Honey BBQ Sauce Recipe
Are you ready to take your BBQ and grilling to the next level? Then you’ve simply got to try this honey BBQ sauce recipe. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and tangy with just a hint of heat with more flavor than any bottled sauce. You’re going to love it.
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love This Honey BBQ Sauce!
- Stir and heat! That’s all it takes to make homemade BBQ sauce.
- So versatile. Making it yourself means you can adjust ANY of the ingredients to make a BBQ sauce you love.
- Tastes way better than store-bought sauce.
- Convenient homemade condiment. This BBQ sauce recipe goes with a wide range of dishes!
Ingredients
Homemade honey BBQ sauce is made using 100% pantry staple ingredients. My guess is you have most, if not all of them in your pantry right now! Let’s take a closer look at what you need.
- Ketchup: Our tomato base for this homemade BBQ sauce.
- Honey: Sweetens and provides its unique flavor to this BBQ sauce.
- White vinegar: Gives the sauce it’s signature tang which balances out the sweetness in the honey, molasses, and ketchup.
- Molasses: Infuses the BBQ sauce with its hints of smoke, deep caramel, and subtle fruity flavor.
- Spices: Cumin powder, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder give the sauce more depth of flavor and more interesting notes making it taste so good!
- Cayenne pepper: We’re adding only enough to give the sauce a bit of zing.
- Worcestershire sauce: Just a bit to bring all the flavors together. It adds that simple touch of umami flavor.
How To Make Honey BBQ Sauce
Making homemade BBQ sauce is way easier than you think. It goes together in just a couple simple steps and tastes way better than any bottled BBQ sauce.
- Stir the ketchup, honey, vinegar, and molasses in a saucepan over medium heat until it’s smooth.
- Add the cumin, salt, black pepper, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce to the pot.
- Stir everything together until it’s well mixed.
- Reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the sauce thickens. This usually takes about 20 minutes.
Tips & Variations
- Spicy Honey Barbecue Sauce: If you’re looking to spice things up you can double the cayenne pepper or add a bit of Sriracha or other red pepper sauce.
- Smoky Honey BBQ Sauce: For a smokier flavor you can add a few drops of liquid smoke or you can swap the paprika for smoked paprika.
- Adjust the Flavors. You can make your barbecue sauce exactly the way you want so feel free to change up any of the measurements you want. Add more honey for more sweetness, more vinegar for a bit more tanginess, or any of the spices!
Serving Suggestions
BBQ sauce is one of my favorite condiments to keep on hand. I always have a batch in the fridge or freezer to use to add a punch of flavor to any meal. Here are some ideas for using your homemade honey BBQ sauce.
Combine it with a bit of Ranch dressing to make a BBQ ranch to add to wraps, sandwiches, or for dipping fries. You can also mix some into my crockpot shredded chicken to make BBQ chicken meat for tacos, add it to a salad, or turn it into a sandwich.
Take your air fryer frozen burger up a notch by topping it with some BBQ sauce and crispy onions! For your next party, you definitely want to use it to make a batch of the best pulled pork sliders topped with coleslaw! So good.
Recipe FAQ
It’s main purpose is to add sweetness in order to balance out the vinegar and spices in the sauce. It also thickens the consistency of the BBQ sauce too.
Brands of ketchup taste different so they will each work a bit differently when making BBQ sauce. My favorite brand of ketchup is Heinz which is what I used in creating this recipe. You can use your favorite ketchup and adjust the other ingredients if needed to your tastes.
It’s balance of sweet, tangy, and savory though I find it tends to lean a bit more to the sweeter side of things.
Storing
- Store. Your leftover BBQ sauce in the fridge in an airtight container or jar for up to a month.
- Freeze. To extend it’s shelf-life store it in the freezer for up to three months. Sometimes I make a large batch and then portion it out into 1-cup servings to freeze separately. That way I can take out exactly what I need for a meal.
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Honey BBQ Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup ketchup
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir ketchup, honey, vinegar, and molasses until smooth.
- Add cumin, salt, black pepper, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until combined.
- Reduce heat to low, and simmer until thickened about 20 minutes.
Notes
- Spicy Honey Barbecue Sauce: If you’re looking to spice things up you can double the cayenne pepper or add a bit of Sriracha or other red pepper sauce.
- Smoky Honey BBQ Sauce: For a smokier flavor you can add a few drops of liquid smoke or you can swap the paprika for smoked paprika.
- Adjust the Flavors. You can make your barbecue sauce exactly the way you want so feel free to change up any of the measurements you want. Add more honey for more sweetness, more vinegar for a bit more tanginess, or any of the spices!
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