Homemade BBQ Sauce

Homemade BBQ Sauce is an easy recipe for a smoky sweet barbecue sauce with no ketchup or liquid smoke. The best sauce for grilling, slow cooker and more!

A trusty bottle of BBQ Sauce can come in handy when making Pulled Pork Sandwiches or BBQ Chicken Wings but nothing beats a great BBQ Sauce Recipe from scratch.

HOMEMADE BBQ SAUCE

This Homemade BBQ Sauce is a Kansas City style sauce that you can use for grilling, roasting, dipping, or slathered on burgers. You’ll love this easy recipe for BBQ sauce without high fructose corn syrup, or ketchup that you can make in about 10 minutes.

If you’ve never made BBQ Sauce from scratch before, be prepared to have your mind blown! It’s so incredibly easy to get a flavorful great sauce without having to buy an expensive bottle of BBQ sauce. The ingredients for homemade BBQ Sauce are very simple and you probably have most of them on hand.

Some BBQ sauce recipes use ketchup but we prefer using tomato paste and tomato sauce. No need to worry about the ketchup quality, if it’s gluten free, or has high fructose corn syrup. Plus canned tomato paste and tomato sauce are much cheaper than a bottle of good ketchup.

This Homemade BBQ sauce is great sauce for so many of your favorite summer dinner recipes. Make BBQ chicken by brushing our Easy Grilled Chicken with this bbq sauce as it grills. Substitute the ingredients in this recipe to when making Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches or BBQ Baked Beans.

Slightly smoky and sweet, this BBQ Sauce is a family friendly version that kids will love. Unlike vinegar based sauces, it’s not overly tangy and there is just a hint of heat but not enough to make it spicy. It’s the perfect kid friendly condiment for Crispy Chicken Tenders.

You can make this sauce ahead of time or use it right when it’s done cooking. This BBQ sauce can be refrigerated, frozen, or even preserved by canning. There are some water bath canning instructions in this post if you want to make a large batch of Homemade BBQ Sauce for later or for gifts!

When it comes to the “best BBQ Sauce”, everyone has their own (often strong) opinions. But this is one of the best BBQ sauce recipes that you can easily make your own! It’s amazing the way it is and gets even better as you use the variations below to adjust to your taste.

MORE EASY BBQ RECIPES

Easy Pulled Pork

Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Sandwiches

BBQ Pulled Chicken

Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

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VARIATIONS HOMEMADE BBQ SAUCE

• Spicy: To give your BBQ Sauce heat add chipotle in adobo sauce, hot sauce, or cayenne pepper to taste.
• Sweet: Replace some of the brown sugar with honey or maple syrup for a sweeter sauce. You can add a tablespoon of molasses for a true Kansas City barbecue sauce.
• Smoky: For a hickory BBQ sauce, try adding a little liquid smoke at a time to taste. Its powerful stuff so start with an 1/8 teaspoon of liquid smoke and go from there. You can also use smoked paprika for smoky flavor.
• Spices: Try different dried spices like smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, and onion powder to make this BBQ sauce your own.

How to Can BBQ Sauce using Water Bath Canning

• Prepare BBQ Sauce Recipe as usual. Use the slider tool on the serving size to adjust for larger batches.
• Sterilize canning jars, lids, and rings in boiling water while sauce is cooking. Keep hot.
• Fill hot jars with BBQ sauce, leaving a 1/4 inch gap from top, careful not to splatter. Clean rims completely if needed.
• Top with sterile lids and secure rings to finger tip tightness.
• Place in the bottom of a Water Canner and cover with water 2 inches over the lids.
• Seal lid and bring to a boil. For pint jars, boil 30 minutes. For quart jars, boil 40 minutes.
• After boiling, turn off heat and rest for 5 minutes. Transfer jars to a cooling rack and rest for 24 hours.
• Wipe jars, remove rings, and store in pantry for up to a year.

MORE DELICIOUS DIPPING SAUCES

Buffalo Wing Sauce

Easy Pizza Sauce

Honey Mustard

Fry Sauce

HOW TO STORE HOMEMADE BBQ SAUCE

• Serve: Serve this Homemade BBQ Sauce immediately in a recipe or cool down to for a dipping sauce.
• Store: Refrigerate BBQ Sauce in a glass jar or airtight container for up to 1 week.
• Freeze: You can freeze BBQ sauce in a sealed container for up to 6 months. Cool BBQ sauce before freezing.

5 from 4 votes

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Homemade BBQ Sauce

Homemade BBQ Sauce is an easy recipe for a smoky sweet barbecue sauce with no ketchup or liquid smoke. The best sauce for grilling, slow cooker and more!

Course Sauce

Cuisine American

Keyword Homemade BBQ Sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 12 servings

Calories 85 kcal

Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 yellow onion , diced
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 15 ounces tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Add the oil and onions to a large pot on medium heat and cook for 5-6 minutes until the onions are softened, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the garlic, tomato sauce, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, salt and pepper and stir well.

3. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer then cook for 10-15 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

4. Use warm or refrigerate until needed.

Nutrition Facts

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Amount Per Serving

Calories 85 Calories from Fat 9

% Daily Value*

Fat 1g2%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Sodium 372mg16%

Potassium 252mg7%

Carbohydrates 18g6%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 16g18%

Protein 1g2%

Vitamin A 524IU10%

Vitamin C 5mg6%

Calcium 26mg3%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.