This Homemade BBQ Sauce is sweet, tangy, and a little spicy. It will take your meat to a whole new level! With a handful of ingredients you can make a batch of barbecue sauce and tweak it to your liking.
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Homemade BBQ sauce is so quick and easy to make! As always, made-from-scratch is always the best because it’s fresh and you can always make tweak to make it exactly how you like. Use it on Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken, Fall-Apart Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, and Beef Brisket in the Oven.
Barbecue Sauce
Whether you’re looking for a BBQ sauce without corn syrup or just want to have fresh homemade sauce, this recipe is for you! All it takes is dumping a bunch of ingredients in a pot and letting it simmer. It’s so flavorful and will be the star of your dish.
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Ingredients for BBQ Sauce:
- Tomato Sauce & Paste– These are the base of the sauce. The paste adds more concentrated flavor.
- Vinegar– This helps balance the sweet flavor in the barbecue sauce.
- Brown Sugar– This adds sweetness as well as flavor.
- Molasses– molasses as depth of flavor and helps thicken the sauce.
- Worcestershire Sauce– This sauce has a umami flavor. It’s a bit sour, sweet, and salty.
- Liquid Smoke– This is the key to making your meat taste like it was smoked but without the work.
- Seasonings– Garlic powder, onion powder, salt, paprika, and cayenne pepper.
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How to make BBQ Sauce:
Time needed: 20 minutes
- Mix & Simmer
Place all ingredient in a medium pot and bring to a simmer over med-high heat. Reduce heat to med-low and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes until thickened.
- Store
Use or store in an airtight container for up to a week.
FAQs
For any sauce, the key to making it thicker is to just let it simmer for longer. Simmering a sauce allows more water to evaporate and therefore thicken.
Barbecue sauce can be made spicier by adding extra cayenne pepper and/or tabasco sauce.
This recipe is made from scratch which allows one to control the sugar content in the barbecue sauce.
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TOOLS USED TO MAKE THIS SAUCE:
- Pot & Skillet Set– These are the skillets and pots I use. They have a heavy bottom making them sturdy and cook the food evenly. I use these multiple times a day.
- Whisk– I prefer this narrow whisk when cooking sauces in a skillet compared to the balloon whisk I use when mixing batters in a bowl.
- Stainless Steel Measuring Cups & Spoons– I love these measuring cups! They’re sturdy, pretty and it has every size measuring cup and spoon! I can’t stand sets that don’t come with 2/3 and 3/4 cups.

LOOKING FOR MORE HOMEMADE CONDIMENTS? CHECK OUT THESE:
- The BEST Homemade Salsa
- Homemade Cheese Sauce for Broccoli
- Homemade Mayonnaise
- Lemon Tahini Dressing
- The BEST Jalapeño Pepper Jelly
Homemade BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Place all ingredient in a medium pot and bring to a simmer over med-high heat. Reduce heat to med-low and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes until thickened.
- Use or store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Hello. Can you freeze this?
Yes!