Bottled barbecue sauce is convenient yes. BUT artificial coloring, flavors and high fructose corn syrup are not the healthiest to consume. Buying barbecue sauce made with all natural ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup can cost you a pretty penny for a small bottle!
If you or your family enjoy barbecue sauce on a regular basis, making your own is worth it! It's easy and not at all time consuming either.
All ingredients need to do is come to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until it thickens. Top over pork loin, pour over chicken in the crock pot or make shredded pulled pork sandwiches and smother it with this delicious sauce.
I've made this twice and the first time I tried using honey. It tasted great but the color was more or less still ketchup color looking and I knew my family would say it didn't look like barbecue sauce. So using molasses is the key here. The rich deep flavor and dark color make the sauce more typical to the bottled versions out there.
Homemade Barbecue Sauce {Refined Sugar Free}
Homemade Barbecue Sauce {Refined Sugar Free}
Ingredients
- 1 cup Homemade Ketchup
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon minced dried onion or onion powder
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon celery seed
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- optional 2-3 dashes hot sauce
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a sauce pan and stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat.
- Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes or until desired consistency.
- Makes about 1 ½ cups.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Shawna
Can I substitute honey in place of the molasses? Our family doesn't really care for molasses and we have access to plenty of bee keepers with fresh honey.
Brenda
sure
Terry
Have you checked the sugar content of molasses? 10g per tbsp.--maybe not that much to some, but certainly not sugar free.
Brenda
and that is why this recipe is titles refined sugar free because molasses is a natural sugar.
Paul
No, it is not. Molasses is still the highly refined product of sugar cane. By extracting the juice out of the cane and concentrating it through evaporation / distillation to remove water, the remaining substance is molasses.
If you remove the fiber, it's refining, and there is no such thing as a healthy sugar after you've removed the fiber. Pretty much the only reason humans like sugar is to get us to eat fruits for their fiber and vitamins.
The sugars in molasses are no less harmful than high fructose corn syrup, and the trace amount of other nutrients that are removed from further refinement into white table sugar in no way come close to balancing out the detrimental effects of eating refined sugars.
If it's not a whole fruit, the sugar is bad for you. It's not too harmful if it's an occasional treat, but don't fool yourself into thinking that molasses is somehow OK while corn syrup is bad; they're both bad, and this recipe is no different health wise for using one or the other.
Isabelle
Agreed. Not sure why molasse would be considered any better than white sugar. Sugar is sugar, unfortunately ?
And the only Worcestershire sauce I have access to is made with crappy ingredients...
It's soooooo hard to find a real sugar-free BBQ sauce recipe.
Thanks for trying!
meta
The point is the glycemic index (GI), how fast you get that carb inside your body, thus raising your blood's levels faster. Sugar is 100/100 on the list. Apples are at 35? Molasses is about 50 along with honey. Also molasses are very sweet and much more nutritious.
Patricia
I just made this and I find the amount of apple cider vinegar to be a little too much. The only way I knew to cut the vinegar taste was to add brown sugar. However, the sauce is good and I have been looking for a good barbeque sauce for a long time. Thanks a bunch.
Kammie @ Sensual Appeal
How long would you say that it can hold in the fridge?
Leilani
Nice recipe! But.... have you read the ingredients on Worcestershire sauce? Its full of crap... corn syrup, soy bean oil, caramel coloring... or do you have a natural brand? Curious. I make my own bbq sauce and I omit worcestershire.
Brenda
Yes, The brand I like is linked directly to the website to find it, it's in blue, just click it.
JANET
CAN MAKE YOUR OWN WORCESTERSHIRE 1" PEICE OF GINGER GRATED, 2 CLOVES GARLIC.BRUISED ROUGH CHOP,6 tSP WHOLE CLOVES,4-3/4 C VINEGAR,1/4 tSP CAYENNE PEPPER,1 tSP SALT, 2 CUPS MOLASSES, 2 TBLS OIL OFF THE ANCHOVIES ( OPTIONAL) TASTES FINE. PUT ALL INGREDIENTS IN SAUCE PAN COVER BRING TO BOIL THEN SIMMER 20 MINS,REMOVE FROM HEAT ,LET STAND OVERNITE. STRAIN AND BOTTLE!.CAN USE RIGHT AWAY BETTER WITH AGE.I HAVENT TRIED CANNING IT YET BUT SURE I CAN!..ENJOY!...j
Stephanie
Not sure if Annie's Worcestershire changed ingredients but it lists cane sugar now.
Brenda
Oh boo! Check online at iherb.com and my discount code is YAJ035