This Kansas City-style homemade BBQ sauce recipe is super quick and easy to make, and full of the best tangy, smoky and slightly-sweet flavors that everyone is sure to love!
Friends, have you ever tried making homemade BBQ sauce?
If not, it’s time. ♡
And as a KC girl, I’m going to vote that you make this Kansas City-style bbq sauce recipe! It’s super-easy to make — just stir everything together and simmer for about 15 minutes — and it’s full of that famous tangy, smoky and slightly-sweet blend of flavors that we all love in Kansas City.
We use this sauce regularly in our house to make traditional bbq chicken, pulled pork, ribs and baked beans. But it also works great as a pizza sauce (hello, bbq chicken pizza ♡) and as a glaze (on meatballs, meatloaf, etc). And of course, you’re welcome to get creative and add it into everything from soups to salads, tacos, burgers, casseroles and more.
So many ways to use homemade bbq sauce. So let’s make a batch!
Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Homemade BBQ Sauce Ingredients:
To make this homemade bbq sauce recipe, you will need the following ingredients (amounts included in the full recipe below):
- Tomato sauce: One can of plain tomato sauce (just puréed tomatoes, no extra ingredients).
- Apple cider vinegar: To add some tang to the sauce.
- Honey: I really prefer the taste of honey as the natural sweetener in this bbq sauce. But you could also sub in brown sugar or maple syrup.
- Tomato paste: To intensify the rich tomato flavor in this sauce.
- Molasses: A must in Kansas City bbq sauce!
- Worcestershire: If making this sauce vegan, be sure to use a vegan brand of Worcestershire.
- Liquid smoke: To give the sauce those important smoky notes.
- Spices: A combo of smoked paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder and salt. Plus a few optional pinches of cayenne, if you would like to give the sauce some heat.
How To Make BBQ Sauce:
This bbq sauce recipe couldn’t be easier to make! Simply…
- Combine ingredients. Stir everything together in a saucepan.
- Simmer. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then let it continue to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until it has thickened slightly.
- Serve. Then that’s literally it — your sauce is ready to go and use in any of your favorite recipes!
Possible Recipe Variations:
Want to customize your own BBQ sauce recipe a bit? Feel free to:
- Make it gluten-free: To make gluten-free BBQ sauce, just be sure to use gluten-free liquid smoke. (I recommend Wright’s or Colgin.)
- Make it vegan: To make vegan BBQ sauce, just be sure to use vegan Worcestershire. (I recommend Annie’s.)
- Make it sweeter: Add more honey, to taste.
- Make it smokier: Add a touch more liquid smoke, to taste.
- Make it thicker: Simmer the sauce for longer until it reduces to your desired consistency.
Ways To Use BBQ Sauce:
There are so many great ways to put a batch of homemade BBQ sauce to delicious use! Some of our faves include:
- Traditional bbq meat: Grilled or pulled chicken, pulled pork, ribs, burnt ends, etc.
- Baked beans: BBQ sauce is a simple and delicious way to flavor a batch of baked beans.
- Burgers: Use it as a spread on your favorite burgers.
- Pizzas: Use it in place of pizza sauce. (Hello, bbq chicken pizza!)
- Soups/salads: Mix it into broths to flavor soups, or use the sauce as a dressing for your salad.
- Tacos/quesadillas/burritos: BBQ sauce is a great way to give your favorite Mexican dishes a different twist.
- Dipping sauce: And of course, it’s always a great dipping sauce for everything from chicken nuggets to veggie sticks to cocktail meatballs and more!
Homemade BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- optional: a few pinches of cayenne for extra heat, if desired
Instructions
- Combine ingredients. Whisk all ingredients together in a medium saucepan.
- Simmer. Cook over medium-high heat until the sauce reaches a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer (uncovered) for 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce has slightly thickened.
- Serve. Use the sauce immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I’m making this right now as I type. I subbed two things.
The tomato for biota brand vegetable cocktail and coconut amino for the Worcester (2 tbsp). It looks and tastes amazing in the pot. It’ll probably turn out a little thin but so far so good!
Excellent
Thank you for this recipe, it was great! Now before I tell you that there were a couple of things I did differently, please hear me out. I usually get upset when someone gives 5* to a recipe and after reading their comments you realize they either never made it, or they totally revamped the recipe. I get it. But let me preface this to say that during Coronavirus shelter-in-place, I needed some barbeque sauce for a meal. I had less than an inch left in the bottom of the bottle. I looked for what ingredients I had on hand and realized that I have tomato sauce, so I googled “BBQ sauce made with tomato sauce” and up popped this recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand except the onion and garlic powder. So I gave it a try, substituted fresh minced garlic for the garlic powder, and just had to make-do without onion powder. It was DELICIOUS!!! The flavor and consistency were perfect. Like you suggested, I added probably more than just a pinch or two of cayenne! Yum! Thank you again! This recipe not only saved the day, but it was so good I’ll definitely be making this again!
I made this today with some “self isolation quarantine pantry” adjustments, out of necessity. I didn’t have any molasses or liquid smoke. I only have one can of tomato paste left, so I decided to save that. Otherwise made it as is. Tasted during the simmer, and it was *quite* tangy, I’m sure because I left out the paste and molasses. So I added maybe three tablespoons or so of brown sugar and that helped a lot. It’s still a little tangy but we love it! About to make instant pot pulled pork. Very easy and good for my pantry.
We realized we didn’t have any BBQ sauce and the store was closed so we took a chance on this recipe. It’s delicious! I appreciate that it uses pantry staples, and that it’s not made with ketchup as a base. We prefer this over whatever we would have bought at the store, so it all worked out in the end!
It’s a keeper…thanks for sharing!
I just made this sauce. Instead of using liquid smoke I put 3 small chunks of oak wood on one end of my bbq and put all the dry ingredients spread out in a pan on the other end of the BBQ. Got the oak lit, sprinkled some wet hickory chips on top and once it started burning I blew it out sonit would smolder. After an hour the spices were smoked and went to making the sause. I used 1/4 cup spiced white vinegar and 1/4 cup regular white vinegar. Turned out awesome. I just want to eat it.
I’ve tried quite a few bbq sauce recipes and can’t find a good one until now! This is amazing!
Can you freeze BBQ sauce? I’m thinking about making a batch and throwing some containers in the fee freeze. Thanks!
I left out the liquid smoke and honey.. delicious and tangy.
I’d rather use the entire tomato paste can – 6 oz. Will it make a major difference or should I make an adjustment elsewhere?