Keto BBQ sauce: no science sugars, just good

When you’re eating low carb, you shouldn’t have to give up your favorite condiments, and that’s why this keto BBQ sauce exists.

Made on the cheap with some pantry ingredients, you get a super flavorful sauce with no weird sugar substitutes in about 15 minutes. Stir it into some pulled pork you can pile onto sheet pan bread, and you have an almost instant meal. You’re welcome in advance.

Taste	Texture
Not too sweet, not too sour	Smooth

Active time	Total time	Yield	Difficulty
5 min	30 minutes	3 cups	Easy

this …

Why this keto BBQ sauce has an edge over traditional homemade BBQ sauce recipes

1. Balance: Far too often BBQ sauces have insane amounts of sugar in them because they also contain far too much acid from vinegar. Keto BBQ sauce uses prunes to balance out the sweetness and just a little balsamic vinegar to up the umami and sweetness without added sugar.
2. No weird ingredients: I know plenty of people who are comfortable using allulose, monkfruit, or erythritol, but I am not one of them. I can taste fakey sugars every time, and afterwards, I have a constant urge to scrub my tongue from the horror of it all. There are only whole ingredients here, so you taste a sauce that boosts the flavor of your food, not some science-d up facsimile of such a thing.
3. Cheap!!!!: This sauce is so cheap to make. It is certainly cheaper than the low-sugar ketchup I have in my fridge right now and absolutely cheaper than any keto BBQ sauce on the shelf.
4. Fun: If you’ve never made your own condiments before, have a gander at my jams and spreads. Making your own sauces is a sneaky little way to get more flavor in all of your cooking and baking. Putting up a jar of sauce in the fridge is incredibly rewarding and also completely low-effort. This recipe takes literally 5 minutes of work and you can largely ignore it.

How to adjust keto BBQ sauce for your taste

1. Sweeter: If you want a sweeter BBQ sauce, you can add 1/4 cup of honey. This will up the carb count, but you’ll still be paleo. Since you typically don’t have huge quantities of BBQ sauce at a time, this isn’t a huge difference. If you want extra flavor, use homemade hot honey.
2. Spicy: I’ve also kept the spices here pretty mild using smoky ancho chiles and sweet and smoky guajillo chiles. If you want something hotter, sub out a chile de arbol for the guajillo and maybe add in a little cayenne.

How to make homemade keto BBQ sauce

1. Saute: Chop up the shallot and saute it in bacon fat or olive oil until translucent.
2. Grind: Take out the seeds in the ancho and guajillo chiles and grind them in a small coffee grinder

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   .
3. Toast: Toast the chile powder, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder in the onion for about a minute.
4. Caramelize: Add in the tomato paste, stirring for about a minute to develop some more flavor in the paste.
5. Mix everything else: Add in the mustard, Worcestershire, vinegar, and prunes and 3 full cans of water (use the tomato paste can to measure). Mix everything together into a thin sauce and bring it to a boil. Taste it and add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Reduce it to the lowest setting on your stove, stirring it occasionally for about 30 minutes.
6. Whiz: Use an immersion blender

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   to blend up the sauce. After 30 minutes it should be thick enough to sit on a spoon but fall off easily. Be sure that all the prunes are smooth. Taste the sauce for salt. Pack it up in a Mason jar, and fridge it until you need it.

Easy Meal Ideas for using your homemade BBQ sauce

1. Costco chicken pizza: Shred a rotisserie chicken, mix it up with some sauce. Bake up some overnight pizza dough or homemade pita. Top the dough with the BBQ chicken, some fresh mozzarella, and green onions.
2. Keto pizza: Mix up the sauce with the same rotisserie chicken, but place it on top of a broccoli pizza crust for an easy keto meal.
3. Pulled pork: Mix up the sauce with pulled pork from the deli. Bake up a batch of homemade Hawaiian rolls or even easier, sheet pan bread. Cut the bread horizontally, spread on the BBQ pork, some coleslaw and pickles. From there cut the bread into mini sandwiches.
4. BBQ krautburgers: Mix a little BBQ sauce into a batch of krautburger filling for a smoky variation on a classic.
5. BBQ sloppy joe buns: Make up a batch of sloppy joe buns, subbing in this sauce in place of the sauce in the recipe.

Keto BBQ sauce

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• Author: Elizabeth Farr
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 3 cups 1x
• Diet: Gluten-Free, Keto, Paleo

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Description

With just 1.5 net carbs in a serving, you can easily add this sauce to your dinner without going over your carb count for the day on a keto diet.  That’s good news when you want to add big flavor to your food while still staying low carb!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 tablespoon bacon fat or olive oil
• 1 shallot or small onion
• 1 dried ancho chile
• 1 dried guajillo chile
• 1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 six-ounce can tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup pitted dried prunes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

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Instructions

1. Saute: Chop up the shallot and saute it in bacon fat or olive oil until translucent.
2. Grind: Take out the seeds in the ancho and guajillo chiles and grind them in a small coffee grinder

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   .
3. Toast: Toast the chile powder, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder in the onion for about a minute.
4. Caramelize: Add in the tomato paste, stirring for about a minute to develop some more flavor in the paste.
5. Mix everything else: Add in the mustard, Worcestershire, vinegar, and prunes and 3 full cans of water (use the tomato paste can to measure). Mix everything together into a thin sauce and bring it to a boil. Taste it and add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Reduce it to the lowest setting on your stove, stirring it occasionally for about 30 minutes.
6. Whiz: Use an immersion blender

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   to blend up the sauce. After 30 minutes it should be thick enough to sit on a spoon but fall off easily. Be sure that all the prunes are smooth. Taste the sauce for salt. Pack it up in a Mason jar, and fridge it until you need it.  You can use the sauce immediately in a recipe, or keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Equipment

immersion blender

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coffee grinder

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Notes

1. 1. Sweeter: If you want a sweeter BBQ sauce, you can add 1/4 cup of honey. This will up the carb count, but you’ll still be paleo. Since you typically don’t have huge quantities of BBQ sauce at a time, this isn’t a huge difference. If you want extra flavor, use homemade hot honey.

1. 1. Spicy: I’ve also kept the spices here pretty mild using smoky ancho chiles and sweet and smoky guajillo chiles. If you want something hotter, sub out a chile de arbol for the guajillo and maybe add in a little cayenne.

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Category: Jam
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American