Hello my friends! Are you looking for a new BBQ sauce recipe to perk up your pork? Well, you have come to the right place. Here's my Yum Bomb BBQ sauce recipe that blasts all others off the grill. This is the BBQ sauce all the others with they could be! I've included all my secret ingredient reveals and recipe hacks.
What's wrong with other BBQ sauce recipes
I love BBQed meats--ribs, brisket, chicken, there aren't any I don't like. But one sad thing I too often notice is that beautifully cooked meat is often topped with very sub-par BBQ sauces. Even the bragged about "homemade" or "down home" recipes are too sweet and blah. The "spicy" ones aren't. They're just hot. Even in Austin, TX, BBQ central, I couldn't find one I liked. The famous Terry Black's which has the most amazing smoked meats ever, had only so-so sauce.
"The one flaw with BBQ sauce recipes is what ruins them: too much sugar, not enough flavor."
Must-have BBQ sauce recipe hacks
There are only three places I had good BBQ sauce. One was from a food vendor at Coast Festival (secret ingredient, fresh fruits in season) another was at Festival of the Arts in Grand Rapids (celery seed tweak) and the last was, unexpectedly, Greenfield Village in Dearborn where I discovered my spiritual BBQ home. What they did differently is what inspired my Yum Bomb BBQ sauce recipe. Greenfield Village is where I discovered that there are different kinds of sauce recipes with signature ingredients that you'd never think of unless you were from that region. The famous "white BBQ" from Alabama uses mayonnaise! And German immigrant inspired "yellow BBQ sauce" from South Carolina adds in mustard. I found THESE were what I'd been craving.
Why sugary tomato based BBQ sauce rules but shouldn't
You might say we've know that all our lives! Okay down south maybe but I'm a Michigan girl. And if you're from Muskegon, MI, you'll tell me that US-31 BBQ was doing the mustard hack for decades. And so I'm new to the party. But if so, I'm not the only one. Most people didn't even get the invite. Because every place I've been to uses that same hackneyed sweet ketchup-y sauce. Rib fests, BBQ cookoffs, the sauce all tastes like candy-coated candy. They all probably use Sweet Baby Ray's or some other kind. And bottled BBQ sauce has 17 grams per serving of at least four kinds of sugar including the fake HFCS. And don't even get me started on the artificial colors and flavors. Probably because it's cheaper to make. And it shows. Plus, most people don't have discriminating tastes in BBQ. Well, I decided today's the day adultify. So I went rogue, tossing weird ingredients in till I found a BBQ sauce recipe I love.
Yum Bomb BBQ sauce recipes
- Choose a seasonal fruit or a combination: strawberries, blueberries, cherries, peaches, grapes, apples, pears and cranberries are some I've used. In off seasons I'll use mango, pineapple and oranges.
- Peel and seed lemons, lime or and oranges (or use bottled juice, it's fine. I add bottled lime juice separately because that's mandatory and you'll need it to get enough.
- Chop and add cilantro, garlic, onion, tomatoes and bell peppers (my own personal secret ingredient)
- Cook it all down with a complementary 100% juice (pineapple, cranberry, orange) and lime juice.
- Season with smoked paprika, garlic powder, red pepper (to taste) and celery salt.
- Add Worcestershire sauce, Dijon or stoneground mustard, molasses and pure maple syrup to taste.
- Blend it in a food processor.
- Fill empty condiment squeeze bottle or a Mason jar and store in frig.
- Use as meat marinade or as side condiment. Add a little cooking oil if basting.
- Prepare to be carried it triumph and besieged for the recipe!
Too tired, lazy or busy to cut a bunch of produce? Sub SALSA for the veggies!
