We Style-Examined 13 Manufacturers of Barbecue Sauce—Right here Are Our Favorites

I grew up consuming Southern barbecue on the houses of aunts and distant cousins within the Carolinas and rural Virginia. At household reunions, there was virtually at all times an entire hog or a pork shoulder, pit-smoked and cooked low and sluggish in an previous drum over hardwood for hours on finish, till the meat virtually fell aside. It was chopped tremendous, generally with bits of crackling combined in, and often served on a bun with slaw. The sauce? Lexington-style: sharp and vinegar-forward with simply sufficient sweetness. Regardless of this regional loyalty—and stern warnings from my Uncle Scotty, who manned the pit—the gang, often over 200 sturdy, nonetheless insisted on “common” barbecue sauce. The crimson, candy form made well-known in Kansas Metropolis. Even within the land of sugar-shunning barbecue, that smoky-sweet tomato sauce made its strategy to the desk.

There are numerous regional barbecue sauce types within the US, together with the vinegar-based sauces of Jap and Western North Carolina, the mustard-forward sauce present in South Carolina, Alabama’s creamy mayonnaise-based sauce, and the tangy tomato-based sauces from Memphis and St. Louis. However stroll into virtually any grocery retailer, and you will find that many bottles labeled “barbecue sauce” are Kansas Metropolis–type.

With that in thoughts, we determined to slender down our barbecue sauce style check to Kansas Metropolis-style sauces. To search out the easiest Kansas Metropolis–type barbecue sauce, our editors taste-tested 16 completely different manufacturers you’re more likely to discover at your native grocery retailer, together with a number of sourced instantly from Kansas Metropolis. We tasted every one by itself in random order, with out figuring out which model was which. After making our approach by all of the sauces, we tabulated the outcomes and topped an total winner, together with a number of worthy contenders that we’d be pleased to serve at our personal cookouts.

The Standards

A traditional Kansas Metropolis–type barbecue sauce ought to have sufficient vinegar to offer a tangy counterpoint to the sweetness of brown sugar or molasses, together with a mild kick of warmth from spices like chile powder, black pepper, or cayenne. The sauce must be tomato-based and made with both ketchup or tomato sauce, and may embody seasonings corresponding to garlic powder, onion powder, mustard, and perhaps a contact of clove or allspice for complexity. Liquid smoke is usually used to imitate the flavour of conventional pit cooking, nevertheless it usually tastes manifestly synthetic; it ought to provide a touch of smokiness with out overpowering the nuanced flavors of the sauce. Kansas Metropolis–type sauces also needs to be thick sufficient to cling to grilled meats, corresponding to ribs or brisket, however nonetheless be fluid sufficient to baste with or drizzle on the facet.

Our Winners: It is a Tie!

Dealer Joe’s Natural Kansas Metropolis Model BBQ Sauce

This profitable sauce was essentially the most universally favored amongst our tasters and the least offensive to anybody. Jessie, our visuals editor, thought it was well-balanced. Genevieve, our senior editor, described it as “candy, tangy, savory, and never excessively so.” Aside from our editorial director, Daniel, who thought the tomato paste was too dominant, everybody thought it was balanced: It was candy however properly so, with a pleasing, gentle acidity.

Bull’s Eye BBQ Sauce

This sauce was essentially the most nostalgic-inducing of the bunch; Daniel thought it tasted “like absolute traditional bottled barbecue sauce taste.” Amanda, our affiliate visuals director, reward the “steadiness of spices,” whereas our affiliate culinary editor Laila loved its smokiness. This was a sauce that many people would take to our subsequent barbecue.

Runners-Up

• 365 by Entire Meals Market, Unique Barbecue Sauce
• Cowtown BAR-B-Q Sauce
• Good & Collect Natural Unique BBQ Sauce

All three earned strong scores throughout the board. Whereas none have been fairly as scrumptious as our winners, our editors nonetheless loved every of the sauces above. Entire Meals’ sauce was molasses-forward and usually thought of to have a balanced taste. Goal’s Good & Collect sauce was a favourite for its traditional, vibrant, and tangy barbecue taste and, in keeping with Daniel, can be a sensible choice for anybody who desires “a extra molasses-y sauce.” Cowtown obtained excessive marks for its complexity and what Laila described as its “wealthy spice taste.” Every had one thing going for it—whether or not it was brightness, spice, or steadiness—that made them worthy of a spot on the picnic desk.

The Contenders

• 365 by Entire Meals Market, Unique Barbecue Sauce
• Arthur Bryant’s Unique BBQ Sauce
• Buffalo Wild Wings Honey BBQ Sauce
• Bull’s Eye BBQ Sauce
• Cowtown BAR-B-Q Sauce
• Well-known Dave’s Wealthy & Sassy BBQ Sauce
• Gates Unique Traditional Bar-B-Q Sauce
• Good & Collect Natural Unique BBQ Sauce
• Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce
• KC Masterpiece Unique Barbecue Sauce
• Kinder’s Unique Barbecue Sauce
• Kraft Unique Gradual-Simmered Barbecue BBQ Sauce
• Montgomery Inn Barbecue Sauce
• Stubb’s Unique BBQ Sauce
• Candy Child Ray’s Barbecue Sauce
• Dealer Joe’s Natural Kansas Metropolis Model BBQ Sauce

In Conclusion

A lot of the sauces we examined adopted an analogous fundamental components—tomato base, sugar, vinegar, and spices—however the execution various considerably. Some have been far too candy, with high-fructose corn syrup listed as the primary ingredient and virtually no acidity to steadiness the sweetness. Others leaned closely on liquid smoke or “pure smoke taste,” leading to an amazing and infrequently artificial-tasting smokiness. A couple of have been overly acidic, whereas others tasted like little greater than barely spiced-up ketchup.

Our favourite sauces struck a greater steadiness: wealthy and candy, however layered with tang, spice, and simply sufficient smoke to evoke that acquainted pit-cooked taste. Most of our high picks listing tomato purée as the primary ingredient—except for Bull’s Eye, which lists it second—and all embody molasses as a key sweetener and flavoring agent. Dealer Joe’s and Cowtown’s sauces stand out for skipping thickeners fully. Whereas Dealer Joe’s took the highest spot, runners-up like Bull’s Eye, Entire Meals, Cowtown, and Goal’s Good & Collect introduced loads of traditional, crowd-pleasing barbecue taste we’d be pleased to serve at any cookout.

Our Testing Methodology

All style assessments are carried out with manufacturers fully hidden and with out dialogue. Tasters style samples in random order. For instance, taster A might style pattern one first, whereas taster B will style pattern six first. That is to forestall palate fatigue from unfairly giving anybody pattern a bonus. Tasters are requested to fill our tasting sheets rating the samples for numerous standards. All knowledge is tabulated and outcomes are calculated with no editorial enter to be able to give us essentially the most neutral illustration of precise outcomes attainable.