I’m a fan of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce and one day wanted to make a barbecue chicken pizza and found I didn’t have a drop of Sweet Baby Ray’s. I didn’t feel like making a trip to the store and had remembered seeing or hearing (can’t remember where) that barbecue sauce is just ketchup and brown sugar. I had made my own barbecue sauce long ago from a recipe in one of my recipe books that called for tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and maybe some other ingredients, but I didn’t like the results so never tried it again. Well now I was going to because I did not want to go to the store.
So, remembering what I’d heard, that barbecue sauce is just ketchup and brown sugar, I began to mix them up in a saucepan with some other ingredients and I LOVED the results! I didn’t measure at the time and don’t feel you need to either, but I’m going to list approximate amounts below because some people just like to have a recipe. This is a small recipe because it’s just me, but you can double or triple it and you’d get the same results. Also, this makes a pretty sweet sauce, so if you’d like it less sweet, use less sugar.
1/2 C Ketchup
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp. both Garlic and Onion powder
1/4 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Dehydrated Onion Bits
Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a slow boil and cook for a few minutes until sugar dissolves. Cool and serve. Store leftovers in the fridge.
Would love to hear your related comments below. Let me know if you tried the recipe and if you liked it. Do you have a barbecue sauce recipe? What’s your favorite sauce recipe (any sauce)? I’ve always loved making sauces, salad dressings and jams from scratch because most of the time they taste better and are less expensive than store-bought.
~ Monica
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