Healthy BBQ Sauce (No Ketchup)

Healthy BBQ sauce is surprisingly easy to make and tastes so good you'll want to slather it on everything!! It's thick, tangy, and just sweet enough, with a hint of smoke and spice. Made from whole-food ingredients, this easy vegan BBQ sauce recipe is gluten-free, made without refined sugar, and has half the calories of store-bought BBQ sauce!

I love barbecue sauce. You love barbecue sauce. I mean, who doesn't?

And can you blame us? It hits all of our favorite tastes - sweet, salty, acid, and umami.

But what gets me down is reading the labels on the bottles of BBQ sauce at the grocery store. It's definitely convenient to just grab a bottle, but when I do, there's always a nagging voice in the back of my mind thinking, "Ugh, it has so much sugar I might as well slather my meal in frosting!" 

First, if you're vegan, there's the challenge of finding one that doesn't contain worcestershire or honey. Then you're left guessing which one will taste best, which company uses the best quality ingredients, how to balance quality with cost.... and they all contain loads of sugar. 

Call me strange, but if I'm going to eat that much sugar, I'd rather it be for dessert!  

The great news is that it's remarkably easy to make your own barbecue sauce at home. It also costs less than springing for those better quality store-bought ones.

Plus, when you make it yourself, you know it's free from oil, refined sugar, and any sketchy ingredients like artificial colors and preservatives.

Another awesome thing about this healthy barbecue sauce is that you can easily tweak the sweetness, acidity, and spiciness until it's just right for your tastes!

Jump to:

• Ingredient Notes
• How to Make Healthy BBQ Sauce
• How to Store Homemade BBQ Sauce
• Recipe Tips
• Ways to Use It
• Nutrition Information
• More Healthy Sauces
• Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Ingredient Notes

• Aromatics: Sauteed onion and garlic add a savory aroma and depth of flavor to the BBQ sauce.
• Tomato Sauce: Instead of ketchup, I used tomato sauce as the base for my BBQ sauce. To clarify, since "tomato sauce" means different things in different parts of the world, this is simply cooked, pureed tomatoes, usually with salt added.
• Water: This allows you to control the consistency. It also helps deglaze the pan, releasing the caramelized bits left from cooking the onion and garlic and adding them back into the mixture, which adds even more flavor.
• Vinegar: I used a combination of apple cider vinegar and balsamic, both of which add important acidity and help balance the sweetness level.
• Sweeteners: Both maple syrup and molasses add flavor and natural sweetness to the BBQ sauce and balance the acidity of the tomato sauce and vinegar. If preferred, you can replace these with medjool dates.
• Seasonings: Salt, pepper, smoked paprika, chili powder, and cayenne pepper work together to add depth of flavor, a touch of smokiness, and a little bit of spicy kick.
• Soy Sauce or Tamari: These add saltiness and umami to the BBQ sauce.
• Liquid Smoke (optional): Intensifies the smokiness and gives the sauce an authentic BBQ flavor.

How to Make Healthy BBQ Sauce

TIP: I like to begin by sautéing onion and garlic, but if you're in the mood for a shortcut you can always substitute 1 teaspoon each of onion and garlic powder.

Here's a summary to show you how easy it is; be sure to scroll down for the full recipe.

1. First, preheat a saute pan over medium heat. Dry saute the onion for 8 to 10 minutes, until it begins to caramelize. We'll deglaze with water and other ingredients in a few minutes.
2. Once the onion is golden, add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds. Now add ¼ cup of water to the pan, and stir to well (photo above was taken at this stage).
3. Add the remaining ingredients, and stir to combine.
4. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until slightly reduced (photo below).
5. Remove from heat and let cool 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender, and blend until smooth.
6. Pour into a jar and let cool. Refrigerate the sauce until ready to use.

How to Store Homemade BBQ Sauce

Stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container, homemade barbecue sauce will keep for up to one week. So if you know you plan to use it more than once, and/or depending on the number of people you're feeding, why not go ahead and double the recipe?

If you double it you'll have enough barbecue sauce on hand to use some right away and some for dinner later in the week.

Recipe Tips

Opinions vary on what makes the best BBQ sauce. So whether you prefer a sweeter, stickier sauce or maybe a more vinegary or spicy version, feel free to tweak the ingredients to suit your preference. Here are some ideas...

To adjust the sweetness: 

• Reduce the maple syrup to ¼ cup for a less sweet sauce. Or if you're using dates instead, start with just 3, then taste the sauce from the blender and adjust.
• Want it on the sweeter side? Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of coconut or brown sugar in addition to the maple syrup. Another option is to add 1 or 2 pitted medjool dates to the blender.

To adjust smoky flavors:

• Reduce or omit the smoked paprika for less smokiness, and/or skip the liquid smoke.
• For a smoky barbecue sauce, increase the smoked paprika to 1 ½ teaspoons, add a pinch of dried chipotle flakes, and increase the liquid smoke (it doesn't take much, so add carefully!).

To make it more or less spicy: 

• Omit the cayenne and black pepper for a mild BBQ sauce.
• Add a bit more cayenne plus a pinch of dried chipotle flakes for extra heat.

To adjust acidity:

• Make the BBQ sauce less tangy by reducing the total tablespoons of vinegar from 3 to 2.
• Kick up the acidity by adding a tablespoon of either apple cider vinegar or white distilled vinegar (I probably wouldn't increase the balsamic because of its distinct flavor).

Ways to Use It

There are so many great ways to use this tasty BBQ sauce. Here are some of my favorites:

• I like to use it on my jackfruit burgers, vegan ribs, BBQ soy curls, and the BBQ tempeh in these loaded nachos.
• It's also perfect for topping mushroom veggie burgers, smoky vegan chickpea burgers, and our favorite high-protein vegan burgers.
• BBQ sauce is great for dipping too! Try it with these easy tofu nuggets and seitan "chicken" nuggets!

Nutrition Information

We all know how much our taste buds love sugar, right? So, I totally get why brands load up their BBQ sauces with refined sugar. They just want to sell a lot of sauce!

But with the use of maple syrup or dates, we can have a sauce that's just sweet enough, and has about half the calories (none of them "empty calories").

The labels on most store-bought sauces indicate 2 tablespoons as one serving. But like salad dressing, who uses just 2 tablespoons of barbecue sauce? 

For this recipe, I'm calling ¼ cup a serving (that's 4 Tbsp), and it has the same number of calories as 2 tablespoons of the store-bought stuff! Just a little perk I wanted to point out for those of you watching your caloric intake.

I didn't skimp on saltiness in this recipe, but again, that's one of the great things about making our own sauce! If you prefer a sauce with less sodium, feel free to reduce the salt and/or soy sauce.

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I hope you enjoy this Healthy BBQ Sauce!

If you try the recipe be sure to leave a comment below and give it a star rating. Let us know about any tweaks you make to the flavors and your favorite ways to use barbecue sauce! 

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