Sodium
A barbecue sauce with a lot of sugar and salt is a telltale sign that it isnt healthy. If its sugar intake youre worried about, look for sauces with less than 5 grams of sugar per serving. Eating too much sugar on a regular basis can lead to health complications, including heart disease and diabetes. Remember, the ideal daily sugar intake is between 25 and 38 grams!
try to go for a sauce with no more than 250 mg per 2 tbsp servinghave Vitamin A and calcium
It’s important to always read labels before buying food, especially when it comes to sauces. Sugar, sodium, and chemicals can easily be added to BBQ sauces without you even realizing it.
Make it a habit to read labels and be aware of what your food is actually made of. With healthier versions of BBQ sauces that are low in sugar and sodium, you can easily swap out your unhealthy BBQ sauce for a healthy one.
Bulls Eye Original Barbecue Sauce
Perhaps you are on a tight budget but still, need delicious BBQ sauce for chicken. The Bulls Eye Original Barbecue Sauce is your best bet. Its thick consistency sticks perfectly to barbecued chicken, brisket, tenderloins, and pork. You can try basting your meatloaf with this barbecue sauce. The Bulls Eye BBQ sauce is known for its versatility. This sauce bottle is basically a mix of tomato puree, molasses, modified food starch, apple cider vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, and many more ingredients like dried onions and smoke flavor.
Dont worry about saturated and trans fat this BBQ sauce contains none of those. Bulls Eye BBQ sauce comes in 18-oz BPA-free bottles. Each serving, about 2 tablespoons, contains 50 calories, 12g of sugar, and 13g of total carbohydrate. Be assured that youll get about 14 servings from each bottle.
Why do we like it?
- Gluten-free
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Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce
If you enjoy ingesting a whole lot of sugar, you’ll love Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce. In fact, there’s so much of it in this sauce that it’s the first ingredient listed on the bottle. Yuck! Why would they ruin what used to be a totally acceptable barbecue sauce? Adding a little bit of sweetness to your sauce is one thing, but turning into a bottle of nothing but sugar is just plain gross and not what anyone is looking for in a barbecue sauce.
To make matters even worse, Kraft attempts to cover up the sweetness by adding an obnoxious level of spiciness. Two problems: First, the spiciness isn’t pleasant it tastes like stale black pepper. Secondly, it really doesn’t mix well with all the sugar. This stuff is just a disaster. All that sugar can’t be too great for your health, either. Avoid it, even if it’s the cheapest option on the shelf.
