Quickest & Simple Homemade Barbeque Sauce … you never need to buy barbeque sauce again. Here’s a drop dead simple recipe, ready in under 5 minutes, infinitely customisable and pretty darned delicious. All you need is a bottle of tomato ketchup to begin with and the rest you add in as you desire.
You won’t see me sharing savoury recipes often on PAB, but truth be told, my heart belongs to savoury! Make that spices & savoury dishes though I use spices very often in desserts too! Garam masala, a quintessential India spice, mix in cakes and hot chocolate? Yes please!
This homemade barbeque sauce is something I make in a jiffy, often alongside as fries cook in the wok, or with chicken being grilled for sandwich etc. Sometimes I make a bigger batch and keep it for a week. It never lasts longer and is way better than any store bought barbeque sauce. You can make it sweeter, hotter, more pungent depending on your personal preference & it tastes really fresh.
I have always been fascinated by the charm of spices, shooting them, styling them, enjoying the visual appeal. Spices are some of my favourite things to buy after fresh produce, to have in the kitchen. I especially enjoy stocking a variety of red chilies, so there’s always something flavoursome and /or fiery on hand to throw in!
The add ins for the my homemade barbeque sauce are pretty staple and can be easily substituted to taste or with what you might have on hand. It’s a simple play of flavours – sweet, hot, smoky etc. and you can use a variety of chilies if you like. I especially like a touch of smoked chili, gochugaru being a hot favourite, smoked paprika being another.
Talking about the humble chili, can you imagine how much these sheep are enjoying red hot chilies! It was in 2016 on a local trip to Lakshman Sagar in Rajasthan, a boutique hotel on the fringes of the badlands of Rajasthan, that I took the picture at a local red chili processing unit. It was sheer luck to catch sight of the sheep head straight for chilies that had been left out to dry!
India is a fascinating country to travel across and I always always have a camera in hand, you never know what you might stumble across!
The sight when the flock of sheep descended upon the rows and rows of whole dried chillies at a local factory had me gobsmacked. It was honestly a very special moment, a fascinating story, a memory I love to share!
When food meets regional cuisine, it cooks up a charming new story each time not matter which part of the world you go to. India is no different, but it is much more complex. Every city surprises you with so much variety that regional cuisine takes up a new avatar.
That trip to Lakshman Sagar was followed by an absolutely exciting trip to Banaras that filled my head with stories, the camera overflowing with images that would live to tell the tale, the stomach too full and happy …
As if that wasn’t enough, there was one more trip that was surreal, a trip to Karaikudi in the south of India. Karaikudi, the Land of Chettinad in the state of Tamil Nadu is steeped in history and is the most fascinating place ever.
I guess that explains why I’m smitten with spices and the colours of India! Let’s get back to this simple and finger-licking good homemade barbeque sauce …
My favourite add ins are garlic powder & smoked paprika to add depth of flavour. For a sweet kick, try brown sugar, jaggery powder or maple syrup/honey etc. Coconut sugar adds really nice, deep notes too if you have it on hand.
Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!
Homemade Barbeque Sauce
Equipment
- 1 saucepan
- 1 spatula
- 1 set measuring spoons
- 1 Glass jar with lid
- Stove top
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup tomato ketchup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/8 cup water
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp Gochujang chilli/red chilli flakes
- 1-2 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a small saucepan and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the sugar melts in. Simmer a little longer if you want a thicker sauce. Alternatively, you can add more water to thin it down
- Take off heat, taste and adjust seasoning. Cool and store in a lidded glass jar in the fridge.
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