Quick and Easy Homemade BBQ Sauce!

I'm not sure if your family is like mine, but we do LOVE a good BBQ sauce.  It's something that gets used year-round here in our home.  I find that it's hard to find a good BBQ sauce that's not too smoky in flavour.  I'm not really fond of a smoky taste.  To remedy that, I have taken to making my own sauce.  It's quick and easy and keeps a really long time.

Here's my recipe..

3 cups of ketchup

2 cups of mustard

2 cups of white sugar

1 cup of white vinegar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon of chili powder

 There is no need to buy the expensive brand of ketchup and mustard for this recipe.  I use the store brand and it tastes just fine.  You can substitute a grainy mustard for this recipe if you wish, but I prefer the plain yellow mustard.

 

I combine all the ingredients in a large pot and bring it to a soft boil on the stove.  Once it begins to boil, I turn off the stove and scoop the sauce into mason jars.  This recipe makes 3-4 jars (not sure of the size).  They are not the large quart jars, but not the tiny pint jars either.  Two of the jars I use for this are actually an odd shape.  I guess I should actually measure how much they hold.  (maybe next time!)

I simmer the sauce and bring it to a soft boil so that the ingredients incorporate better, and the heat helps the jars to seal.  If you wish, you can skip this step, however, I would let the sauce sit for a week or two before using so that the ingredients can meld together and produce a better flavour.  I store my jars in the pantry until I open them; once they are opened, I store them in the fridge.

A batch takes me less than twenty minutes to make and what I like about it is that it uses ingredients I always have on-hand here at home.  This way you can whip up a batch anytime!

Do you make your own sauces?  I'd love to hear about your recipes - please leave me a comment!!

Cheryl