As I prepare to start my career as a competition barbecuer, I've been hard at work at honing my sauces to be as delicious and unique as possible, in hopes they'll give me an edge in the fierce battles that lay ahead. While I'm taking the barbecue cop-out and deeming my most recent sauces "secret," I traveled a long road of experimentation with different styles of sauce to get me to where I am today, and those recipes I'm more than happy to share. One the first, and most regular, sauces I made was of the thick and sweet variety, akin to what you'd find in Kansas City.
Although I'm keeping my newest sauces a secret, there's a lot to learn from the processes developed along the way. For example, I've tried a lot of different ways to infuse an onion flavor in the sauce. My favorite has been sauteing onions in butter as first step to just about every sauce. A little browning on the onions gives them a slightly sweet flavor that adds a nice depth to a sauce.
While I tend to prefer medium-thick sauce, if you're talking Kansas City, you're looking at pretty thick sauce. To achieve this, I traded in my usual tomato sauce base for ketchup, which gives the right thickness for a KC-style sauce. From there, molasses and brown sugar were added to build upon the sweetness of the ketchup, then a modest amount of vinegar for the required tang. Mustard, chili powder, and pepper finished off the seasoning department for a slight hint of heat.
That mixture cooks for 30 minutes to ensure all the flavors meld together and sauce gets to the right thickness. Then a whirl in the blender smooths it out and it's ready to go.
A good Kansas City sauce like this shines for its versatility—it works great on everything from ribs to chicken to beans, or it can be a dip or a baste. It also has the deep sweetness with a little tang that's probably the most ubiquitous characteristics of a barbecue sauce everyone is looking for. While this sauce recipe is pretty great as is, it's even better used as starting point for experimentation. There's a lot of room to customize it to your liking, which is exactly how I started out with developing my own "secret" recipes.
Published on Tue Feb 7, 2012 by Joshua Bousel
Print Recipe
Kansas City-Style Barbecue Sauce
- Yield Makes 2 1/2 cups
- Prep 10 Minutes
- Cook 35 Minutes
- Total 45 Minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Procedure
- Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, chili powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Transfer sauce to the jar of a blender and blend until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, transfer to a jar and store in refrigerator for up to a month.
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Comments
Mike I've never cared for the taste of molasses, to me it tastes burnt and bitter. I've found that I like the flavor of Cane Syrup instead. Not the supermarket brands that are predominately HFCS, but the real stuff made by hand in deep in SE Georgia. It has a sweet, more refined flavor than molasses.
Give it a try. You just might find the "edge" you were looking for to distinguish your sauce from others.
Good luck on the competition. Posted Wed, Feb 8 2012 8:17AM
Chris Good tips on sauce development, Josh. Best of luck in your comps.Posted Sun, Feb 12 2012 4:51PM
Joe Hi, love your blog. I saw where you have the different store bbq sauces ranked on another one of your pages on here and you have nothing ranked "10". I higlly recomend trying B.B. King's bbq sauce from B.B. King's blues clubs, it is the best sauce i have ever had.Posted Sat, Jun 2 2012 3:24PM
Josh @Joe Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be sure to give it a try.Posted Sun, Jun 3 2012 12:16PM
FAQs
Kansas City BBQ sauce has a thicker consistency and is sweeter than a classic BBQ sauce. Made with onions, spices, ketchup, and molasses, other ingredients are often also added to give it a variation of flavors, such as liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, or soy sauce.
What is the flavor of Kansas City BBQ? ›
Kansas City style barbecue is slow cooked with a sweet sauce made from tomato soup or ketchup mixed with sugar, vinegar, and spices. Its flavor profile includes a smoky hickory flavor that comes from the use of hickory wood chips in the smoker to give it an authentic “barbecue” taste.
What is kc classic BBQ sauce? ›
Our KC Masterpiece® Kansas City Classic anniversary blend is made in the same spirit as the recipe that won the First American Royal Barbecue competition 35 years ago. With rich molasses and 100% real sugar, it's kettle-cooked to produce rich layers of sweet, smoky flavor.
What's the difference between Memphis and Kansas City barbecue sauce? ›
Even though Memphis BBQ sauce is tomato-based and contains brown sugar like Kansas City BBQ sauce, it also includes mustard and vinegar. Because the BBQ sauce is thin, it makes a great marinade. It can also be mopped or basted on pork shoulders, butts, ribs and fresh pulled-pork sandwiches.
What are the 4 types of BBQ sauce? ›
Generally, barbecue sauces is categorized into four varieties: tomato-based sauces, vinegar-based sauces, mustard-based sauces, and mayonnaise-based sauces. Each category can have a range of BBQ sauce styles, ranging from sweet and tangy to hot and spicy.
What makes Kansas City style barbeque special? ›
It all comes down to the sauce. When compared to other prominent styles, Kansas City style sauces are sweet and thick. The recipe usually includes a base made with tomato and molasses, and you may find brown sugar as well. The sauce is cooked into the meat or brushed on immediately after cooking.
What is the difference between BBQ and Kansas style BBQ? ›
Kansas City barbecue's signature touch is the crisp, charred ends of pork or smoked brisket. Meanwhile, the sweet and spicy tomato-based sauce that tops everything off is another hallmark of this regional culinary style. Texas barbecue, on the other hand, is often considered a different beast altogether.
What is Kansas City BBQ sauce made of? ›
A sizable amount of ketchup is added to sautéed onions and garlic, then combined with molasses and brown sugar (for extra thickness and sweetness), a little vinegar (adds the tartness), and to keep the sugar in check you'll need mustard, chili powder, black and cayenne peppers for some heat.
What is the most famous piece of Kansas City BBQ? ›
Burnt ends are a mainstay on any KC barbecue menu, and they became famous at Arthur Bryant's, where cooks would chop off the "burnt ends” of slabs of brisket and give them away for free. These little morsels became so popular they ended up on every menu in town.
What is traditional Kansas City BBQ? ›
At any given location, diners may find pork, beef, chicken, salmon, lamb or even vegetarian options, such as jackfruit. The Sauce. A traditional Kansas City sauce is a thick, molasses-based concoction of spicy and sweet flavors. As with any definition, there are plenty of exceptions.
According to Flay, store-bought barbecue sauce can elevate grilled foods like any made from scratch. That's right; the bottled stuff will do just fine, so long as you use his personal favorite — a store-bought spread called Bone Suckin' Sauce, which he always keeps stocked in his pantry at the ready.
Who makes KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce? ›
KC Masterpiece is a barbecue sauce that is marketed by the HV Food Products Company, a subsidiary of the Clorox Company.
What is Kentucky style BBQ? ›
Kentucky BBQ Style
Every event that features BBQ will contain lamb, mutton, or pork, and is served with a signature Kentucky BBQ sauce. The main wood type used at BBQ here is hickory, great for long smoking sessions, and adds a unique flavor to the smoked meats.
What is Oklahoma style barbecue sauce? ›
Basically, it's a combination of a few other barbecue styles from around the southern US. It has some of Memphis BBQ Sauce flavors (ketchup, vinegar and similar seasonings), together with a bit of Western North Carolina BBQ (ketchup and vinegar).
Does Kansas City BBQ have sauce? ›
BEAST is our signature handcrafted KANSAS CITY style bbq sauce that is SWEET, SPICY and SMOKY.
What's the difference between Kansas City barbecue and Texas barbecue? ›
And while you can find everything from slow-smoked barbecue to Carolina pulled pork and even Texas brisket, there are two distinct characteristics of Kansas City barbecue that really set it apart. Kansas City barbecue's signature touch is the crisp, charred ends of pork or smoked brisket.
Is Kansas City barbecue sauce sweet? ›
**Our original Kansas City Sweet barbecue sauce is sweet and tangy with a dash of black pepper.
What is the difference between East Carolina BBQ and West Carolina BBQ? ›
In the age-old competition between East and West, Eastern-style barbecue has an undeniable tart flavor with a little spice. It's quite different than ketchup-based styles in Western states. Some supporters of the 'cue will say that even Western-style North Carolina barbeque is too saucy and sweet by comparison.
