This spicy and tangy BBQ sauce is easy and very tasty. Essential for backyard cookouts and perfect for pulling barbecue chicken, ribs and pork.
Try this simple homemade BBQ sauce with bacon-covered pork kebabs, smoked pulled pork or smoked ribs. You will be the next backyard barbecue star.
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Very good. It’s better than store-bought BBQ sauce. As sweet as you want. This recipe lets you control the amount of sugar. You can also use Keto Sweetener to make this BBQ sauce keto friendly. Mild or spicy. Adjust the seasonings to make them more or less spicy to your liking.
Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe
This recipe is a family recipe. My parents got it from their neighbors and we kept it in our family ever since. Now you can even make this secret family recipe yours!
BBQ sauce ingredients
Homemade BBQ sauce is made with a tomato and vinegar base. Spices and sweeteners are added to enhance the flavor.
Mirepoix: butter or oil, sweet onions, celery, carrots, jalapeño or cerrano peppers. (You can skip these ingredients and use ketchup instead of tomato sauce.) Tomato Sauce – Use low or unchlorinated varieties of tomato sauce. Sherry vinegar – or apple cider vinegar. Worcestershire Sauce Lemon Juice Dry Season – Dried Mustard, Salt, Cumin, Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper (Optional) Sweeteners – Molasses and Dark Brown Sugar. You can use Lacanto sweeteners to make this barbecue sauce keto or low carbs. Liquid Smoke – A small amount of liquid smoke adds a smoky flavor to your homemade BBQ sauce. If you use sauce on smoked meat, exclude it.
Notes on using ketchup in barbecue sauce: In some cases, ketchup is required in barbecue sauce recipes. This is a simple shortcut if you run out of time. This recipe uses ketchup instead of tomato sauce, eliminating the need to use mirepoix. See recipe cards for quick and easy shortcuts for homemade BBQ sauce recipes.
Why use Mile Pois in your BBQ sauce: Tomato sauce and Mile Pois allow you to control the amount of sugar added to your BBQ sauce, adding flavor and sweetness. If you want a keto or low-carb barbecue sauce, this is great
How to make barbecue sauce
Prepare the mirepoix. Grate the onion, carrots and celery. Mince jalapeño. Sauteed. Add butter to a medium pot over medium high heat. Once the butter is heated, add the vegetables and saute until very tender. Bring it to a boil. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduces heat. Simmer LOW for 30-45 minutes. Mix it occasionally. Adjust the seasonings to your liking.
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Spicy BBQ Sauce: Adjust the cayenne pepper to your flavor preferences.
Honey BBQ Sauce: Add a quarter of honey and prepare a sweet, sweet BBQ sauce.
FAQs and Expert Tips
The main ingredients in the barbecue sauce include vinegar, tomato base, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and spices.
Variations vary by region or origin.
Tomato-Based – Tomato-Based BBQ sauces are most commonly associated with Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis and Texas BBQ.
The Kansas City BBQ sauce is thick, tangy and sweet. It usually contains black strap molasses.
St. Louis, Memphis and Texas BBQ sauces are tomato-based, but lack molasses and tend to be thinner and sweeter.
Vinegar-based BBQ sauces tend to be more common in North Carolina. The North Carolina BBQ is primarily pulled with pork, and the grape sauce comes with a perfect pair with fatty meat.
Mustard Base – Mustard-based BBQ sauce is popular in South Carolina. It’s spicy, heavy with vinegar, thin, and perfect for serving with pork.
Mayonnaise Base – This creamy white barbecue sauce comes from Alabama. It may sound strange, but it’s still spicy and vinegary. Usually, chicken is served in place of pork.
How to use BBQ sauce
The barbecue sauce comes perfectly with pulled pork sandwiches, healthy pulled pork bowls, or my famous bacon-covered pork shish kubbob.
The sweet and tangy BBQ sauce is always good with my favorite meatloaf recipe.
More homemade sauces
When you make homemade sauces, you know exactly what ingredients are in them.
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BBQ Sauce Recipe
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This spicy, tangy barbecue sauce is easy to make and is very tasty. The chicken, ribs and pork were perfect.
Grate the onion, carrots, celery and jalapeno.
⅓ cup sweet onion, ¼ cup celery, ¼ cup carrots, Jalapeño peppers 1-2
Add butter to the pan over medium heat. Once the butter is cooked, add the vegetables and saute until the vegetables are very tender.
2 tablespoons of butter
Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring everything to a boil.
2 cans of tomato sauce, 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, ¼ cup lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of dried mustard, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, ¼ tsp cumin, 3 tablespoons of molasses, ¾Cup Brown Sugar
Simmer LOW for 30-45 minutes.
Shortcuts. Use ketchup instead of tomato sauce. Exclude onions, carrots and celery. Use a few teaspoons of onion powder and adjust the sweetness if necessary. Low sugar BBQ sauce. Replace brown sugar with keto sweeteners such as Lancant brown sugar.
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Serving: 2A large spooncalorie: 59kcalcarbohydrates: 12gprotein: 1gfat: 1gSaturated fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.04gcholesterol: 3mgsodium: 387mgfiber: 1gsugar: 11gcalcium: twenty twomgiron: 1mg
