Making Your Own BBQ Sauce: Base Recipes to Get Started
Making your own BBQ sauce lets you control every flavor, from sweetness to heat. It also gives your cooking a signature edge that no store-bought bottle can match. Rick Martinez of Bon Appétit shares a reliable formula for building your own. He explains, “Tomato base + sweet + salty + spicy + smoky + acidic” (Bon Appétit). This combination is the foundation for nearly every homemade or regional BBQ sauce.
To start, gently sauté the chopped onions and garlic in oil until they are soft. Deglaze the pan with beer, water, or broth. Stir in ketchup or tomato paste thinned with water, then layer in sweetness using molasses or brown sugar. Add a salty element like Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce, and spice things up with hot sauce or cayenne. Smoked paprika or chipotle adds smoky flavor, while apple cider vinegar or lemon juice brings acidity. Let everything simmer until thick but still pourable.
Regional sauces demonstrate the flexibility of this formula. South Carolina’s mustard-based sauce, often referred to as Carolina Gold, is tangy and slightly sweet. Alabama white sauce stands out with its creamy base of mayonnaise, sharp vinegar, and black pepper. As Epicurious notes, it was “created in 1925 by Robert Gibson” (Epicurious). Meanwhile, North Carolina’s vinegar and pepper sauce skips tomato entirely for a bold, sharp bite. St. Louis-style sauce adds more sweetness and often includes brown sugar and tomato ketchup with a bit of vinegar for balance.
If you want something quick, whisk together ketchup, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes, then let it cool and store it in the fridge. It will keep for up to a week, or you can freeze it for longer.
Once you get the hang of the basic formula, try swapping ingredients like citrus for vinegar or honey for sugar. With a little time and tasting, you can create a go-to sauce that brings real flavor to every rack of ribs or plate of pulled pork.
Sources
Rick Martinez, All You Need to Make Barbecue Sauce Is This Formula, Bon Appétit
https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/how-to/article/need-make-barbecue-sauce-formula
Meet Alabama Barbecue Sauce (aka Grilled Chicken’s Best Friend), Epicurious
https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/alabama-white-barbecue-sauce-recipe-grilled-chicken-article
Barbecue in South Carolina, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbecue_in_South_Carolina
Barbecue in North Carolina, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbecue_in_North_Carolina
St. Louis–style barbecue, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis–style_barbecue
Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe, Add a Pinch
https://addapinch.com/homemade-bbq-sauce-recipe
Easy BBQ Sauce Recipe, Chef Lindsey Farr
https://cheflindseyfarr.com/easy-bbq-sauce-recipe/
