Some things just scream summer, don’t they? Swimming, fireworks, freshly picked berries, homemade ice cream, and firing up the grill, to name few.

Speaking of barbequing, boy, do I have a homemade BBQ sauce for you. Seriously! Just open up your fridge and toss out all of those half empty bottles and make this right. now. NOW. This is the stuff that BBQ dreams are made of. You’ll never go store bought again. I think this would be the perfect show-off recipe for that upcoming 4th of July BBQ.

Ingredients for homemade BBQ sauce

(Please forgive the cayenne pepper.  She somehow got mixed up with her dear friend, Lawry’s Seasoning Salt. Note: There is no seasoning salt in this recipe, but there is indeed Cayenne Pepper. Have I lost you yet?)

1 cup ketchup
1 cup tomato sauce
¾ cup red wine vinegar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
¼ cup molasses
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon course ground pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon chili powder

Don’t let the length of the ingredients list scare you off. I promise it comes together in a snap!

Directions for Homemade BBQ Sauce

Add all ingredients into a medium saucepan. See? I just dump it all in. This is what it looks like:

Also, the lighting over my stove is very poor. (Read: Non-existent).  Yes, I certainly did walk outside and take a picture of my saucepan on my front porch.

Stir until well mixed and bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn heat to low and let simmer and thicken for a minimum of 15 minutes. I usually let mine go for at least an hour. Let cool and pour into container of choice. Refrigerate and use within 2 weeks. Use in place of 1 regular sized bottle of store bought BBQ sauce.

Today I slow cooked some chicken breasts in this sauce, shredded up the chicken and whalah! Easy, no fuss summer BBQ chicken sandwiches. Add a spoonful or two to your favorite ranch sauce for a unique BBQ flair cobb salad. On Father’s Day, I layered a dry rub on some pork ribs, smothered them in this homemade BBQ sauce and slow cooked them all day in my crockpot. DELISH, people.

As far as cost savings goes, the average joe BBQ sauce at my local grocery store runs about $2 on sale. Depending on the quality of ingredients and sale prices, our homemade version runs around $1.25.

While that’s only about a 37% savings, this recipe is well worth it! I love that I can pronounce every single ingredient (contrary to that store bought bottle) and you really can’t beat the flavor. I will never have need for another homemade BBQ sauce as long as I live. Really, it’s that good!

Recipe Card

5 from 1 vote

love it? rate it!

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Published By Karrie

Course condiment

Cuisine American

Keyword bbq

Servings 1

Print

Pin

Rate

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

You'll never go back to buying it again!

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going to sleep

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

• ▢ 1 cup ketchup
• ▢ 1 cup tomato sauce
• ▢ ¾ cup red wine vinegar
• ▢ ¾ cup brown sugar
• ▢ 2 tbsp butter cut in small pieces
• ▢ 2 tsp liquid smoke
• ▢ ¼ cup molasses
• ▢ ¼ tsp onion powder
• ▢ ¼ tsp garlic powder
• ▢ ½ tsp paprika
• ▢ ½ tsp salt
• ▢ ½ tsp course ground pepper
• ▢ ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• ▢ 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• ▢ 1/8 tsp chili powder

Instructions

• Add all ingredients into a medium saucepan. 
• Stir until well mixed and bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn heat to low and let simmer and thicken for a minimum of 15 minutes. I usually let mine go for at least an hour. Let cool and pour into container of choice. Refrigerate and use within 2 weeks. Use in place of 1 regular sized bottle of store bought BBQ sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 1448kcal | Carbohydrates: 304g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 4947mg | Potassium: 3090mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 286g | Vitamin A: 3856IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 391mg | Iron: 10mg

Loved this recipe?

Make sure to follow on Instagram @happymoneysaver and on Pinterest @happymoneysaver for more money savin' recipes!

Recipe adapted from this recipe at melskitchencafe.com.

About Karrie

Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...