This homemade Texas-style barbecue sauce is thick, a little spicy, a little sweet and a little smoky. Made with no ketchup and no refined sugar, it's the perfect BBQ sauce for all of your summer grilling needs!
If there's one thing Texans know, it's barbecue. We take our BBQ very seriously in the Lone Star State. And while we like to think we do everything better here, we know we do barbecue the best.
Of course, every good Texan will tell you that good BBQ doesn't need sauce. That's true. But unless you're an expert pitmaster, chances are your meat could use a little sauce. Even if you are an expert pitmaster, it's nice to have the option of a good barbecue sauce.
After a few attempts at homemade BBQ sauce, I think I've finally perfected my recipe. I say my recipe because everyone likes their sauce a little bit different, but this is pretty near perfect for me.
This delicious Texas-style barbecue sauce is the perfect mixture of spicy, sweet and smoky. And I love that it's made with real vegetables, no ketchup (like many BBQ sauce recipes are) and no refined sugar, except for the little in the Worcestershire sauce. And it definitely doesn't have some of the questionable ingredients in store-bought sauces. While there is still some sugar and sweetness from molasses, I like to think this BBQ sauce is a better choice (and definitely tastes better!) than most store-bought sauces. It's also super simple to make.
Slather this homemade Texas-style barbecue sauce on everything from pulled pork or ribs to grilled chicken to make all of your cookouts and barbecues more enjoyable!
If you made this recipe, please leave a star rating in the comments!
PrintHomemade Texas Style Barbecue Sauce
This homemade Texas style barbecue sauce is thick, a little spicy, a little sweet and a little smoky. Made with no ketchup and no refined sugar, it's the perfect BBQ sauce for all of your summer grilling needs!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
- Category: sauce
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: BBQ
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon avocado or olive oil (or bacon grease)
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, heat oil over low heat. Add garlic and onion and cook, stirring, until softened.
- Add remaining ingredients and simmer on low about 5 minutes, stirring.
- Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to blend sauce until smooth, or let sauce cool to room temperature then pour into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Return to pan and turn heat back on low. Let simmer until warmed through.
Notes
Worcestershire sauce usually contains soy sauce, so it has a small amount of gluten. If that is a concern, look for brands made without soy sauce. It also contains anchovies, so it is not vegetarian.
Keywords: homemade BBQ sauce, Texas style BBQ sauce
Jessica Smith says
Hi Kaleigh,
I’m wanting to make this sauce for Fathers Day this weekend. Doing Ribs for hubby and using both the Rub & Sauce recipes you have.
Just wondering, I’m in Aus and it says to use tinned tomato sauce? Would that be like tomato purée? Or ketchup? Tomato sauce over here is ketchup so I just don’t want to order the wrong thing!
Thanks so so much ♥️♥️
Kaleigh says
Hi Jessica,
It would be tomato puree! Enjoy!
Lisa says
Tastes like what my mom used to make. This is now my go to recipe.
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
I'm so glad you like it!
Tom says
Made this sauce and it's really good!
I'm a little perplexed about the comments about not using ketchup, but then you add tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is also a concoction made up of tomatoes, sugar, celery, onion, and other veggies, cooked, and then canned. Were you trying to avoid sugar in the recipe, or just looking for a different flavor profile?
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
I'm glad you liked it! Mostly trying to control the amount of sugar and avoid high fructose corn syrup that is in most ketchup. And some people may just not have it on hand!
Deborah Allen says
Wow your bbq sauce is amazing, so very rasty with our ribs tonight thank you for sharing.
Kaleigh says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review!
Rachel says
Your Texan Card has officially been revoked. No Texan would dream of mentioning pulled pork in a blog post about BBQ, Texans are passionate about ending this sickening phenomenon where people keep putting pulled pork where chopped brisket belongs.
I'm like 60% joking, this BBQ sauce recipe sounds yummy, thanks for sharing it!
Kaleigh says
Ha! We are totally beef people, but I do love pulled pork coming in second or third. 🙂
Kenikh says
I made some modifications to suit my tastes, but this is a 5 star recipe as is. Great work.
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
M1943 says
How long will the sauce keep in the fridge?
Kaleigh says
It will last at least a couple of weeks.