Easy Homemade Barbecue Sauce

This easy homemade barbecue sauce is everything you want for grilling season or even to use in this Instant Pot ribs recipe. Best of all, it’s small batch so you can easily make it on your stovetop and let it simmer while you’re chopping veggies or setting the table for dinner. Delicious on chicken or ribs, It’s worth the 40 or so minutes of your time, start to finish, to make.

What’s In This Barbecue Sauce?

I’m glad you asked! If you’ve been visiting my blog for a while, you know I have strayed from bottled and processed foods for some time, and barbecue sauce is on the list too. But that hasn’t always been the case. Although my mom made homemade sauce, I certainly have bought my share of bottled sauces in the past, not all that long ago.

The world has certainly changed, and today, it’s all about convenience. Although It was common practice for women to actually cook from scratch decades ago, today’s grocery store shelves are filled with every kind of bottled sauce you could ever think of. Let’s face it. It doesn’t take any effort to toss a bottle of barbecue sauce in your cart. And some sauces look pretty darn tasty, with fun labels. I used to be such a sucker for a great name and label! However, fast forward to the present, and unless the ingredients listed on that label are preservative-free and natural, I just can’t spring for bottled sauce.

You could probably guess some of the ingredients in this barbecue sauce, right? Onions, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce are givens. But this sauce also contains bouillon or you can substitute chicken broth.

just a dash of Tobasco and lemon juice and that’s where the tangy taste really shines. One of the great things about lemon juice is its ability to break down meat, and that’s a real perk when it comes to grilling, basting, or baking meat dishes.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• dash of Tobasco
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1 cup of beef bouillon
• 4 tablespoons bottled lemon juice

How to Make This Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Let’s just say this recipe can’t get much easier. Even the person who hasn’t cooked anything from scratch in the past can easily whip up this recipe. Just saute the onion in the olive oil until golden.

Then add the remaining ingredients, whisk them all until smooth, and simmer for 30 minutes. The sauce will thicken as it cooks.

And you’re done! See, it wasn’t much work to make this easy homemade sauce, and it’s so much better for you than anything in a bottle. It’s ready to brush on chicken or coat onto other meats for grilling or pour onto meats to bake. This sauce also stores nicely in the fridge for up to a week if you have extra.

Get grilling! And if you make this sauce, let me know what you think in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!