Every great BBQ sauce is built on three forces: sweetness, acidity and smoke. Get all three in the right balance and you have a sauce people will ask about. We have been making this sauce in the Thermomix® for years and know exactly why the balance works so well here.
In America, BBQ sauces are guarded like family secrets. Restaurant cooks spend decades perfecting their recipes and some bottle them for sale. The base is always the same: not the ready-made ketchup from a bottle, but tomato puree or tomato sauce, plus vinegar, onions, mustard and a spice combination that thickens into a syrup during the long cooking time. That is exactly what we recreate here. Our Thermomix® keeps the temperature, stirring speed and reduction time precise. The result is a sauce with real depth.
BBQ Sauce with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 16 ✓
- 130 g red onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 50 g olive oil
- 120 g brown sugar
- 2 tsp Paprika de la Vera
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 80 g tomato puree
- 150 g ketchup
- 80 g Worcestershire sauce
- 50 g soy sauce
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 180 g blackcurrant nectar
- 2 Msp. preserving agent (sorbic acid)
Instructions 0 / 6
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1
Chop the onion and garlic.
Peel the onion and garlic, place in the mixing bowl and chop for 5 seconds / speed 5. Push down with the spatula.
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2
Sweat.
Add the oil and sugar to the mixing bowl and heat for 5 minutes / 120 °C (TM31 Varoma).
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3
Add the spices.
Add the paprika, cinnamon, allspice, chilli powder and nutmeg to the mixing bowl and heat for 3 minutes / 120 °C (TM31 Varoma).
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4
Add remaining ingredients.
Add the remaining ingredients, except the preserving agent, to the mixing bowl and cook for 18 minutes / 100 °C / reverse direction / speed 3.5.
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5
Add the preserving agent.
Add the preserving agent to the mixing bowl and stir for 15 seconds / reverse direction / speed 2.
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6
Bottle the sauce.
Fill the sauce into jars straight away, seal, leave to cool and store in the fridge.
Nutrition per serving
What sets this sauce apart from the bottle
Tomato puree instead of ketchup as the base. Ready-made sauces use ketchup as their foundation. That makes them sweet and flat. We use 80 g of tomato puree in addition to the ketchup portion. The tomato puree carries the acidity and concentrates the tomato flavour without watering it down. After 18 minutes at 100 °C on speed 3.5 (reverse direction), the water has reduced and the sauce holds its body.
Blackcurrant nectar as a smoke amplifier. 180 g of blackcurrant nectar sounds unusual. But blackcurrant brings acidity, a dark fruity note and a colour that gives the sauce depth. Combined with 2 tsp of Paprika de la Vera (the genuine smoked paprika from Extremadura) the result is a smoky aroma that needs no liquid smoke.
The spice combination makes the difference. Cinnamon (3/4 tsp), ground allspice (1/2 tsp) and nutmeg (1/4 tsp) are the spices you do not notice, but you immediately miss when they are gone. They warm the background of the sauce. The Thermomix® gives us the chance to toast the spices for 3 minutes at 120 °C before the liquids go in. That builds aroma that would not develop otherwise.
Where this BBQ sauce can still go wrong
Too little reduction time. A BBQ sauce that comes off the heat too early is thin and bland. 18 minutes at 100 °C is the minimum. The sauce must thicken noticeably. If you dip a spoon in at the end and it clings thickly, the consistency is right. If it runs off immediately, it needs another 5 minutes.
Replacing the smoked paprika with regular paprika. That sounds like a small deviation, but it is not. Regular paprika powder adds colour. Paprika de la Vera (Pimenton de la Vera) adds smoke. If you cannot find it, smoked paprika from the supermarket is a workable substitute, but it is not the same. We buy the original online because it is rarely found in normal supermarkets.
Freezing too early without proper cooling. The preserving agent (sorbic acid) needs to distribute evenly and the sauce must cool completely before it is frozen or stored in the fridge. Putting it in the fridge while still hot shortens its shelf life and causes condensation.
Variations we have tried
Bourbon BBQ sauce. Towards the end of the cooking time (in the last 3 minutes) add a splash of bourbon or whisky. The alcohol cooks off, but the smoky aroma stays. Anyone who drinks bourbon and grills should try this at least once.
Extra hot. Add 1/2 tsp of chilli flakes in addition to the chilli powder at the spice stage. The heat integrates better when the flakes cook down with the tomato puree rather than being stirred in at the end.
Apple BBQ sauce. Replace 80 g of the Worcestershire sauce with 80 g of cloudy apple juice. This makes the sauce milder and fruity. It suits poultry better than beef.
Less sweet. The 120 g of brown sugar can be reduced to 80 g. The sauce then becomes bolder and less caramel-like. If a guest avoids sugar, it also works with 60 g of honey as a substitute, though the consistency changes slightly.
Spareribs, burgers or as a marinade
BBQ sauce is just the beginning. When we grill, we also make a homemade mayonnaise with the Thermomix® and a cocktail sauce to go alongside. If you prefer something more punchy, we also have a garlic sauce made with the Thermomix®. For the meat itself, homemade gyros seasoning works well as a marinade base.
2 weeks in the fridge, freeze in portions
In sterilised preserving jars (250 ml or 200 ml) the sauce keeps in the fridge for 1 to 2 weeks. Fill while hot and seal straight away. The preserving agent extends the shelf life, but can be left out if you use the sauce within 3 to 4 days.
Freezing is possible. Best stored in portion bags or small screw-top jars (do not fill right to the brim). Defrost overnight in the fridge and give a quick stir.
Espresso as the secret bitter booster
Goes well with: Burgers.
A trick we picked up from American BBQ books: add 30 ml of freshly brewed espresso (or strong black coffee) together with the remaining liquids in the Thermomix®. You cannot taste the coffee at the end. What remains is a dark bitter note that tames the brown sugar and gives the smoked paprika the counterpoint it needs. Without that bitter anchor the sauce tips easily into the sweet, especially after the full 18 minutes of reduction. If you have no espresso, use a heaped teaspoon of instant coffee in 30 ml of hot water. With beef and spareribs, this makes the deciding difference from the bottled version.
