Sometimes it feels like I have lived several lifetimes.
Although there is always overlap, it seems that in each season of life, Eric and I have had rather eccentric hobbies. In college, we sailed. We owned several sailboats, were members of two different sailing clubs and even did some racing. (Well, I raced when he guilted me into it. This girl wasn’t built for speed.)
After we moved to Birmingham (where sailing wasn’t so practical) we turned our attention to cooking, especially barbeque. Did you know that there are competitions for barbeque? Well, there are, and we participated. Sometimes we even won.
We also cooked BBQ for friends and family every chance we got, from backyard parties, fund raisers, and even a couple wine festivals. Actually, I don’t think we were properly licensed for those, so scratch those from the list. Never happened!
But I digress. In those 10 years, we cooked a lot of BBQ under team names such as “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Que?” and the more family friendly, “8th Deadly Sin.” (Why yes, if you got that the second name is also a Jimmy Buffett reference, you can be my new best friend.) During that time we tried and/or created a ton of recipes, but none so popular as our homemade BBQ sauce recipe.
We literally received calls frequently from friends needing a barbecue sauce fix who would ask if we had any to spare.
This stuff was like crack to the folks in the BBQ loving south! It’s not to thick, not too sweet, not too vinegar-y, and best of all, not too hard to make!
While we still cook a fair amount of BBQ, it is often now done with meat we raised ourselves and not in the quantities that we used to do. Therefore, I think I am finally ready to part with my prized sauce recipe. And for your convenience, I have cut it down to a normal family sized portion, since I don’t suppose most people would care for a sauce recipe that begins with a gallon of ketchup!
I truly hope you will enjoy it and that this recipe for homemade barbecue sauce will make your family and friends as happy as it makes ours!
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Combine all ingredients and simmer on low for 1½ hours stirring every 15 minutes or so.
- You could also make this in your slow cooker.
- **If you would like a fruity twist, replace the white sugar with ½ cup of fruit preserves. Pineapple and peach both make great flavor options!
If you enjoyed this recipe, you may want to check out my book, The Homestead Kitchen!
And don’t miss a minute of the fun! Sign up for Beulah’s Mooooosletter and she’ll deliver all the farm news from the cow’s point of view!
Based on 7 Review(s)
Heather, this sounds delicious…I will be trying it out soon. I am one that doesn’t like overly sweet barbecue sauce at all.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Heather, I made the bbq sauce yesterday and had it with meatloaf tonight…OMG, it is so good. The only thing I did different was add ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke, barely could taste it. Thanks for sharing!