Honey BBQ Sauce
This smoky, tangy, ultra-delicious honey BBQ sauce will ramp up your favorite barbecue recipes. In only 10 minutes, you’ll have the perfect dipping, grilling, and drizzling sauce made right in the comfort of your own kitchen!
Why do we love BBQ sauce? That’s because it perfectly balances tangy, smoky, sweet, and savory. Plus, we use it on so many foods in my house: grilled meat, chicken tenders, sandwiches, and French fries.
Food scientists constantly look for ways to provide the bliss point, balancing salt and fat or salt, sugar, and fat. But we don’t need to be a scientist to know when we taste that point.
Why Homemade Is Best
There are some really good store-bought BBQ sauces out there, so if you have your favorite, no judgment. But having control over ingredients, customizing the flavors to your family’s tastes, and avoiding an extra trip to the store just because you forgot to put it on the list is priceless. Get creative and make it as mild or as wild as you want!
Making Honey BBQ Sauce
Sauté the garlic and onions in a little oil until the onions soften and become translucent. Turn off the heat, add the rest of the ingredients, stir well, and adjust seasonings to taste.
Recipe Notes
- For a sweeter sauce, add a touch more honey or brown sugar, and for more of a tang, add more vinegar.
- Wine vinegar, rice vinegar, and plum vinegar are flavor options if you don’t have apple cider vinegar.
- For a milder BBQ sauce, replace the red pepper with paprika, and to make it hotter, replace the paprika with cayenne pepper.
- No molasses? Replace it with 3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar.
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
BBQ sauce is even better the next day. Keep it in the fridge, and take it out about 30 minutes before using it to take off the chill.
Homemade BBQ sauce usually lasts refrigerated for 2-3 weeks in an airtight glass jar or in the freezer for up to 6 months (or longer if you ask me, because vinegar and honey are both natural preservatives). Label it with the date you made it so you know how long you’ve had it.
What Honey BBQ Sauce Enhances
If you’re a die-hard BBQ sauce fan, I know you use it to dip your fries, put it on pulled pork sandwiches, and even put it in stew. One of my family’s favorite uses for barbecue sauce is smoked baked beans. Try it and let me know what you think.
More Customizable Smoking Sauce Recipes
By Imma
Honey BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 1-2 teaspoons (5-10g) butter, cooking oil, or bacon fat
- ⅓ cup (30g) minced onions
- 2 teaspoons (10g) minced garlic
- 2 cups (545g) ketchup
- ½ cup (118g) apple cider vinegar
- ½ tablespoon (4-5g) chili powder
- ¼-⅓ cup (85-110g) honey
- 1 tablespoon (15g) Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons (6g) smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons (42g) molasses
- 1 teaspoon (5g) liquid smoke
- ½ teaspoon (3g) red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon (2g) celery seeds
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and sauté the onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes or until the onions wilt.
- Turn off the heat, then add the rest of the ingredients: ketchup, apple cider vinegar, chili powder, honey, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, molasses, liquid smoke, red pepper flakes, and celery seeds. Stir well until fully combined.
- Taste and adjust seasonings to preference with more spices, more honey for sweetness, or more vinegar for more tang.
- Once you're happy with the flavor, you can use it immediately, or cover it and let it cool completely. Then pour it into a glass jar or an airtight container and refrigerate to allow the flavors to meld.
Tips & Notes:
- Feel free to experiment and adjust ingredients to your liking. If you want it sweeter, add more honey, and if you want it tangier, add more vinegar.
- For an even faster BBQ sauce, cook the onions and garlic in the microwave for about a minute. Then mix them with the rest of the ingredients.
- Different types of honey and vinegar have differing levels of sweetness and acidity. So do a taste test and adjust the ingredients according to your palate.
Awesome!!!