Guy Fieri Kansas City Barbeque Sauce (4/5)

This sauce was true to its name.  A traditional, Kansas City Smoky and Sweet flavored BBQ sauce with a little extra black pepper, garlic, and onion.  Very smooth and mild.  I tried it on some BBQ chicken for my lunch during a Guy Fieri-sponsored Free Sauce Friday, as I watched all the comments flow in … and I pretty much liked everything about it, except that they threw in a little too much in the way of ingredients (for example do we need caramel coloring – what would it look like without this – orange, clear?) and the sauce got a bit thin when grilled.  I also prefer real onions and garlic versus powders, but that’s really a nit.  All in all, a good sauce in the Guy Fieri line-up.

leaning tower of BBQ

Great copywriting.

something fishy here?

Nutrition information – tomato puree versus tomato sauce or ketchup adds to the nice consistency and texture of the sauce seen below.  Sweetened by a combination of sugar and molasses gives it a natural flavor albeit thinner than the gloppiness that results when cooking with the HFCS sauces.  I didn’t really taste much of the anchovy puree, which tickles your salt and umami taste sensors – but figured I’d call it out for your vegetarians (maybe some of them like BBQ sauce)!

More SPECKs.  You know I love the specks, because they add dimension and excitement to what otherwise would be a fairly standard taste.  In this one, it’s mostly bits of black pepper and the pulpy part of the tomato puree.

Bottom line – this is a step up in flavor than your traditional grocery store BBQ sauce and they’ve stripped out some bad stuff.  I didn’t like the artificial color and thinness, but all in all, it’s a sauce well worth trying.  Guy’s empire is definitely not on auto-pilot – he’s doing a nice job picking people that are representing his brand well.

Brian Henderson

Site Editor, BBQ Sauce Lover, Family Guy, Hi Tech Marketer by Day. He recently wrote the Ebook “How to Market Your BBQ Sauce” which can be purchased on this site.