Barbecue sauce is just as necessary as ketchup. There, I said it. While there are thousands of different types and brands of barbecue sauce available in store, homemade barbecue sauce takes little time or effort to make! This honey garlic barbecue sauce uses common pantry ingredients, and is a great way to spice up chicken, pork or any of your barbecue favourites. If you're running low on store-bought barbecue sauce, give this a try instead!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
It uses easy pantry ingredients! It can be hard to justify buying special ingredients to use for one recipe. This homemade honey garlic barbecue sauce uses ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry, so there is no need to make a special grocery trip to make this.
It is perfectly sweet and tangy! This barbecue sauce is the perfect mix of sweet, with a kick from chipotle chilis and cayenne pepper. If you like sweeter barbecue sauces, this is definitely the sauce for you.
It is versatile! This honey garlic barbecue sauce goes great on pulled pork, ribs, chicken wings, or even on some simple grilled chicken. It works as a delicious dipping sauce too!
Recipe Overview
Flavour: This barbecue sauce is ketchup-based, which is reminiscent of a classic barbecue sauce that you would find in the grocery store. The honey and brown sugar add the perfect amount of sweetness, with the punch of garlic, cayenne, and chipotle. None of the flavours are overpowering. This is an extremely balanced sauce!
Ease: This barbecue sauce requires no attention. Mix the ingredients into a pot, stir, and let it come to a simmer. That's really it!
Time: The sauce only needs 15-20 minutes to simmer. One it has simmered, it is ready to use.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Ketchup: Ketchup is the perfect base for barbecue sauce. You do not have to reinvent the wheel here by preparing a ketchup base from scratch. Regular store bought ketchup is all you need.
Garlic: Freshly minced garlic works best or this barbecue sauce. If you find fresh garlic to be overpowering, keep in mind that the flavour is much more mellow once it simmers down with the honey and brown sugar. If you wish, you can smash a three cloves of garlic into the barbecue sauce, and remove them once cooked, for a more subtle garlic flavour.
Worcestershire sauce: Worcestershire sauce adds a perfect savoury note to the barbecue sauce. If you don't have any on hand, you can substitute with soy sauce, or leave it out all together.
Honey and brown sugar: These two add the perfect balance of sweetness in the sauce. You may use molasses in place of brown sugar if you don't have it on hand. You can also use all honey, and omit the brown sugar altogether. If you are eating low-carb, you can use brown sugar substitutes in place of the honey and brown sugar. As a tip - when measuring honey, spray the measuring cup with
Spices and seasonings: You will need garlic and onion powder, chipotle chilli powder, and cayenne pepper. If you would prefer to keep the barbecue sauce completely mild, you can omit the cayenne pepper. The chipotle chilli powder is more smokey than spicy, however, it can also be omitted if you are sensitive to spice.
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients: In a sauce pan, combine all the ingredients with a whisk. Over medium-low heat, allow the barbecue sauce to come to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Cool and jar: Remove the sauce from the heat, and transfer to a jar. It will be easier to do this using a funnel. Allow the sauce to cool before closing with the lid.
Expert Tip
Avoid using pre-minced garlic! While peeling and chopping garlic can be a tedious, annoying, and sometimes smelly task, it adds the best flavour to your recipes. Jarred pre-minced garlic sometimes has a metallic, muted garlic taste that will change the results of your barbecue sauce.
Recipe FAQs
This barbecue sauce will keep fresh in the fridge for up to 10 days. Be sure to store it in an airtight container, or jar.
Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it. In order to make this sauce completely vegetarian, you can omit the worcestershire sauce, and replace with soy sauce. This will make this barbecue sauce vegetarian-friendly!
It can be made vegan, by once again omitting the worcestershire sauce and substituting with soy sauce, and using all brown sugar in place of honey. Always read your labels to make sure your ingredients are vegan-friendly!
Tomato ketchup already has some similar flavours that are added to barbecue sauce, which makes it an ideal base. Tomato sauce is generally just pureed tomatoes with salt, and sometimes the addition of basic spices. It is not ideal for BBQ sauce, as it is generally thinner and more acidic.
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Honey Garlic Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup Ketchup
- ¼ cup Brown sugar
- ½ cup Honey
- 2 tbsp Garlic minced
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion powder
- 1 tsp Chipotle chilli powder
- ½ tsp Cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients: In a sauce pan, combine all the ingredients with a whisk. Over medium-low heat, allow the barbecue sauce to come to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Cool and jar: Remove the sauce from the heat, and transfer to a jar. Allow the sauce to cool before closing with the lid.
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