Have you read the ingredients on store-bought Barbecue/BBQ Sauce? It is at least half sugar and it is refined sugar that adds no nutritional value!

Store bought BBQ Sauce also often has maltodextrin as an ingredient. Recent studies have shown “detrimental roles played by maltodextrin in the intestinal environment, suggesting that this broadly used food additive may play a role in the rapid increased incidence of chronic inflammatory disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic syndrome”. If you are interested, you can read the full article in Pub Med here.

Back when I didn’t know better, I would let my son use BBQ Sauce on everything as a way to entice him to eat.

This very easily made BBQ Sauce is four times less sugar and it is refined sugar-free. There is also an option to add some chilli powder to make it even more flavoursome.

So, next time you are having guests for a BBQ, impress them with this tasty and more nutritious version of this must-have condiment. It is a firm favourite in our house, especially with our guests.

Cooking Tips

I have used repurposed tamari sauce bottles that sat with boiling water in them just before bottling the sauce.

When I bottled the sauce I had to be careful that the sudden change in temperature of the air in the bottle didn’t cause the sauce to spit out as I was pouring in. That is why I have recommended letting the mixture cool a bit before bottling. A jar works just as well and the spitting won’t be a problem because the mouth of the jar is large enough to let the expanded air escape.

In fact, if you use a wide mouth jar sterilised with boiling water, you can carefully pour in the sauce straight from the stove and seal straight away before any bacteria can get in.

Also, vinegar is a natural preserving agent. Foods that have a pH value of less than 4.6 will not support the growth of disease-causing bacteria. When I have been more particular with my sterilising, I have kept the sauce in the refrigerator for a couple of months before opening. Once opened, I have successfully kept it in the fridge for a month, even though it is recommended to use it within 10 days. In this house, the two bottles have always been used up by the time a month has passed. The “safe” timeframe would depend a lot on how well the bottles were sterilised and how well the sauce is not contaminated by dirty fingers and utensils when being used.

WARNING: If you open your sauce bottle or jar and there is a rush of escaping air, mould growing on top, or the flavour has changed for the worse, then discard it.

To use up my sauce in a timely manner, I either give a jar away or make sure my weekly meal plan includes recipes that go well with BBQ sauce. These could be homemade hamburgers, pulled organic pork, nitrate-free bacon and eggs, frittata, or a mixed grill.

If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t have brought a store-bought bottle of BBQ Sauce into the house in the first place! I hope you try this recipe and decide for yourself if you want to go back to a store-bought sauce that is 50% sugar.