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Clean and Simple BBQ Sauce


You all know I am somewhat of a Meal Prep Queen (but if you aren’t familiar with my super easy system, you can find it here). I love stuffing my freezer full of meals that are ready to go, because finding food that fits all of my dietary requirements is no small task!

One of my favorite ways to jazz up my meals is with BBQ sauce. But, most commercial sauces are made with high fructose corn syrup, onion, and garlic – all things my stomach says NO WAY to. I also like to limit the sugar but am sensitive to alternative sweeteners. Yes, I know, I’m complicated.

Luckily, I’m used to not finding a product on the shelf that meets my specifications, so I did what I always do and whipped up a super easy, super fast, homemade recipe! And I’m super happy with how it turned out.

All you need to do is dump this all together in a small pot and simmer for about 20-30 minutes. If garlic and onion don’t bother you, feel free to sauté those in some oil first before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Here are the ingredients I used for this recipe.
  • 1 6-oz can tomato paste
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup water
  • 3 TBSP Fish Sauce
  • 1 TBSP Worcester Sauce
  • 1 tsp dry ground mustard
  • 1 tsp ancho chili pepper
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 – 1.5 tsp liquid stevia*
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • Salt and pepper to taste

*You can use whichever sweetener you like. I like to keep my sugar intake low, so I use liquid stevia (the Trader Joe’s brand is my favorite!) but you can use monk fruit, maple sugar, honey, or brown sugar, too!

Once cooled, simply store in a glass container. It’ll keep in the fridge for a few weeks.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you give it a try, let me know! And, if there are other things you have a hard time finding on the shelf, let me know that too – I am always happy to get new ideas for recipe creations!

4 thoughts on “Clean and Simple BBQ Sauce

  1. Suzan | It's My Sustainable Life says:

    I’m always on the lookout for different BBQ sauce recipes. Adding the fish sauce intrigued me. Thanks for sharing and look forward to giving it a try.

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