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!
Thank you so much for this recipe. It’s exactly what I was looking for.
It looks like it makes a big batch, but it’s really tasty and I end up putting so much on my chicken that it doesn’t last very long.
This is absolutely delicious!!!! We don’t like real sweet bbq sauce so I used brown sugar instead of molasses and rice vinegar instead of apple…. added a tsp and a half cayenne and now I will never buy another store bought bbq sauce ever again. Thank you for you help!!!!
Ifound and made this recipe last night. I wanted a sauce to flavor up a remaining half-bag of (much too bland) store-bought frozen meatballs for an easy supper after a busy day. The sauce went together very easily and mixed up nicely with a whisk. I put half of it (I’d made a double batch to use the entire 28 oz can of tomato sauce) uncooked, right from the mixing bowl, over the frozen meatballs and popped that in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes.
I cooked up the rest of the sauce per instructions. Rice in the microwave and a salad made a good low-fuss supper.
The only change I made from the sauce recipe was to use brown sugar–because I do that–and I did add cayenne as suggested. About 1/2 tsp. gave the double recipe a nice bite.
The meatballs were hugely improved by this sauce. When they were almost done I cut them in half and stirred them so there’d be more surface for the sauce to flavor. We ate them with the sauce remaining in the baking pan over rice and drizzled a bit from the saucepan. They were delicious.
This is a sauce I’ll use again. It’ll be great for oven chicken and I’ll bet terrific for grilling.
I wondered about water-bath canning the pint I had left, but decided not to. I think it should keep in the fridge for a good long time. Sweet Baby Ray’s says their sauce keeps refrigerated for four months after opening. Since this recipe has no fresh ingredients (such as onion, garlic or peppers) I bet it’ll stay good in the fridge for at least four months. I’m sure I’ll use it up long before then, and it’s so easy to make more. Not worth the effort of canning for me.
Thank you for a useful, very tasty recipe!
Wait this is so good???? Ive not even finished simmering it and it’s absolutely delicious??? I did not expect it to be this tasty?? I subbed honey and molasses for maple syrup and coconut sugar and then extra smoked paprika instead of liquid smoke but it’s still irresistible???
I would like to know more then just this one recipe from you
Can this recipe be canned? I hope for it has so much flavor!!!
Have you canned this BBQ Sauce?
Thank you. Easy to make taste fabulous.
Great sauce,that gets better the next day. I did use maple syrup instead of honey and did not have enough worsteshire sauce, so added a tablespoon of steak sauce instead. Put it on hydrated soy chicken cutlets, and was better than the usual organic commercial sauce I use, plus this sauce I made was also organic and even better. Thank you.
This was so good! I had no idea homemade barbecue sauce was this easy to make.