Last Updated on 16th May 2022 by
Who can resist that sweet and salty, tangy and spicy with umami flavor combination? BBQ is one of the most common ways of cooking meat. While this process is commonly confused with grilling, BBQ is a process of cooking meat where heat is circulating your meat with the lid closed. Meanwhile, grilling is cooking meat where heat is at the bottom instead of being distributed around.
You will find an amusing number of recipes for BBQ sauce on the internet. Among these are recipes on the exciting influence of various ethnicities and preferences or localized palates. BBQ sauce recipe has also become one of the most common family heirloom recipes, which is why you’d commonly find households making their BBQ sauce instead of getting store-bought ones.
Here’s how to give meat a barbecued flavour with a simple homemade BBQ sauce.
How to make Honey BBQ Sauce from Regular BBQ sauce
One of the most popular variations of BBQ sauce is honey BBQ sauce. This is best for people, especially kids, who have a sweet palate.
This variety uses more ingredients but is less spicy and sweeter than regular BBQ sauce. This flavor is best used for BBQ meat, chicken wings, or chicken BBQ, and as a sauce in burgers and hotdogs, to name a few.
How to Make Homemade Honey BBQ Sauce
You can adjust the ingredients based on your preferences and the amount of sauce you need to prepare. This will also serve as your guide on how to make BBQ sauce with ketchup and honey.
For the ingredients, you will need:
- 1 cup of ketchup
- ½ cup of brown sugar
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
It’s very easy to prepare the sauce. You have to combine all the ingredients in a medium-sized pan over medium heat. Let the sauce boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer.
While simmering, occasionally stir the sauce to make sure even heating. Do this for about 15 minutes. Then, remove the sauce from heat and let it cool. Once cooled down, transfer the sauce into an airtight container and put it in the refrigerator so you can store it for up to 2 weeks.
That’s basically your guide when you plan on making a homemade honey BBQ sauce. This recipe is also best as a BBQ sauce for wings, perfect for a Friday night BBQ party at home.
How to Make Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce
While honey BBQ sauce is great for barbequing and as a sauce on several foods, honey mustard BBQ sauce is recommended for marinating your meat and dipping, especially pork and poultry.
However, this does not mean it won’t go well with other meats. You can still use this sauce on beef or even seafood. You can also pour it on fries or incorporate it into a meat-filled sandwich.
Below are the ingredients that you need for honey mustard BBQ sauce.
- ½ cup Dijon mustard
- Two tablespoons whole-grain mustard (If you can’t find whole-grain mustard in your local grocery, you can go ahead and use whatever mustard is available for you. Just make sure that it will fit your taste)
- ½ cup dark honey (You can find this in grocery stores or local markets. But if you can’t find one, you can definitely use any honey available for you)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- Two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
- Two tablespoons water
- Two tablespoons finely minced shallots (if shallot is not available, you can use about a quarter of a medium-sized red onion)
The ingredients are almost the same, except that ketchup was removed, and mustard was added. Also, garlic and onion powder were removed and replaced with finely minced onions. We removed brown sugar and just relied on honey for the sweetness.
Place a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat and put oil. Once the oil is hot enough, add shallots. Cook shallots for 2 to 3 minutes until transparent. Then, add all the other ingredients into the saucepan and simmer for about 6 to 8 minutes with frequent stirring.
If the sauce produces too many bubbles, reduce the heat. Let it simmer until cooked through. Once done, remove from heat and let the sauce cool. Place it in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for about a week.
Heat the sauce before using it. Depending on your preferred temperature, you can pop it in the microwave for about 15 to 30 minutes. This sauce is best used towards the last 15 to 20 minutes of cooking your meat since it has sugar or honey that will cause it to burn.
Best Uses for BBQ Sauce
BBQ sauce can level up your experience instead of just the average taco or quesadilla sauce. You can put pulled meat with BBQ sauce in your tacos or fill your quesadilla with BBQ filling.
The BBQ sauce is also excellent combined with cream cheese to serve as your dip for chips. Who doesn’t love nachos? Nachos topped with meat taste better with BBQ sauce, and BBQ sauce also gives your chili a smoky flavor.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
