Barbecue sauce doesn’t belong within the high tier of condiments. It actually doesn’t crack the highest 5 (ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, scorching sauce, and ranch are all superior). Nevertheless, barbecue sauce—usually a discount of tomato, sugar, vinegar, and spices—remains to be a sensible and gratifying condiment. Typically thick, tolerably candy, and with a glimmer of spice, it’s an enough accomplice for something that’s heat, salty, probably grilled, and perhaps a bit greasy. Suppose: typical barbecue choices like ribs, hen, pulled pork, baked beans, but in addition fried meals (nuggets, fries, wings, and so forth.), pizza, and burgers.
Not like ketchup or mayonnaise—which fortunately keep pretty commonplace tastes and consistencies (the eradication of watery mayo is considered one of society’s biggest feats)—barbecue sauce covers a large spectrum of flavors and textures. Inside america, this condiment has many various regional iterations. For example, in North Carolina, the sauce is skinny, vinegar-forward, and orange in colour. When you head additional south to Alabama, you’ll discover a mayonnaise-based, “white” barbecue sauce. In fact, there are worldwide variances as nicely, mainly represented by the wealthy histories of Japanese and Korean barbecue sauces, typically flavored by soy and mirin.
Regardless of its vary, usually when somebody asks for “barbecue sauce,” they’re referring to the sauce’s most centrally casted self: darkish brown, viscous, candy, and spicy. You will discover some model of this barbecue sauce wherever you purchase your groceries. With that in thoughts, we figured it could be useful to style—and rank—the barbecue sauces obtainable to us.
The Standards
The premise for this style take a look at is as follows: You’re opening a restaurant and your kitchen can solely inventory a single barbecue sauce model. You’re factoring in taste, but in addition price, look, and model recognition. Primarily, we’re choosing the Heinz 57 of barbecue sauce.
It’s value noting that to be eligible for consideration, the sauce must be obtainable for buy by way of Amazon. Native, regional, and do-it-yourself barbecue sauces are wonderful, however are past the scope of this analysis.
Picture by Paul Hagopian
8. Man Fieri BBQ Sauce, $10
Listed here are a few of my notes: “Tastes like paper,” “Truly actually dangerous,” “Unnatural crimson colour,” “Flavortown meets Chernobyl.” I’ll by no means not love Man (I dream of “rolling out” in his cherry-red convertible), however his barbecue sauce doesn’t carry the warmth. Clocking in at $10 a bottle—the hypothetical restaurant goes to skip this, all the time.
7. 365 Barbecue Sauce, $3.29
A shocking disappointment from a Entire Meals model whose merchandise typically punch above their weight. If it wasn’t for its favorable pricing, this could doubtless be off the listing. It’s cloying to the purpose that its most comparable flavors are sweet and kids’s medication.
6. Traeger Basic BBQ Sauce, $7.95
Traeger makes implausible grilling tools and really common barbecue sauce. Of the eight sauces we tried, this was among the many thickest and sweetest. Whereas neither of these qualities are inherently dangerous, for this to turn out to be a flexible condiment, it wants a bit extra stability.
5. Stubb’s, $7.99
Tomato and black pepper are the 2 most-prominent flavors in Stubb’s—and it really works actually, very well. You could possibly slather this onto ribs and hen or serve it alongside a bowl of onion rings; both manner you’re having a very good time. Additionally, from a visible standpoint, the sauce’s vibrant, however pure, crimson hue could be very interesting.
4. Candy Child Ray’s, 2-pack for $10
An iconic sauce, Candy Child Ray’s loyal followers would undoubtedly like to see their most popular condiment at this hypothetical restaurant. Nevertheless, the emotional attachment and model recognition is what’s doing many of the heavy lifting right here. From a taste perspective, SBR is tremendous. It’s biggest attribute? Texture. It is simply so dippable.
3. Kraft, $1.49
The largest shock of the bunch. Kraft strikes the precise stability of sweetness, acidity, warmth, and texture. That is the gold commonplace for broadly distributed, always-accessible barbecue sauces. Additionally, you possibly can choose up a bottle for lower than $2.
2. Primal Kitchen Basic Barbecue, $6.49
We love all the pieces about this sauce. Texturally, it’s easy and opulent with out being overly thick and grabby. By way of taste, cumin does many of the (actually good) work, including spice but in addition a smoky earthiness. It’s dippable, however doubtless greatest used for marinades and glazes. We’d fortunately settle for this in our make-believe kitchen.
1. Bachan’s Scorching & Spicy Barbecue, $6.83
Though barely on the skinny aspect, this sauce from Bachan’s is almost excellent. It’s, by far, probably the most advanced in taste—instantly providing notes of soy, brown sugar, and spice—and its deep, natural-red colour has probably the most appetizing look. When you’re serving something scorching, salty, and greasy, that is the sauce you need alongside it.
Which barbecue sauce is your favourite? Tell us within the feedback under!
