Name: Honey Barbecue Sauce
Cook time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 cup tomato puree; 1/4 cup molasses; 1/4 cup honey; 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon smoked paprika; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon onion powder; 1 tablespoon chili powder; 1 teaspoon black pepper

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Homemade honey barbecue sauce is what your burgers, ribs, and chicken needs. This sweet and spicy sauce is the perfect finish for all your grilled favorites.

A bottle of homemade honey barbecue sauce on a counter with a jar of honey and head of garlic — Honey Barbecue Sauce

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A sweet honey barbecue sauce with a slightly smokey and tangy touch makes even the best burgers and ribs better.

And unlike some other homemade barbecue sauce recipes that take hours, you can whip this up in less than 30 minutes.

Do you need to make your own barbecue sauce?

Absolutely no. If you don’t have time or energy, there’s good stuff available.

But if you want to give it a go or really knock the flip flops off of your guests at your next cookout, you should!

It’s sweet and sticky, thanks to a combination of honey, molasses and brown sugar and tangy from apple cider vinegar and a smoky, slightly spicy flavor from a blend of spices.

It’s everything you want from a barbecue sauce and just so worth the extra simmer time.

Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies

Ingredients for honey barbecue sauce: honey, tomato puree, spices, apple cider vinegar, molasses, and brown sugar

Here is what you need to make honey barbecue sauce:

Tomato Puree – Tomato puree provides a rich base for the barbecue sauce. You could also use crushed tomatoes, but this will likely be a chunkier sauce.
Molasses – This adds some stickiness, darker amber color, and sweetness to the barbecue sauce.
Honey – You really can’t have a honey barbecue sauce without honey. You can use any variety you want.
Apple Cider Vinegar – This adds some tang to the barbecue sauce. You could use white vinegar or other types if you prefer, but this gives a good flavor to the sauce.
Brown Sugar – This adds some additional sweetness and stickiness to the sauce.
Spices – We use a variety of spices, including smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and black pepper. We also add a little bit of sea salt to help make the flavors pop.
Garlic– You don’t need to use this but you could crush a few cloves of garlic right into the sauce for some extra flavor.

To make honey barbecue sauce, you will need to pull out the following:

How to Make Honey Barbecue Sauce

1. Measure out the ingredients and dump them in your pot.

Add the molasses, honey, apple cider vinegar and brown sugar to the tomato puree to a pot on medium low heat

Season the honey barbecue sauce with smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder along with salt and pepper — Add the molasses, honey, apple cider vinegar and brown sugar to the tomato puree to a pot on medium low heat

Measure out your ingredients and dump them into a small to medium sauce pot.

There is no specific order, so you can work down the list if you like or add them in whatever order you prefer.

2. Cook the honey barbecue sauce.

As the honey barbecue sauce cooks, it will reduce and thicken. It is done when it pulls away from the pot as shown.

Heat the pot over medium low heat, stirring all the ingredients together until well combined.

Allow the sauce to come to a slow simmer, stirring frequently.

The sauce takes about 15 minutes to come together, but you can cook it for longer if you like, just make sure to stir it frequently as it cooks.

It is done when the sauce is thick and sticky, but still flows from your spoon.

Serving

Honey barbecue sauce on a spoon. — Honey Barbecue Sauce

You can use honey barbecue sauce as a topping for burgers, ribs, chicken, steak, and more.

It works best when served warm, so if you store it, you may want to heat it up a bit before serving.

You can also use this recipe as a substitute for store-bought barbecue sauce in several recipes, such as:

Storing

Store honey barbecue sauce in an air tight container or jar.

For ease, it may be helpful to use a glass bottle so it can pour out easily when you are ready to use it.

It should last in the fridge for a week before losing its freshness.

Tips and Tricks

Barbecue sauce is pretty forgiving, so if you add a bit too much or two little of any ingredient, it won’t necessarily ruin the whole sauce.
For added heat, you can use crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, or finely diced hot peppers, like jalapenos. You should start off using small amounts until you reach your desired heat level.
Don’t use high heat to cook the sauce. This can cause the sugars in the sauce to burn easily.
Gently heat before serving using either a pot set over low heat or for a few seconds in the microwave.
The sauce is done when it is thick enough to pull away from the pan when you run a spoon through it and deepens in color to a darker red instead of a tomato-ey red as the sugars caramelize.
Do you want it smokier than the smoked paprika will make it? Add a few drops of liquid smoke when you are stirring everything together.

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