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Here’s a homemade Barbecue Sauce recipe that’s every bit as delicious as Sweet Baby Ray’s famous sauce. It’s all natural, made by you, and only takes a few minutes.
There are four major styles of barbecue in the United States: Carolina, Kansas City, Memphis, and Texas. I’ve always been partial to the tomato/molasses-based Kansas-style barbecue because, like many Midwesterners, I like a little sugar with my meat.
Sweet Baby Ray’s is a cult classic: It’s thick and sweet and wholly in the Kansas-style camp. It’s my personal favorite. But never content with store-bought, I had to make my own.
The homemade version is awesome! It’s more than a substitute: It’s an upgrade. You can dial the spicy factor up or down and you can high-five yourself for making it from scratch.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Molasses: Substitute ¼ cup dark corn syrup, honey, or maple syrup, or 3 tablespoons firmly-packed brown sugar (the flavor of the sauce will change).
- Cayenne pepper: Add to taste (I like ½ teaspoon) or omit entirely.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a non-reactive saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the ketchup, brown sugar, pineapple juice, molasses, liquid smoke, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder.
- Bring the sauce to a low boil; reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until flavors have blended, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Stir in vinegar, then season to taste with cayenne, salt, and pepper (I like ½ teaspoon cayenne, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper).
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Barbecue Sauce recipe makes about 4 cups (1 quart) barbecue sauce.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Cool the sauce completely, then pack into freezer-safe containers (I like to use pint jars). Label, date, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Recipe FAQs
The 4 main styles of American barbecue are Carolina (which is further subdivided into Eastern and Lexington-style barbecue), Kansas City, Memphis, and Texas (Texas is divided into 4 regions also, the most popular being Southern Texas barbecue).
Sweet Baby Ray’s is thick, sweet, and based on Kansas City barbecue. In Kansas City, the barbecue sauce is tomato-and-molasses based, just like SBR.
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Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1/2 cup brown sugar plus more to taste
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 4 tablespoons molasses (see note 1)
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke (see note 3)
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- cayenne pepper (see note 2)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a non-reactive saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the ketchup, brown sugar, pineapple juice, molasses, liquid smoke, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder.
- Bring the sauce to a low boil; reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until flavors have blended, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in vinegar, then season to taste with cayenne, salt, and pepper (I like ½ teaspoon cayenne, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper).
Notes
- Molasses: Substitute ¼ cup dark corn syrup, honey, or maple syrup, or 3 tablespoons firmly-packed brown sugar (the flavor of the sauce will change).
- Cayenne pepper: Add to taste (I like ½ teaspoon) or omit entirely.
- Liquid smoke: In a pinch, substitute 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (the flavor of the sauce will change).
- Yield: This Barbecue Sauce recipe makes about 4 cups (1 quart) barbecue sauce.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Cool the sauce completely, then pack into freezer-safe containers (I like to use pint jars). Label, date, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Hello, your recipe is missing the tamarind paste as mentioned in the text of your post. Could you please update or advise how much you used? Additionally, I want to question if the brown sugar and vinegar currently listed in your recipe is part of the substitution mentioned, or those as well as tamarind? Thanks!
Hi Brandi! Thank you SO much for noticing that. I’ve fixed the post. It calls for 2 teaspoons. However, if you cannot find it or want to do the substitution, please feel free to omit. The sauce is still delicious! The substitution is not part of the recipe above, it would be in addition to. Thank you again! – Meggan
This is the best barbecue sauce I have ever had.
I cannot see the quantity slider. Would love to make this for a big party as this is by far the best bbq sauce i have made and tasted
Hi Kimberly, I’m so sorry about that. I have fixed the quantity slider for you. This recipe will yield about 48 tablespoons.
I ran across this recipe and it looks good if you can have tons of carbs. I can’t so I personally buy a brand called AlternaSweets. Have you tried them? So close to Sweet Baby Rays but keto friendly. I would buy this stuff if I didn’t have to eat a ketogenic diet. I’d love to see if you think AlternaSweets is as great as I do!!
Megan,
This recipe is the BOMB!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾💣💣💣💣
I do have a question regarding the amount of service mare. I love Manning enough (1 gallon), for the entire summer as well as have enough to share with friends. By adjusting it’s this, how do I adjust the recipe to produce the amount I want? I know I can take the ketchup up to 36 or 48 ounces, but wechat do I increase everything else too?
Hi Keith, I’m so glad you like it! Thanks! There is a little “slider” on the recipe that you can drag, so you can increase the recipe quantity. It will adjust all of the amounts of the ingredients automatically so you don’t have to do the math. Does that make sense? Are you able to locate the quantity slider? If not let me know. Thank you! -Meggan
please review your barb q sauce recipe. prepared mustard is called’the dry stuff’, but in your picture,yellow mustard from a squeeze bottle is shown. please correct and re post
Hi David! I’m so sorry about that! Thank you for catching that. I have reposted it now. Thanks so much for reading! :D -Meggan