When I tell my friends I have a website in which I review BBQ sauces, the first thing they ask me (after a quick laugh) is “OK, what is the best one?” And it’s not always an easy answer. There’s natural sauces, smoky sauces, spicy sauces, fruity sauces, mustard-based sauces, and much more. The below list is an attempt to give a little more detail about some of my favorites. I’ve also setup a new page for this here.
Bone Suckin Sauce (5/5)
A magical combination of quality ingredients, simple packaging, clever name, and well balanced flavor. An all natural, fat-free, gluten-free, fragrant blend of ingredients include: tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, honey, molasses, mustard, horseradish, lemon juice, onions, garlic, peppers, natural hickory smoke, natural spices and salt.
Mad Dog Original BBQ Sauce (5/5)
Excellent spicy flavor with high quality ingredients and packaging. Ingredients include premium tomato paste, water, unsulphured molasses, vinegar, tamari, natural hickory liquid smoke, garlic, herbs, spices and xanthan gum.
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Sensous Slathering Sauce (5/5)
This one really is unique in that it provides the three major BBQ flavors: sweet, spicy, and sour (tangy). The consistency was thin yet stable and clung to the meat well. There was just enough heat (provided by cayenne peppers) to really add life to really tasty set of wings. If you are looking for something that tastes slightly different, has no preservatives, and supports really loud forms of transportation – this one is for you!
Russ and Franks Sassy BBQ Sauce (5/5)
On the grill, a great sauce transforms into something different, the heat “activating” the flavors together until you taste something you can’t get enough of. Sassy transcends from a great dipping sauce (for crackers, veggies, etc) into a zesty alternative that will please heat lovers and mild sauce aficionados alike. They added the right amount of cayenne and black pepper to add the zest at the end, enough to leave your mouth and lips a bit hot, but not strong enough to burn. For me, I can’t stand eating hot foods that ruin the meal, so you have to drink water along with it… again not the case here. Just enough heat to add to the great flavors embedded in the sauce.
Salt Lick Original Recipe Bar-B-Que Sauce (5/5)
A great mustard-based sauce from Austin – it is still my all-time favorite mustard based BBQ sauce. Instead of simply mixing ketchup and mustard or tomato sauce and mustard, they went about things “Texas style” by going big or not going at all. The thick rich flavor of this stuff is really great and not overpowering at all, so if you are going to try this BBQ sauce, you better go big or not at all, because if you don’t have enough stuff cooked up, you just might regret it later. If you are looking for a great mustard based sauce, you’ve gotta try this one.
Trader Joe’s Bold and Smoky Kansas City Style Barbecue Sauce (5/5)
If you love the sweet/bold/smokiness of Bullseye BBQ sauce, with some additional onion and spice flavors added, you’ll love TJ’s Bold and Smoky KC Style BBQ Sauce. TJ’s has done a very nice job with this sauce and like many of the best sauces I try, it becomes a staple around the house for about a week or so, then I miss it like an old comfortable T-shirt gone lost.. I feel incomplete, like something is lost inside me, like a little boy in the woods who can’t find his parents. Just kidding, I actually don’t really care because I typically have another sauce queued up, ready-to-go. Anyway, this sauce was damn good.
Caribbean Calypso Island Hoppin’ BBQ Sauce & Dip (5/5)
Without the heat of the grill to soften the taste, this sauce is very hot. But after the sauce has been grilled and has had a chance to settle a bit, the taste is wonderful – a complex blend of mango, spices, and peppers (scotch bonnets are used). There’s heat for those who desire heat, and flavor for everyone else. The difficulty is in finding this sauce! Many fans of this sauce report that it is discontinued… 🙁
Head’s Red BBQ Sauce (5/5)
Great red chili infused flavors in this stuff. I went overboard with this sauce, and it’s versatility as a hybrid BBQ/red chili sauce goes a long way. For my uncooked reviews, I usually use one of the following extremely scientific methods. A) dip a finger into the sauce B) dip a cracker into the sauce. The stuff is sweet, but has just the right mixture of flavors to make a lot of them stand out. Complex yet simply tasty. I ended up putting this on sandwiches (try ham and swiss cheese with a little miracle whip/mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion – wow), and as dipping sauce for various appetizers and roll-ups.
Big Tex Morgan’s Boot Kickin’ Chipotle BBQ Sauce (5/5)
Fantastic. The dark flavors of brown sugar, chipotle peppers, onion, and garlic had a party in my mouth. This is another one of those sauces that turns into the household standby. Having a sandwich – get out the BBQ sauce. Having a burger – get out the sauce. Having some ice cream – well, just kidding.
Three Little Pigs Huff and Puff Competition BBQ Sauce (5/5)
This was really nice and I was so inspired by the uncooked flavor of this sauce that I tried a few neat new BBQ-based recipes. A prime-rib sandwich with Three Little Pigs Mayo, lettuce, tomato, and Chipotle Cheddar cheese on wheat. Nice. Added some to baked beans (normally a summer food for me, but what the hell). Excellent. Made a BBQ Burger topped with cheddar and this stuff. Awesome.
Intereesting site. Am looking for sloop sauce already
bottled. Recipe to complicated for me. Help..They have
an excellent sauce at Countrys BBQ in Columbus GA..They
not likely to give out the recipe. Could it be bottled?
”Consumer Reports”, which is hard to please, consistently likes Trader Joe products. Interesting to see their BBQ sauce included here.