This homemade maple barbecue sauce is perfect for enhancing the flavors of your pork and chicken dishes. Ready in just 15 minutes on the stovetop, this sweet and smoky sauce is a great addition to weeknight dinners. Or use it as a marinade for grilling or baking – either way your family is going to love it.
If you like sweet and smoky, you’re going to love this maple barbecue sauce.
I’ve made quite a bit of bbq sauces, including an apricot bbq sauce and a honey bbq sauce, and have used family members to test them out. In fact, this maple barbecue sauce was one of the stars of a recent dinner with extended family and my uncle couldn’t stop raving about it.
It’s just an all around easy bbq sauce, with sweetness from the maple syrup that’s not overpowering and just a bit of smokiness from the spices.
While I normally use an unsweetened ketchup for the my bbq sauces, in this recipe I used tomato paste because I didn’t want it to get too thin since the maple syrup itself is relatively liquidy. You can add more or less water to it to make it as thin or keep it as thick as you like.
There’s really almost nothing to making this recipe and it truly only takes 15 minutes. So scroll down to see the step by step pictures and instructions, as well as helpful tips, to get the most out of this bbq sauce with maple syrup.
You’ll need these ingredients
(Note: the full ingredients list, including measurements, is provided in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.)
- Maple syrup: make sure to use 100% maple syrup and not pancake syrup, which is different. I typically use the maple syrup from Costco, but other brands work just as well.
- Tomato paste: any plain tomato paste will work, whether it’s in a can or a tube.
- Worcestershire sauce: make sure the kind you have is gluten free if your family needs that.
- Red wine vinegar: you can substitute white wine vinegar if you don’t have red wine vinegar.
- Molasses: different brands of molasses will have different amounts of sugar. I used Wholesome organic molasses, which has 10 grams of sugar naturally in it (not added). Most other jars of molasses I saw had 14 grams of sugar, so if you have one with more sugar you may want to add slightly less in the recipe. This shouldn’t have as big of an impact on sweetness as the maple syrup, since there’s much less of it.
- Spices: the homemade seasoning blend I use consists of mustard powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, ground black pepper, and Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
How to make maple bbq sauce
(Note: please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the complete written instructions.)
What to use maple syrup bbq sauce on
Of course there are lots of ways to use bbq sauce, though since this one is one the sweeter side in general I would recommend it with pork, chicken, turkey, and even on salmon. But you can use it for anything you’d like! Here are some recipe ideas:
- on bbq turkey meatballs;
- over pork ribs or pulled pork sandwiches;
- as a marinade or glaze for basic grilled chicken thighs; or
- to dip grilled potato slices or grilled potato wedges in.
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15-Minute Maple Barbecue Sauce
Equipment
- A small saucepan
Ingredients
- ¼ c tomato paste
- 3 tsp red wine vinegar
- ¼ c maple syrup
- 1.5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp molasses
- ½ tsp mustard powder
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp kosher salt Diamond Crystal
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp water optional
Instructions
- Place a small saucepan over low heat on a stovetop burner. Use measuring cups and spoons to add everything except the spices and water to it, letting them warm up as you add them.
- Once the first five ingredients are in the pan, use a whisk to combine everything together, then measure out and add the spices to the mixture. Use the whisk again to combine it all and increase the heat to medium low. If the mixture is too thick for your taste, add in the water as well and stir to incorporate.
- Let the mixture cook for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally with the whisk and letting the flavors meld together.
- Remove from the heat and either use right away or let cool then place in a glass jar or other container. If not using right away, make sure the sauce cools completely before placing a lid on it and storing in the fridge for up to 4 days.
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