This homemade barbecue sauce, using staple ingredients I always have in my cupboards is as easy to make as it is delicious to eat, or use as a flavouring for both mince meat and tofu.

Barbecue sauce is sold relatively cheaply in most grocery stores, in all flavours and sizes. But nothing is better than making your own. And especially if it is as easy to make as using this homemade recipe. This is a traditional flavoured barbecue sauce, but I might experiment in the future with adding other flavours to this base. You know how much I like to add variations to a simple base, to create variations in my cooking.

I like to use this barbecue sauce to mix in with mince meat to make barbecue hamburgers or use it cold as a dipping sauce to my pull apart pizza.

This is also the barbecue sauce I use to make vegetarian barbecue shredded tofu. It is so delicious and does not add any unnecessary water to the already quite wet tofu when baking in the oven.

How to make homemade barbecue sauce

I have had the best results, when I fry the garlic in a bit of oil for a few minutes, before adding the rest of the ingredients. It takes away some of the sharpness of the garlic. Mincing the garlic will leave some lumps in the barbecue sauce, which I do not mind. However if you prefer a smooth barbecue sauce, strain it through a fine sieve after cooking. It will still keep the flavour of garlic without the lumps that might turn off little picky eaters.

What takes the longest is cooking it together and reducing the sauce, but as you can more or less leave it on the stove on its own, it is a very simple recipe to make.

Ingredients

The ingredients for this barbecue sauce are things that most likely you have at home already.

Freezable

This recipe works really well to freeze. Put it in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Leave it to defrost in the fridge for a day and it will be perfect to add in to your mince meat to make your barbecue burgers at night, or give it a stir and use it as a dipping sauce.

Print Recipe

Homemade barbecue sauce

Nothing is better than making your own barbecue sauce, especially if it is as easy to make like this.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time25 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bbq

Servings: 4 portions

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tbs oil
• 100 ml ketchup
• 1 ½ tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar lightly packed
• 100 ml room temperature water
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• ½ tsp chili powder

Instructions

• Mince garlic and fry in a pot for a few minutes in the oil until fragrant.
• Mixed the rest of the ingredients and add to the pot.
• Cook for ten minutes on low heat, don’t let it boil. Whisk occasionally.
• Take off heat and let cool off for a bit before adding it to your dish or serve it as a dipping sauce.

Notes

To make a smooth barbecue sauce, pour it through a sieve after it has cooked together and cooling down, to catch the small bits of garlic.

Variations

If you are looking for other kind of sauces then you can find a whole collection on my Pinterest board of versatile sauces. Where you can find my Quick Asian dipping sauce, or my easy to make Creamy Sriracha 3-2-1 dressing.