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

I grew up consuming Southern barbecue on the properties of aunts and distant cousins within the Carolinas and rural Virginia. At household reunions, there was nearly all the time a complete hog or a pork shoulder, pit-smoked and cooked low and gradual in an previous drum over hardwood for hours on finish, till the meat virtually fell aside. It was chopped effective, typically 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 group, often over 200 robust, nonetheless insisted on “common” barbecue sauce. The crimson, candy sort made well-known in Kansas Metropolis. Even within the land of sugar-shunning barbecue, that smoky-sweet tomato sauce made its solution to the desk.

There are various regional barbecue sauce kinds 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 nearly any grocery retailer, and you will find that many bottles labeled “barbecue sauce” are Kansas Metropolis–model.

With that in thoughts, we determined to slender down our barbecue sauce style check to Kansas Metropolis-style sauces. To seek out the easiest Kansas Metropolis–model barbecue sauce, our editors taste-tested 16 totally different manufacturers you’re prone to discover at your native grocery retailer, together with a number of sourced straight from Kansas Metropolis. We tasted every one by itself in random order, with out realizing which model was which. After making our means 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 completely happy to serve at our personal cookouts.

The Standards

A traditional Kansas Metropolis–model barbecue sauce ought to have sufficient vinegar to supply a tangy counterpoint to the sweetness of brown sugar or molasses, together with a delicate kick of warmth from spices like chile powder, black pepper, or cayenne. The sauce needs to be tomato-based and made with both ketchup or tomato sauce, and may embody seasonings resembling 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, however it typically tastes manifestly synthetic; it ought to supply a touch of smokiness with out overpowering the nuanced flavors of the sauce. Kansas Metropolis–model sauces must also be thick sufficient to cling to grilled meats, resembling ribs or brisket, however nonetheless be fluid sufficient to baste with or drizzle on the aspect.

Our Winners: It is a Tie!

Dealer Joe’s Natural Kansas Metropolis Fashion BBQ Sauce

This successful sauce was essentially the most universally preferred 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 nice, 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 “stability 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 Complete Meals Market, Authentic Barbecue Sauce
• Cowtown BAR-B-Q Sauce
• Good & Collect Natural Authentic BBQ Sauce

All three earned stable scores throughout the board. Whereas none had been fairly as scrumptious as our winners, our editors nonetheless loved every of the sauces above. Complete 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, vivid, and tangy barbecue taste and, based on Daniel, can be a sensible choice for anybody who needs “a extra molasses-y sauce.” Cowtown bought 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 stability—that made them worthy of a spot on the picnic desk.

The Contenders

• 365 by Complete Meals Market, Authentic Barbecue Sauce
• Arthur Bryant’s Authentic 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 Authentic Traditional Bar-B-Q Sauce
• Good & Collect Natural Authentic BBQ Sauce
• Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce
• KC Masterpiece Authentic Barbecue Sauce
• Kinder’s Authentic Barbecue Sauce
• Kraft Authentic Gradual-Simmered Barbecue BBQ Sauce
• Montgomery Inn Barbecue Sauce
• Stubb’s Authentic BBQ Sauce
• Candy Child Ray’s Barbecue Sauce
• Dealer Joe’s Natural Kansas Metropolis Fashion BBQ Sauce

In Conclusion

Many of the sauces we examined adopted an analogous primary method—tomato base, sugar, vinegar, and spices—however the execution different considerably. Some had been far too candy, with high-fructose corn syrup listed as the primary ingredient and nearly no acidity to stability the sweetness. Others leaned closely on liquid smoke or “pure smoke taste,” leading to an amazing and infrequently artificial-tasting smokiness. Just a few had been overly acidic, whereas others tasted like little greater than barely spiced-up ketchup.

Our favourite sauces struck a greater stability: wealthy and candy, however layered with tang, spice, and simply sufficient smoke to evoke that acquainted pit-cooked taste. Most of our prime 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, Complete Meals, Cowtown, and Goal’s Good & Collect introduced loads of traditional, crowd-pleasing barbecue taste we’d be completely happy to serve at any cookout.

Our Testing Methodology

All style exams are performed 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 stop 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 with a purpose to give us essentially the most neutral illustration of precise outcomes potential.