Homemade Barbecue Sauce
servings
Ditch store-bought, and take your BBQ game to the next level with Homemade BBQ Sauce! Brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, and a perfect balance of spices and veggies will impress family and friends.
Ingredients
- ½ cup sliced celery
- ½ cup roughly chopped green pepper
- ½ cup roughly chopped onion
- 1 cup chili sauce
- 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Accent *See Note
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients - the celery, green pepper, onion, chili sauce, lemon juice, water, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt and Accent in a saucepan.
- Cook over medium-low heat until vegetables are very soft, about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sauce will thicken as it cooks.
- Use one cup of the sauce to cook with / for basting, and reserve the remaining cup to coat the chicken, pork, etc. before serving and for dipping.
Notes
- Accent is MSG (monosodium glutamate. It is a flavor enhancer, and is used in many cuisines. You'll find it in the spice aisle of your grocery store or here on Amazon. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has classified MSG as a food ingredient that is generally safe, however I know that many may be opposed to consuming it. I have never used anything but Accent to make this recipe, and there is no exact substitute. When doing a search, Google tells me that soy sauce may be the best alternative. To replace the 1 teaspoon of Accent called for in the recipe, I would use just a ½ teaspoon low sodium soy sauce.
The bottle I just purchased to make this recipe expires in 5 years, so it does have a long shelf life if you're concerned about purchasing an ingredient that will expire before you use it all.
See the heading in the post, MSG Seasoning (Monosodium Glutamate), for more about MSG as well as a link to an informative video. - The sauce can be made smooth if you allow it to cool and put it into a blender or use an immersion blender. My family prefers it with the chunks of vegetables.
- It will be a slightly thinner sauce than what you might purchase at the store, but if you'd like to thicken it, see the post for details.
- This recipe makes 2 cups of barbecue sauce and nutritional information has been calculated for 2 tablespoons per person.
- The sodium in this recipe is high because of the combination of salt and monosodium glutamate, but know that msg has ⅓ of the amount of sodium that salt does.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 30kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.02g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 407mg | Potassium: 104mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 149IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.2mg