Homemade Barbecue Sauce
You know how that saying goes.If you got it, flaunt it? Well I got it. Yup.sure.do! I’ve had it for a while. Kept it a secret… secured and tucked safely in my back pocket. Today is the day I get to flaunt it.My Homemade barbecue sauce.But not just any barbecue sauce. Here, let me explain. From the very moment my lips tasted Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, I was hooked. I love the consistency and sweet flavor. I’ve had it on pizza, french fries, wings, burgers you name it. It was the moment I read the label and saw the ingredients that I began my quest. A mission to make my own that stands up to this huge name brand minus the high fructose corn syrup. I think know I’ve done it. It’s sweet… tangy… and perfectly seasoned.
If I had to label it… It would be Sweet Laurie Loo’s… what? Too similar??
Pantry ingredients. What could be better? I love making food from what I find in my pantry or fridge. It makes me feel chef-y. It’s like I’m on Chopped or something. Pulling off a dinner with only having onion, lemon, vegetable stock and chicken thighs… is what I live for!
It’s a whole lotta dark brown sugar, I know. But I think this is the key to this liquid gold.
Red wine vinegar.
Add the one and a quarter cups of ketchup to the bowl.
In goes the Worchesherecestershire sauce. FYI Lea & Perrins doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup, in case you were wondering! 
Add in the dried mustard and paprika.
Don’t forget the kosher salt and black pepper.
Stir until the sugar is dissolve and the seasonings mixed throughout.
In the next couple days I’ll have a recipe for you that features this lip-smackin’-good BBQ sauce! So go and jot this down now because you’re gonna want to make it this weekend. Promise.
Homemade Barbecue Sauce
Yield: 4 cups approximately
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups Dark Brown Sugar, packed
1-1/4 cups Ketchup
1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup Water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
2-1/2 teaspoons Ground Mustard
2 teaspoons Paprika
1-1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
Directions:
Measure and add all ingredients to a large bowl and whisk well until the sugar has dissolved and the spices are thoroughly distributed. Serve immediately or cover and store in fridge or freeze!
Over the past few years I’ve been on a mission to find and create recipes that I can make from scratch. I hope you enjoy the recipes on this blog as they are tried and true from my kitchen to yours! (
This is one "No Cook" barbeque sauce…I love its simplicity and flavour…Normally i am not a fan of intensly boiled down barbeque sauce which takes so long to cook as well as requires tons of ingrediants….This one is my style and my favorite..Thanks for the recipe…:D
Aarthi
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/
I agree with you Aarthi, I love the fact that you don't have to saute this… and reduce that. It's simple and delicious!
Just pinned this because I freaking LOVE Sweet Baby Ray's.
Amy @ A Little Nosh
I did too Amy!
I am beyond giddy to give this recipe a try. I have all of the ingredients on hand and it has been added to my must make list. Itty Bitty loves BBQ sauce on everything. Can't wait. Simple recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Yes to the please. I will be making this!
This looks amazing and so thick! I make a special barbecue sauce that's my grandmother's. It's a bit thinner because hers is supposed to be cooked, but it has many of the same ingredients as your recipe. I'm gonna have to try this!
I can't wait to make this. I live in Kansas City and my dad own's a BBQ restaurant so I love trying new things. This one sounds perfect!
We like sweet baby ray's too so I'm sure this BBQ sauce is excellent! I've never thought to make it myself, but it seems pretty easy! How long do you think this would keep in the fridge?
Sweet baby rays is one of my old favorites! I had to give it up due to the evil HFCS
But no more! Laurie saves the day!!!!! I'll be whipping up a batch of this soon. Like maybe today. Sweet no cook bbq sauce from pantry ingredients? AWESOME!
I never had baby ray's but this sure looks awesome. I love anything bbq haha
I could go snorkeling in that sauce.
Sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
Won't there still be lots of HFCS from the ketchup?
You can buy organic and all natural ketchup.
Sweet Baby Rays is my favorite too, but now I think I'm lovin' Sweet Laurie Loo's! I have all of these ingredients in my house, I can't wait to try it!
Oooh you're gonna love it!
I think you actually start calling yourself Laurie Loo. That would be awesome!
This is perfect! Many bottled bbq sauces contain wheat so this will be great for my little guy with a wheat allergy, as well as the rest of the family of course:-)
Looks great. The sauce sounds sweet
I'll bookmark this page and try make my own sauce too. Great photos.
Just whipped this up. Can't wait to try it in a couple hours on some chicken. Thanks for the recipe!
I only have regular white vinegar – (and not much experience with using it) would that change the taste drastically/make it inedible?
I also have actual red wine – does that help?
Well I've never tried it. But I would say that their flavors are so different, in result could change the taste of this barbecue sauce. But maybe halve the recipe and try it so you don't waste all those ingredients. Hope this helps!
Just made the sauce and couldnt stop tasting it haha! Now to try it on chicken….
Made this sauce for some ribs this past weekend. The ribs disappeared with tons of compliments. While they were good, my "after dinner belch" self-evaluation included a hint of vinegar. I can't stand the taste or smell of vinegar – the stuff makes me retch. I recommend cutting the vinegar in half and adding part or all of the remaining 1/4 cup just one tbsp. at a time. Ketchup
Yum! I decided I wanted to try a different pulled pork recipe this week and found myself without a full bottle of BBQ sauce to follow the recipe I picked out. This was so quick and easy to throw together and I can't wait to see how it tastes on the finished product!
I substituted apple cider vinegar for red wine vinegar because it was all I had and it tastes great, I'll definitely
Just made half a batch and it is excellent. My husband will be super impressed.
Yum! I just made this and it's DELISH!
Thanks (:
We love Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, too. I've checked the ingredients on the bottle, but haven't attempted to make it yet. The only thing I might do differently would be to substitute pineapple juice for the water.
Pineapple juice concentrate is listed as an ingredient on the label and one copycat recipe I found had a comment from someone claiming to be Sweet Baby
too sweet!
Oh my gosh!! I made this last night for my crock pot BBQ chicken and this recipe is awesome!! I don't think i will ever purchase BBQ sauce again. My 4yr old is very particular about her BBQ sauce and she loved it too. Thank you so my for sharing this recipe!!
Loved this sauce. Had all the ingredients on hand. It's a good base to further spice up to your liking. I added a bit more salt, some crushed cayenne and dash of liquid smoke.
Love this sauce!
Yes, I agree that this is REALLY sweet–I couldn’t even cut it with the addition of some cayenne pepper. Its also very thin and runny compared to a cooked sauce. May cook it down a bit and see what I can do.
I do plumbing work at Sweet Baby Rays outside of Chicago (is this the original place?) and when i go in the back with the ribs cooking slow slathered with their sauce i don’t ever want to leave.
I made this BBQ sauce tonight and I am very impressed. Simple and tasty = elegant and elegant is so good. Great mathematicians strive for elegance there whole lives and some never achieve it. You have achieved elegance with this sauce.
I reduced down to 1/4…converting all ingredients to tbsp and tsp made it easy.
Thanks, and I will be exploring the rest of your site when I have time.
BTW…you’re quite elegant yourself.
I just found this BBQ sauce on pinterest & I had all the ingredients on hand. Whipped some up & I’m in love. A quick and easy BBQ sauce.
BUT since I am using this BBQ sauce in my crockpot today being thin was perfect!! The taste of this is perfect!! I appreciate you sharing this recipe.
I also found a ketchup recipe via pinterest ( http://happyindolevalley.blogspot.com/2011/03/easy-peasy-homemade-ketchup.html ) that I used for the ketchup in this recipe. I don’t know if it’s the homemade ketchup but I did think the BBQ sauce was just a tad thin, so next time I will add the water at the end so I can adjst to my wants
BTW, I’m making BBQ chicken pizza/calzones for dinner tonight–yum yum!!
Sweet Baby Ray’s BBq is my very favorite. Just like you I want to get away from the Corn Syrup. What ketchup did you use? I have HFCS free hunts. Thanks so much for the post. I can’t wait to try it.
I was looking for a simple bbq recipe and here it is!
I can’t wait to test it out next week!
best,
AG
prettybluerose.com
Just came across your blog when I was looking for a shredded chicken bbq recipe. This recipe was such a bonus – no cook and SO delicious. Just loved the bbq sauce and your blog!
I ran out of Sweet Baby Rays, my family’s favorite BBQ sauce, so I searched online for an alternative to make at home and found your recipe. It’s wonderful!! This is our new favorite BBQ sauce! Thanks so much for sharing and spreading the joy!
I just had a pork tenderloin in the crock pot with this recipe and made BBQ pulled pork… EXCELLENT!
Never made homeade bbq sauce before. I tried this simple recipe with all the ingredients in house. I did subsitute spicy brown mustard, and apple cider vinegar, and my family loved it on the pulled pork made in the crockpot! I will use this recipe again and again
I made this today and it tastes fantastic. I do agree with some of the others that said it’s a little thin, but it tastes so good who cares. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
I made this a while ago and my boyfriend and I both loved it SO much! I am moving away in about a month and I want to make him a big ol’ batch to have on hand – but I don’t know how long it lasts in the fridge vs. the freezer. Could you tell me how long it should last in both places approximately? Thanks again for this yummy sauce! We bake pork chops in it regularly!
Just made this barbeque sauce recipe and grilled barbequed chicken, it was great!!
Stuff is great. I added some (with a stick blender) onion and red pepper flakes so it’s now very sweet initially, but has some heat on the backend. Sweet, tangy, then spicy. Perfect.
I can already tell I will love this! Thanks for sharing your gem! How long does it last in the fridge? Also, anyone knowledgable about canning it to store?
simplyscratch replied: — November 9th, 2012 @ 5:58 pm
Hi Karrie! This bbq sauce will last in the fridge up to 2 weeks! I wish I could help you with the canning bit.. but I am clueless when it comes to canning
Have a great weekend!
http://2a7b2b8en9o87o3ajox-3nfbcv.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=JULLIAN22
This really is an excellent and easy-to-make bbq sauce. I’m wondering one thing: could I omit the water? It’s just a tad thinner than I’d like it to be. Has anyone tried that?
simplyscratch replied: — November 25th, 2012 @ 1:07 am
Absolutely, go ahead and cut out the water for a thicker sauce
I mixed this up today. Great combination of favors. It does taste like Sweet Baby Rays. My picky 11 year old son gave it a resounding thumbs up. I’m. Going to make pulled pork in the slow cooker and didn’t want to use a bottled sauce. So, thank you. And, great name!
Love Love Love this! Simple, Super easy to put together, ingredients out of my pantry and super scrumptious! Will make our baked BBQ chicken for tonite, extra yummy for superbowl sunday night!! THANK YOU!!
Too, too, too much acid… the vinegar and the W’sauce are overpowering.
OMIGOSH! I’m ALL OVER this and the ketchup recipe! WOOHOO!!!
simplyscratch replied: — February 21st, 2013 @ 3:49 pm
Thank you Anne! BTW did you know you won my Bodum giveaway? I sent you an email and I need to hear back from you by tomorrow afternoon or I’ll have to pick a new winner!!
I made this last night with country style beef ribs. My family loved it! Bye bye Sweet Baby Rays! I halved the vinegar and didn’t add any water. It was perfect! My husband said he likes it better than SBR’s and he loves SBR’s! Thank you!
Just the right sauce ingredients i’ve been searching from last night.. Finally got the correct one.. Thanks for this wonderful recipe, i’m gonna have a great time enjoying my barbecue with this sauce
found your site and this sauce when I was looking for a homemade BBQ sauce recipe. We love Sweet Baby Ray’s so I made this and it is delicious! Are you in Michigan? I noticed the Meijer ketchup. I’m in SE MI.
simplyscratch replied: — March 30th, 2013 @ 8:09 am
Hi Jamie! Yup I live in northern Oakland County and I LOVE MEIJER!! High-five fellow Michigander!!
Omg this is awesome website ever crawled
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How is it, that a recipe for ‘scratch’ barbecue sauce calls for KETCHUP?!?!?!? Jesus people.
simplyscratch replied: — May 21st, 2013 @ 1:38 am
Well, “from scratch” is a pretty broad term. If you want to make your very own ketchup… by all means GO FOR IT! Here’s a link to the recipe I did for homemade ketchup. http://www.simplyscratch.com/2012/05/homemade-ketchup-recipe.html