Unique Barbecue recipes

I make my own homemade BBQ sauce all the time. Rarely does a week pass without my family members cooking some type of meat on the grill or meat smoker. Actually, it’s not unusual for us to grill two or three times a week, weather permitting. We’re a family of grillers and smokers, and we almost always use homemade sauces. I’m not saying we never use commercially bottled barbecue sauce – we do sometimes, when we’re especially pressed for time. Otherwise, we make our own, and some of them are pretty unique. In other words, they’re not usually ones you’d find in supermarkets or even in specialty grocery stores. Sometimes some of our taste combinations might seem a little strange to some individuals, but sounds, like looks, can be deceiving. In fact, some of our strangest-sounding sauces have been real crowd-pleasers! Yep, we do a lot of entertaining, and some type of BBQ is often the star of the events. Now, after reading this article, I hope you’re inspired enough to try making your own homemade BBQ sauce!

Basic Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Everyone needs a good basic BBQ sauce recipe, in my opinion. I’m talking about a go-to sauce you can mix up in a hurry by memory whenever you crave BBQ chicken, beef, pork, venison, or some other meat. Also in my opinion, a barbecue sauce should be thick enough to cling to the meat. Thin, runny sauces don’t stick, so what’s the point in using them?

Speaking of thick sauces, you might want to consider cooking your BBQ sauce before using it on the meat. Some barbecue sauce recipes don’t require cooking, but when you take the time to simmer the sauce, it gets thicker, and the flavors become more enhanced. It’s not like you have to cook it all day. In most cases, just a few minutes on the stove will suffice.

Another good thing about having a good basic barbecue sauce recipe is that you can tweak it to make lots of different versions. With that in mind, you probably want to keep your basic sauce…basic. You don’t want it to be too sweet, too spicy, or too overpowering. You can easily turn a bland sauce into something fiery, exotic, or sweet. Below is a good recipe for basic BBQ sauce.

Basic BBQ Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup Heinz ketchup

½ cup brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons prepared mustard

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons Liquid Smoke – hickory flavor

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt, to taste

Directions: combine all ingredients and add to a saucepan. Bring to a slow boil and immediately lower heat. Simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Store leftover sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator. The sauce will keep for 10 days to two weeks.

Orange-Tangerine BBQ Sauce

I sort of created this BBQ sauce recipe by accident. By that, I mean I didn’t plan it in advance. My son-in-law was going to grill some chicken one Sunday afternoon, and we were out of store-bought sauce. We had just received a big box of oranges and tangerines as a Christmas gift, and I knew there was no way we’d eat all the fruit before it spoiled. I decided to incorporate some of the citrus fruits in a homemade barbecue sauce.