Texas-style Barbecue Sauce

This sauce has a smoky flavor and is full of pepper, making it a great sauce for robust proteins.

Course Condiment / Sauce

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Total Time 35

Servings

Calories 167kcal

Author Breanna Stark

Ingredients

¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup white onion finely diced
2 cups water
1 can tomato paste
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup honey
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 lemon juice only
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp celery salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp black pepper course grind
1 tsp Kosher salt

Instructions

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.
Add the diced onions and sauté until the onions are translucent (about 3 minutes).
Add the water, tomato paste, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, honey, and lemon juice and stir until well combined.
Add the Worcestershire sauce and all of the seasonings and stir again.
Bring the sauce to a boil, pop the lid on, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Blend the sauce with an immersion blender (or regular blender) until the sauce is smooth.
Serve immediately or transfer to a mason jar (or similar storage container) and store in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Notes

Butter: You can use either salted or unsalted butter.

Onion: I prefer to use white onion, but you can alternatively substitute sweet onion or yellow onion. You want to make sure that you dice your onions as finely as possible so they are easier to blend when the sauce is done.

Water: You can alternatively use chicken broth or beef broth for a bit of added flavor, but be sure to pull back on the salt if you opt to use broth.

Brown Sugar: You can use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar for this recipe, but I prefer to use light brown sugar so that I don’t overpower the sauce with too much molasses flavor.

Honey: You can use whatever honey you have on hand, but I really like to use Texas Wildflower honey. I find that the flavor is sweet, but not overpowering and it compliments the other flavors in the sauce wonderfully.

Apple Cider Vinegar: You can opt to use distilled white vinegar or rice vinegar for this recipe, but I prefer to use apple cider vinegar because I find that the flavors pair nicely with the other components of the sauce.

Spices/Seasonings – you can play around with the spices that you use in this sauce to give it the flavor you prefer. I keep it simple with paprika for a smoky kick, some celery salt, chili, plenty of coarse-ground black pepper, and a bit of kosher salt.

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