Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce
- PREP 5min
- COOK 10min
- TOTAL 15min
If you can add ingredients to a saucepan, you can make this easy homemade bbq sauce. This homemade barbecue sauce is better than anything you can buy at the store! It’s made with pantry staples like ketchup, brown sugar, and cider vinegar and is ready in under 20 minutes.
You Will Need
1 ½ cups (390 grams) ketchup, see notes
5 tablespoons (57 grams) packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 (6-ounce) can pineapple juice, 3/4 cup, look for 100% juice with no added sugar
2 tablespoons Pickapepper or Worcestershire sauce, see notes
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons mustard powder, like Coleman’s, see notes
1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Scant 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or cayenne pepper, optional for heat
Directions
Whisk all the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Continue to whisk as you bring the sauce to a simmer. Since the saucepan is over lower heat, this will take a few minutes, but keeping the heat low prevents the sugars in the sauce from scorching.
Once the sauce bubbles, cover the saucepan with its lid and reduce the heat to the lowest flame or setting. Leave the sauce covered for 8 minutes. Transfer to jars and let cool. Keep refrigerated for up to one month.
Homemade barbecue sauce tastes a bit more sweet and vinegary at first. However, after it has cooled, the flavors mellow a little, and the sauce becomes one.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Ketchup: This sauce is best when made with thicker varieties of ketchup with no high fructose corn syrup added. You can use homemade ketchup, or we have found that organic or natural options like Hunt’s 100% Natural or Heinz Simply work nicely in this recipe.
- Pickapepper and Worcestershire sauce are umami-rich condiments used as a seasoning in soups, stews, and sauces. Pickapepper is a little thinner and a bit sweeter than the more savory Worcestershire, but in most circumstances, they are interchangeable. As a bonus, Pickapeppa sauce is naturally vegan, so if you want to make vegan barbecue sauce, Pickapepper is the right choice.
- Dry Mustard: Coleman’s dry mustard is excellent here, but you can substitute it with other mustard powders, prepared Coleman’s mustard or Dijon mustard. When substituting prepared mustard for dry, you will need a bit more. Start with one tablespoon of prepared mustard and go from there.
- Making bbq sauce on the grill: You can also make this bbq sauce on the grill; just be mindful of the hotter areas of your grill. Keep the sauce over the coolest, most indirect heat, so the sugars don’t burn.
- Making vegan bbq sauce: Use vegan reviewed brands of ketchup, sugar, and molasses as well as Pickapepper sauce instead of Worcestershire.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
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