BBQ Sauce

At BBQ4Beginners we have a bit of a love / hate relationship with BBQ Sauce!  We love great barbecue sauce especially taking advantage of all of the regional differences.  Unfortunately, when we visit bbq resturants we find that to many hide behind the flavor of the sauce and aren’t producing a product that has all of the smoked flavor we’re hoping to taste.  Usually the first thing we do in trying a new place is order the everything platter and wipe the sauce off what we can to taste the naked food.  We believe that sauce should be used enhance the flavor of great bbq not to create it!

You may ask why make your own bbq sauce when there are so many you can get off the shelf.  Well there are a couple of reasons you may want to consider making your own.  The first that reason is that many people want to get away from high fructose corn syrup as the main ingredient.  When these nationa producers are trying to make a large volume product at an attractive price point they look for lower cost ingredients.  Making your own sauce would allow you to get away from this as a component of the sauce.  Another key reason people make their own is to create a unique flavor that best fits them.  You can add the flavor profile that best fits your likes and dislikes.  Our first attempt at sauces was so that we could smoke the tomato paste and add that aspect to the flavor.  But what ever your reason you should certainly at least give it a try.

This is our base bbq sauce which is great on its own or can be modified to add a variety of different flavors.  Many recipes found on line start with ketchup which already brings in the tomato and vinegar.  By starting with the sauce you can modify as desired the vinegar component or as we have go to an apple cider vinegar.  Sauce we definitely create to taste .

 

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Basic Tomato Based BBQ Sauce

 

  • 2 cups tomato puree (smoked)
  • 1/2 cup of molasses 
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 3 tablespoons of honey
  • 3 teaspoons  smoked paprika
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1  teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

 

 

Classic Kansas City BBQ Sauce

 

  • 2 Cups tomato sauce
  • ¾ C dark molasses
  • ½ C white wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon mild curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

 

 

This is our base bbq sauce which is great on its own or can be modified to add a variety of different flavors.  Many recipes found on line start with ketchup which already brings in the tomato and vinegar.  By starting with the sauce you can modify as desired the vinegar component or as we have go to an apple cider vinegar.  Sauce we definitely create to taste .

 

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Carolina BBQ Sauce

 

  • 3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup of honey
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 1/4 cup of mustard powder
  • 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon of Tumeric
  • 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
  • 1/2 of teaspoon of white pepper

  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt

     

     

     

 

 

This is a easy to make but great tasting bbq sauce from the Carolina’s.  It will be thinner then the tomato based sauce but offers a terrific flavor.  This sauce works exceptionally well if you are making pulled pork sandwhiches with coleslaw and pickles.  Even if you are a fan of the midwest style red bbq sauces you should try the Carolina style.  If you’re like us you’ll want to broaden your bbq offerings with this option.

 

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