homemade barbecue sauce
My crush on Ina Garten is almost as strong as my Martha-crush, if not stronger as she’s never once failed me and I believe we share an absorption with making typically unremarkable foods remarkable again. Her lemon cake has got to be one of the top five cakes ever made with her orange chocolate chunk version squarely in the top ten; her coleslaw made me like coleslaw and her barbecue sauce is a spectacular Eastern/Asian/Southern mutt.
I’ll admit it’s a bit of an ingredient dump. I hate overly relying on things from jars and bottles when cooking, so this recipe taking but two of thirteen ingredients from the produce aisle caused me pause — the first time. After I’d tried it, however, with flavors so loud you can almost hear them, I’ve happily brought home groceries bags full of clink and liquid weight to make it again and again.
Since we’re barbecue-agnostic in these parts, we felt free to couple our sauce-laden chicken with asparagus and a radicchio/napa slaw for dinner and I encourage you to also innovate as you please. I suspect Whole Foods boneless, skinless chicken thighs broiled in the oven weren’t getting us invited to any Memphis pig-pickins, anyhow.
Ina Garten’s Barbecue Sauce
Adapted from her Food Network show
This is a tangy, subtly spicy, delicious mutt of a barbecue sauce. On her show, Ina Garten explained that she had at one point tried to develop different sauces to complement different cuisines — from Asian to various South Eastern regions — but only when she mixed them all together in frustration did she find exactly her barbecue sauce nirvana. I couldn’t agree more. I make this all summer, freeze leftovers in one-cup servings, and sob when we run out.
Makes 6 cups
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large onion)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup tomato paste (10 ounces)
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup honey
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
In a large saucepan on low heat, saute the onions and garlic with the vegetable oil for 10 to 15 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not browned. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer uncovered on low heat for 30 minutes. Use immediately or store in the fridge.
Do ahead: This sauce freezes excellently, for months at at time.
Looks really great!
Deb! This site is nothing short of amazing! The photos are fantastic and the food all looks so incredibly good. Bravo!!
Just found this site! I had no idea you HAD a foodie blog. Love it!
I wanted to try this when I saw this episode, and now I will for sure! Thanks, it looks fantastic.
Ina has never failed me, either. The first whole turkey I ever made was her “Perfect Roast Turkey,” and it was so perfect I’ll never make another. She posts the recipe only around Thanksgiving on the FoodTV.com site.
Lovely photos as usual!
Yum. I made this over the weekend, slathered it over some pork ribs the next day, and slow cooked them in the oven. Divine! Thanks.
I watched Ina’s episode this weekend when she made this BBQ sauce and I was pretty intrigued. But it looks like it makes so much sauce, more than my husband and I would be able to eat in even 2 or 3 dinners. How long would you expect this to last in the fridge? A month maybe? I have no concept of how time evolves for different foods.
Hi Sandy — It makes 6 cups, I believe, which is indeed quite a lot. What we do is freeze the leftovers in one cup containers. We took stuff out from a year (year!) ago that was perfectly fine. It can even be defrosted in the microwave if you’re in a rush. In the fridge, I try not to keep it for much more than a month, unless poured while hot into jars which vacuum-seal upon closing.
it looks yummmmy :)
but please , after I make the BBQ sauce , how I would prepear the chicken ??
would u please tell me in details ..
thank u
Terrific! I hate the jar sauces – this will be a staple in my fridge. Thanks!
Just made this. I halved the recipe, and it still made quite a lot. And, very un-true to form, I even stuck closely to the recipe.
My only tweaks were:
1) pureeing the onion-garlic mixture in the blender a bit before returning to the pot and adding the other ingredients. i didn’t dig the chunky onion idea.
2) adding a splash of liquid smoke, and a dash of chipotle pepper sauce
I’m not a fan of “chunky onions” either. If I decide to puree them, does that change the timing requirement on the first step–where I put them in the saucepan for 10-15 minutes?
Thanks for anyone that can provide insight.
You can chop the onions very finely and by the time they cook, you won’t notice the texture. Otherwise, pureeing them would work as well.
thanks!
I’ve tried grating the onion for BBQ sauces and have had good results. Also, you could strain the sauce at the end.
i made this this past weekend (AWESOME) and put 3/4 c servings in plastic bags to freeze, only they are not freezing rock solid. is that what happened to you? does this mean that i should probably use it within the month? thanks for any advice!
Hi Stepha — We’ve frozen it before many times, but it has always gotten solid. We may have hyperactive freezers, or yours may be running a bit warm. If the latter, it’s probably not good to have it in there more than a month. If you’re sure your freezer is a good temperature, this stuff lasts in the freezer for… well, let me just say that once, we found a container a year later, defrosted it, and it was good as new. So it will keep for a long time.
Tried it today on pork ribs.
This is going to be a standard. Thanks
what do you suppose would happen if i were to omit the worcestershire sauce to make it vegetarian? i know, i know, what’s a vegetarian going to put barbecue sauce on? why, fake chicken, of course!
I had NO IDEA that worcestershire sauce wasn’t vegetarian, fancy that! I’d say just use soy sauce, or a mix of soy sauce and tamarind paste and/or maybe even some sugar, molasses and vinegar (I saw this suggested here). There are also a lot of vegetarian brands of worcestershire.
thanks for the tips. i learned something new too — definitely did not know that worcestershire sauce may have its roots in india! being indian, i keep tamarind paste on hand in my kitchen, so i should be able to sub out the worcestershire with that + soy sauce. thanks deb!
so crazy weird, i just watched the episode today on food network featuring her insane sauce. i had seen the episode last summer or the one before? anyhow, haven’t ever tried making it. can’t wait to try yours!! thx
Though I do like Ina’s BBQ sauce, I prefer Tyler’s. He also has a great slaw recipe if you’re interested, Deb (as I know you love you some slaw).
Thanks Josey. I might just try both! Something about 25 degree weather gets me especially missing barbecue…
I made this today using vegetarian worcestershire sauce and adding 2 T. brown sugar and a splash of liquid smoke. I was worried when I tasted it at the beginning, but after it had cooked down it was awesome!!! Can’t wait to make a bbq faux-chicken pizza with it!
Just so you know, Deb, this recipe doesn’t show up in your “recipes” list. That said, it is *awesome*. I use it to make a slow-cooked shredded BBQ and then make grilled BBQ chicken pizza … heaven!!
This is awesome sauce. I might tweak it a bit next time, adding a bit more tomato paste and less cumin. Thanks!!
Made this sauce for my dad for Father’s Day. Here’s my blog post about it:http://mghwgh.blogspot.com/2010/06/bbq-sauce-for-dad.html
Incredible barbecue sauce. This is my third batch this summer.
I was hesitant about the amount of vinegar, but it mellows perfectly.
Like Lizzy, above, I add a bit of liquid smoke to make up for the fact that this sauce usually ends up on tofu. Have used it as a pizza sauce as well, with great success.
Hey! I made this last night, to astounding success! I ran out of Dijon mustard and ended up replacing the extra 1/3 cup with hot English, and MAN – it’s DELICIOUS! Bit of bite and SO much flavour.
In short – you should leave your family and come live with me, and cook for me always!
Also in reference to an old post from stepha, mine doesn’t feeze solid either. But I attribute that to the amount of oil in the sauce. I’ll cut it down next time and see how that goes!
Sorry Deb, I’m probably the only one who didn’t like it. It’s SO salty. I only taste the soy and the worchestershire sauce, both very salty. I threw it away, what I never do with food.
Best barbecue sauce ever! The depth of flavor, the spiciness, the bit of heat makes it wonderful and I’m kicking myself for not making it sooner as I’ve had it bookmarked forever. I finally made it last weekend for some wings and it was delicious. So easy I’ll never go back to bottled.
I just made it tonight, and cover some grilled chicken legs with it
it’s the BEST, irresistible and sooooo delicious , it’s perfect!!!!
Ann – What ingredients did you use? Mine was perfect, a little sweet with only background salt flavour to give it depth. Maybe try it again, with salt reduced hoisin, Worcestershire and soy? It really is an amazing sauce, it would be a shame to give up on it.
I am a spice avoider. Would it be ok if I omitted the cumin, hoisin sauce, chili powder, and red pepper flakes?
I like this bbq recipe although it does make alot and would like to know if it can be canned?
This was delicious! Thanks!
I found the saltiness overwhelmed the taste also. With as many of my favorite ingredients in it, I’ll probably play with it a bit, but I did use low sodium everything (including tomato paste). Perhaps it’s because I don’t eat salt most of the time.
I also thought the sauce was a little salty, but I don’t think you need to use a whole lot since it has so much flavor. I think I might reduce the cumin slightly next time. Thanks for the recipe! Making shredded barbecue chicken and carrot sandwiches.
I’m so glad to find a fellow fan of Ina’s barbecue sauce! I’ve ben making this for years and love it. I made a batch yesterday, and was looking online to see if it freezes well. Voila. I’m going to have to try the Lemon Cake, yum…
Do you think I could water bath can this sauce??
I’ve been trying to find a barbecue sauce recipe without ketchup (HFCS) and had almost given up the search. So glad I found your site. If hoisin sauce is free of high fructose corn syrup, then barbecue is back on the menu for my husband!
I love Ina Garten recipes too, except this one. Too salty, too much cumin and oil. I’ve halved the recipe, reduced the salt by reducing the hoisin sauce and mustard and using all low salt ingredients. I added liquid smoke and chipotle pepper too. If its still too salty you can add some of this sauce to salt free HFCS free ketchup until it reaches the taste you desire. I live in CA and still wouldnt use up all of this sauce in a year. I cook so many other recipes besides barbeque. PS. I absolutely LOVE your blog and recipes, I’m addicted to it now. can’t wait for the cookbook!
hi there! i just made a version of this for bbq beef ribs. i didn’t have hoisin, so i used what i did have… a combination of sweet dark soy sauce and homemade strawberry rhubarb jam. i think it worked like a charm! i’ll have to let you know what our dinner guests think…