What’s In Bbq Sauce

Must Try

Worst: Jack Daniel’s Bbq Sauce Original

What’s The Best BBQ Sauce? Taste Test

6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

This BBQ sauce doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup and is gluten-free, but this is where the good nutrient characteristics end.

“It is made with a high amount of added sugar, 14 grams, likely to create and keep the thick consistency and sweet flavor that high fructose corn syrup typically provides,” Richards says. A two-tablespoon serving is a hefty 70 calories, too.

How To Make Homemade Bbq Sauce:

1. Combine ingredients. Add all ingredients to a large saucepan and mix together until smooth.

2. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or up to one hour, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool. The sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.

3. Serve. Slather this stuff on just about anything or store in an air tight container or jar in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Double it? I love to make this sauce and keep it in the fridge for several weeks. Depending on your family size you could double the recipe to make a bigger batch. Its delicious for dipping/marinating grilled chicken, spooning on hamburgers or ribs, or dipping as a sauce. Its my go-to when I dont have a dinner plan.

The Best & Worst Barbecue Sauces On Store Shelves According To Rds

Barbecue sauce is the much-needed complement for juicy, baby back ribs or even a grilled chicken sandwich on a warm summer’s day. Yet, some barbecue sauces are actually laden with sugar and sodium. And slathering them all over that healthy grilled meat can instantly turn the meal into a diet disaster.

See, it’s often hard to stick to one serving size. You’re probably dousing your meat, veggies, and fish in that hearty, mouthwateringly tasty BBQ sauce without considering portion size, calories, and how the sauce may affect your body’s water retention and blood sugar. Kind of the last thing on your mind when you’re at a backyard hang, right?

Luckily, there are some BBQ sauces out there on the grocery store shelves that are lower in sugar, carbs, calories, and sodium. They’ll spruce up that grilled patty on a bun the right way.

So, to best help you out when you’re shopping, here are the best and worst barbecue sauce options. We rounded up some of the better-for-you picks, and which bottles are the biggest diet doozies you’ll want to avoid.

Read Also: Sauce Pot And Basting Brush Set

Can You Freeze Homemade Bbq Sauce

Yes, freeze BBQ sauce for a longer shelf life. Allow the sauce to cool completely and then pour it into an airtight container or resealable freezer bags. Be sure to leave as little air as possible in the container to prevent freezer burn. Homemade BBQ sauce can be stored in the freezer for up to 3-4 months. When ready to use, thaw the sauce in the refrigerator overnight, or for several hours. Stir it well before using and check for the texture, flavor and overall taste before consuming.

Easy Homemade Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Great Value Brown Sugar &  Bourbon Barbecue Sauce, 18 oz

Posted on Last updated:

This easy homemade barbecue sauce is delicious on pork, beef, or chicken. You can even add it to vegetables, soups, and sauces for additional flavor.

Whether you like your barbecue sauce spicy or sweet, you only need a few ingredients that you probably have in your pantry and fridge to make it yourself.

Its delicious on shredded chicken, pulled pork, pork chops, chicken legs, chicken wings, chicken tenders, beef brisket, and ribs. Its even delicious added to stews, soups, and sloppy joes.

You May Like: Cheech And Chong Hot Sauce

What Are The Four Types Of Barbecue

You may have heard of different types of barbecues: Carolina, Kansas City, Texas, and Memphis. There are others of course, but these are the most popular styles. But what makes them different?

  • Carolina Barbecue is slow roasted pork thats pulled, shredded, or chopped and sometimes rubbed with a spice mixture before being smoked. It is more vinegar-based with the sauces and the taste. Sometimes the same vinegar/sweet/spicy sauce is serving on the side for dipping.
  • Memphis Barbecue relies on both wet and dry rubs/sauces for its meat. But either way, the meat is cooked on low and slowly for a long time. Its often served on sandwiches with a tangy tomato-based sauce.
  • Kansas City Barbecue is also made from a tomato base but is sweetened by molasses. Kansas City also relies on all kinds of meat for its barbecuing purposes, not just pork. The meat is dry rubbed before being smoked and is served with a thick, sweet sauce on the side.
  • Texas Barbecue is cooked low and slow in pits with a dry rub instead of a sauce. This kind of barbecue isnt generally served with much in the way of sauce either.
  • Is Bbq Just Ketchup

    BBQ isnt just ketchup. There are many different sauces and flavors that go into making a great BBQ meal. Here are three of the most common:

  • Original BBQ sauce is made with a base of vinegar, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and spices. Its most commonly used on chicken or pork ribs, but can also be used on other meats including brisket or sausage.
  • Sweet and tangy Kansas City-style barbecue sauce is made with a blend of molasses, tomato paste, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, and spices. Its best used on pulled pork or beef brisket.
  • Memphis-style barbecue sauce is made with leaner meat than either of the other two varieties and has a more vinegar-based flavor profile.
  • Read Also: Homemade Cheese Sauce For Pasta

    How To Use Your Bbq Sauce:

    What Is The Main Flavour In Bbq Sauce

    NCM: Worlds Best BBQ Sauce (with NATS WHAT I RECKON)

    BBQ sauce is made up of a variety of ingredients, most notably vinegar, spices, and sugar. These flavors work together to create the unique taste that is so popular in barbecue. Vinegar is the main flavor in BBQ sauce and provides a sourness that balances out the sweetness of other ingredients.

    Spices play an important role in creating the right taste for BBQ sauce, lending a complexity that sets it apart from other condiments. Sucrose also plays an important role in BBQ sauce as it helps to provide a thick consistency and enhance the flavor of other ingredients.

    You May Like: Bertolli Alfredo Sauce With Aged Parmesan Cheese

    Early Uses In English

    The word entered the in Britain during the late 17th century, appearing in print as catchup and later as ketchup . The following is a list of early quotations collected by the .

    • Catchup: a high East-India Sauce.
  • 1711, Charles Lockyer, An Account of the Trade in India 128
  • Soy comes in Tubbs from Japan, and the best Ketchup from yet good of both sorts are made and sold very cheap in China.
  • The first published recipe: it included mushrooms, anchovies and horseradish.
  • 1730, , A Panegyrick on the Dean Wks. 1755 IV. I. 142
  • And, for our home-bred British cheer, Botargo, catsup, and caveer.
  • 1748, Sarah Harrison, The Housekeeper’s Pocket-Book and Compleat Family Cook. i. 2,
  • I therefore advise you to lay in a Store of Spices, … neither ought you to be without … Kitchup, or Mushroom Juice.
  • 1751, Mrs. Hannah Glasse, Cookery Bk. 309
  • It will taste like foreign Catchup.
  • Walk or ride to the Strand, and buy in gross … Ketchup, Soy, Chili-vinegar, and Harvey …
  • 1832, Vegetable Substances Used for the Food of Man 333
  • One … application of mushrooms is … converting them into the sauce called Catsup.
  • Some lamb chops .
  • 1845, , Modern Cookery v. 136
  • 1862, Macmillan’s Magazine. Oct. 466
  • He found in mothery catsup a number of yellowish globular bodies.
  • 1874, Mordecai C. Cooke, Fungi Their Nature, Influence and Uses 89
  • One important use to which several … fungi can be applied, is the manufacture of ketchup.
  • What Barbecue Sauces Do And Don’t

    Note too that barbecue sauces don’t moisten the meat. After all, any liquid in the sauce quickly evaporates during the cooking process. What’s left behind are the flavors in the sauce. Therefore the sauce is simply a medium for delivering those flavors.

    Indeed, while it’s counterintuitive, with barbecued meats the meat’s natural juices will also have evaporated. Unlike with cooking a steak where the goal is to do it quickly so that as much of those juices as possible are preserved, the long cooking times of barbecue mean that all the meat’s juices will in fact have evaporated.

    The sensation of moisture comes from the way the connective tissues in barbecued meat break down and liquefy, basically bathing the protein fibers in gelatin .

    This is why barbecued meats prepared using no sauce whatsoever but only a dry-rub seasoning will still be moist and succulent.

    Recommended Reading: What Aisle Is Cocktail Sauce In Walmart

    How To Make Barbecue Sauce From Scratch

    Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

  • Place all of the ingredients in a saucepan and mix together.
  • Heat over a medium-high heat, until boiling, then simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. That’s it!
  • You might notice that the sauce smells a little vinegary when bubbling in the pan, but the vinegar smell and taste mellows beautifully as the sauce cools

    Homemade Bbq Sauce Variations

    Heinz Carolina Mustard Style Sweet Mustard BBQ Sauce, 18.7 oz Bottle ...
    • Spicy BBQ Sauce: Add up to 1 tablespoon of hot sauce or 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes.
    • Maple BBQ Sauce: Substitute 1/4 cup maple syrup for the honey.
    • Extra Smoky BBQ Sauce: Double the amount of smoked paprika.
    • Coca Cola BBQ Sauce: Add 1/2 cup Coca Cola to the recipe.

    Homemade barbecue sauce is delicious on any type of meat. Its particularly good on smoked meats such as chicken and pork. It makes an amazing pulled pork sandwich and the best barbecued chicken wings youll ever eat.

    I always keep this BBQ sauce in my freezer so that I have some on hand when the grilling mood strikes. It just cant be beat!

    Recommended Reading: How To Get Pizza Sauce Out Of Clothes

    Main Ingredients That Give Bbq Sauce Its Flavor

    Weve given you the BBQ sauce 101, but if you love cookouts like we love cookouts, youve probably experienced plenty of fusion sauces that mix up vinegars, ketchup, tomato paste, and mustards with spices and flavorings to create scrumptious concoctions for whatever is going on the grill. The main ingredients that give most BBQ sauces their signature flavor include:

    • Apple cider vinegar. A solid start for a thin sauce that packs a nice zing.
    • Yellow mustard. Gives BBQ sauces a tasty tanginess that complements smoked meats.
    • Ketchup/tomato paste.Makes a thick, tomatoey base that a lot of people love.
    • Spices and sweeteners. Salt, cumin, peppers, honey, molasses, brown sugar, liquid smoke, Worcestershire, garlic, onions, cayennethe list of ingredients that help fill out the flavor goes on and on.

    For us, the main ingredients are only the starting point. The real fun starts when you begin to mix in the unexpected to create a fruity BBQ sauce or tongue-torching habanero sauce to give your hot dogs meaning.

    Serving Suggestions For White Bbq Sauce

    Alabama white sauce may be famous for serving with smoked or grilled chicken, but it’s a hugely flavorful addition to any grilled foods and barbecue fair.

    You’ll love it on pulled pork or pork chops. You can also use it as a dipping sauce with meats and vegetables or use it to brush onto your foods as you’re cooking them, veggies included.

    Try it out as a salad dressing and you’ll be amazed. You definitely have to try it out on these Brined Grilled Chicken Wings.

    You May Like: Best Tasting Hot Ones Sauce

    Whats Bbq Sauce Made Out Of

    We at Key to the Mountain believe a base BBQ sauce recipe should be:

    tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, spices, salt.

    You can make a simple, wholesome BBQ sauce by mixing a pound of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup brown sugar , 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp dried chili of your choice and salt/pepper to taste.

    Key to the Mountain’s BBQ sauce recipe is a little more involved. We start by browning fresh onions and garlic in butter and oil. When they are tender and caramelized, we add wild huckleberries, our house made tomato sauce from fresh, Montana grown tomatoes, house made apple cider vinegar from organic, Montana sourced crisp apples, house made Worcestershire sauce, flavored with only natural spices, organic brown sugar, organic spices and real peppers. And that’s it. No fillers. No weird preservatives. Just a wholesome BBQ sauce like you’d make at home.

    Unfortunately other BBQ sauces are often not made from food. Here is a mash up of typical ingredients from store bought bbq sauces.

    Vinegar is also a delicious food, used to safely preserve shelf stable products, and adds great tangy flavor.

    Tomato paste

    Smoke flavor, spices, and natural flavor I always ask, why is food being flavored with “natural flavor”? Doesn’t food already have flavor?

    Caramel color creates a darker color, mimicking the color if molasses was added.

    I recommend making your own BBQ sauce or purchasing BBQ sauce you trust.

    Common Tips When Using Bbq Sauce

    Making Homemade BBQ Sauce 4 Ways » Sweet | Vinegar | Mustard | White

    There are some common tips that you can keep in mind when using barbecue sauce. One of the first is that its best to use a tomato-based sauce. This type of sauce is usually slow-cooked for several hours to create the perfect barbecued meat. You can use the sauce sparingly on your meat to enhance the flavor.

    Another common tip when using barbecue sauce is to add it early. This will allow it to seep down and cook right into the meat. When cooking beef on the grill, always use a thin layer of sauce on top and turn the meat over every hour or so to let the sauce to soak into the meat.

    When cooking with BBQ sauce, keep in mind that the sugar content will change the flavor of the meat. If the sauce is too hot, it will burn the meat. Ideally, apply it around the last 10 minutes of cooking. Otherwise, you may end up burning your delicious meal. For best results, keep the temperature moderate.

    Another common tip when using BBQ sauce is to keep in mind that it can be too spicy for some people. In such a case, you can add a sweetener or an acidic ingredient to tone down the spicy flavor. Brown sugar and vinegar are two great options for toning down the spiciness. Just make sure to taste the sauce after each addition. You can also use a dry rub to enhance the flavor of the sauce.

    Also Check: Rao’s Homemade Arrabbiata Sauce

    What Are The 3 Types Of Bbq

    There are three types of barbecue: direct-fire, indirect-fire, and smokeless. Direct-fire barbecue involves cooking food over an open flame, while indirect-fire barbecue relies on a indirect heat source such as coals or logs. Smokeless barbecue is cooked without the use of wood or charcoal, using instead a gas grill or smoker.

    Amazing Smoked Bbq Ribs

    Smoked BBQ ribs.. Doesnt that sound like every mans dream food? I have to say I am blessed that my old lady loves to find meat on markdown, and when she found packages of ribs 50% off, she grabbed them all! We had friends coming over for dinner, so we whipped up these ribs, and they were a hit with everyone even the kids were into them!

    In addition, this post contains affiliate links that will make me a small commission when used to order online.

    You may remember from my Coca-Cola Smoked BBQ Wings that I like to make a brine well, this one for ribs added a lot of great flavor. I do have to say if you dont have a smoker at your house, you are really missing out!! We use ours to do everything to smoke cheese, vegetables, meat, almost anything you can think of!! Now my personal favorite smoking flavor is apple, the fruit smoke just adds an amazing flavor.

    Also Check: Mike’s Honey Hot Sauce

    Why This Recipe Works

    Why This Recipe Works

    Versatile While we used this BBQ sauce recipe for burgers, we found that not only were people eating it on burgers but putting it on their brats too. It also works on hot dogs, sausage, ribs, chicken, pork tenderloin basically anything you want a simple BBQ sauce ontrust me, its the best!

    Flavorful This sauce is a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce because it has sweet and also some cayenne and paprika for spice. Its also a little tangy thanks to the apple cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. In a nutshell, this easy BBQ sauce has it all!

    Keeps well Make up a big batch and keep this sauce in the fridge for up to two weeks, if it lasts that long!

    Easy ingredients I bet you have most of these ingredients in your pantry or fridge right now. Go check, Ill wait! You with me? A little dash of this, a pinch of that, stir and serve!

    Find The Best One To Pair With Different Meats

    Wild Hot BBQ Sauce Sm. ⢠Rustlin

    Like regional barbecue styles, which differ widely in terms of type of meat, seasonings used and so on, there are also various types of barbecue sauces. And while the different sauces do largely correspond with the regional barbecue styles, the sauces themselves can be conveniently grouped by what their main ingredient is.

    So let’s look at the four main types of barbecue sauces, which meats they typically accompany and how to prepare and use them. But first a note about barbecue.

    Don’t Miss: Sugar Free Keto Bbq Sauce

    Popular Recipes

    More Recipes Like This