Today we have a great homemade Sweet and Tangy BBQ sauce for you. This sauce is pretty simple to make, and also makes a nice hostess gift. We made some labels for you guys so you can print them and make your jars of sauce look really pretty. We used 9oz weck jars. We used Avery round labels, and printed them through their website which is really easy! You can get the design right here, and I made it square in case that shape floats your boat, but you can also use these for the round labels too. I really love to make labels for stuff. Especially kitchen stuff, so even if you don’t give this BBQ sauce as gifts, you could print out the labels anyway and use them. I always feel like I am a good clean organized person when I label stuff.
Ok back to the BBQ sauce. We have a really neat recipe coming up that uses this Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce, so look our for it. Or, you could just eat it with tater tots like I did (Tater tots are so much better than french fries, I wish more restaurants had them). This sauce has bacon in it, because we love bacon and why not? This is a chunkier BBQ sauce, but you can totally adjust the purée to the way you like it. Don’t be intimidated by all the ingredients either, they all just go into the pot and simmer for awhile and then you get this bomb sauce! Hope you guys enjoy!
Yummy recipes to use this BBQ sauce with:
Sweet and Tangy Barbecue Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 5 strips bacon, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
- 1 ½ cups ketchup
- 1 ½ cups tomato sauce
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup molasses
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons dry mustard
- 2 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 ½ teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Sauté bacon in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until crispy and browned, about 5 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain all but 2 tablespoons of fat from pan.
- Add oil to pan and place back over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in thyme and sauté for an additional 2 minutes.
- Add the cooked bacon back into the pan followed by the remaining sauce ingredients and stir until fully combined.
- Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour sauce into a blender and puree until smooth or desired consistency has been achieved.
NOTES
- *Makes 2 quarts barbecue sauce
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
tag @SpoonForkBacon and #SpoonForkBacon on Instagram
Does this need to be refrigerated?
Wow! Made this last night, Marinated some spare ribs over night and just had them for dinner, what can I say? The best BBQ sauce ever!! Thanks!
Yay! So glad you like it!!
I forgot to mention that I will be making some hummus tomorrow . . . “Sweet and Tangy BBQ Hummus”!
Oh my. I cook and bake … a lot. Most recipes turn out good, really good or great (for sure there are a few flops). While many recipes produce enticing aromas during preparation; rare is the recipe that speaks to one’s soul when tasted. This BBQ sauce is, for me, that amazing! I will be applying this sauce, quite liberally, to turkey drumsticks tomorrow. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Absolutely delish. Perfect in every way. :-)
After reading this yesterday, I went right out after work and picked up the ingredients for this recipe…. along with mini tater tots!! I threw this together in no time. It made me wonder why I’ve bothered with the bottled stuff all of my life, when I could have been serving this wonderful sweet and tangy (yep, it truly is) sauce. I don’t think I will ever go back to bottled, especially knowing now how quick easy it is to prepare.
I served it with the tater tots..and I made crispy BLT chicken sandwiches on thick farmers bread, and mixed some of the BBQ sauce with mayo to make an outstanding BBQ mayo.
Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe. One that I know I’ll use for a very long time to come.
Recipe looks great – just how I like my BBQ sauce, tangy and sweet in equal measures! Also, tots are WAY better than fries. Thankyou for confirming.
Dying over this!! Bacon in BBQ sauce? That is genius!! Making this as soon as I can!
My bbq sauce recipe is very similar but I don’t have bacon in mine! What a lovely idea!
I *DIE* over those labels. Die. So frigging cute. And I’m a HUGE fan of the “sweet & tangy” BBQ sauce (not so much a fan of those vinegar sauces, no thanks). I love dipping tots in BBQ… actually, I love dipping anything in BBQ. Something about summer just makes me want to eat BBQ all day every day. I can’t wait to make this (and to see the recipe that goes with it!)
This looks delicious! I’ve been wanting to can BBQ sauce since I visited Nashville a few weeks ago, so I’ll definitely be trying this recipe! Thank you!
Hi, wow I’m definitely making this. When you say 1 1/2 cups ‘tomato sauce’ what exactly do you mean?
You can find basic tomato sauce around the canned tomato section. I like using tomato sauce (almost like a basic marinara) bc it has a more concentrated tomato flavor than just tomato purée. If you’re having trouble finding it, feel free to use 1 cup of tomato purée and 1 small can of tomato paste. Good luck!
Looks great! How long is the BBQ sauce good for in the Weck or Ball jars?
Three months!
Looks great! How long would you say it would last in the fridge?
About three months.