If you want to find the best barbecue in the world, you’ll have to head down to Louisiana and find some hillbilly whose had half of his jaw removed who may or may not be wanted in several states. For the rest of us – there is our local grocer and amazon.com.
As a child, I was hesitant to eat any style of BBQ after watching Fried Green Tomatoes where SPOILER ALERT, they grill up the abusive husband and serve ’em with a side of slaw. Even though I can’t comment on how delicious he must have tasted, I heard you could literally taste the domestic violent.
Let’s be honest: All barbecue sauce is glorified ketchup. It’s super cheap to make and companies can charge whatever they want for it, hence why the barbecue sauce market has become saturated over the last 2o years. When Joe Perry from Aerosmith has his own line of barbecue sauces something has gone horribly wrong and I am not talking about Steven Tyler’s arsenal of microphone scarves.
Where did the concept of barbecue come from? As some of you may know it is actually derived from the term “barbecoa” which is more than just a meat option at Chipotle, ya moron – it’s the slow cooking process of beef or lamb that originates back centuries.
Authentic barbecoa was actually prepared by digging a pit in the ground and filling it with burning coals. The next step was to fill the pit with cow’s heads by stacking them one on top of each other. As the coals burned, the smoked rose up through the pit and slowly cooked and charred the flesh of the heads. The meat from the cheek is actually supposed to be the most tender you can find. To prove that I am not lying – you can read about the process here. Digging a pit with burning cow skulls in your front lawn is a sure way to win over your neighbors as well.
There have been many health concerns about grilling over the years. Do you like your chicken blackened? Well, that would be due to the delicious carcinogens that you’re ingesting. It’s not that grilling food over a flame is really bad, it’s when the grease of the food you are grilling drips onto the coals or flames of the grill. This causes the grease to burn which then releases smoke that rises up and is absorbed by the very food you are going to eat. This process creates a chemical called PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) that is then absorbed into your food. Personally, I like my PAH with a side of horseradish, but to each their own.
In the 1980s, everyone became aware that using charcoal was actually a bad thing and consumers shifted to propane. Years later, we are still aware that cooking with charcoal is hazardous, but the smokiness it gives to the food is so delicious and superior to gas that we continue to use it in spite of the health concerns. And if you regularly use a smoke, you really don’t give a shit and for that – I commend you. But as we like to say at Moron Reviews “Smoke ’em if you got ’em.”
Let’s be honest again: most barbecue sauces are straight garbage when it comes to ingredients. They contain preservatives to extend shelf life, loopy sweeteners and just straight up artificial ingredients. Now that every idiot has access to a smart phone, they think of themselves as enlightened and have become more health conscious as we are seeing less high fructose corn syrup and more gluten free sauces on shelves.
But, the secret is in the sauce my friend and sometimes you’re better off not knowing what that secret is exactly. Think of any BBQ restaurant you’ve been too. Have you ever seen the owner or the man behind the food that is doing the grilling? Did they strike you as people who give a shit about their health? No, not really. These guys just don’t give a damn about anything other slathering slabs of fatty, carcinogen filled piles of red meat, with a rich, sugar, sodium loaded sweet sauce. They even go the extra mile if they know what they’re doing and sear the outside to the point that it burns, adding even more carcinogens with that delicious caramelization… and goddamn does it taste good. A lot of barbecue sauces tend to pack quite a kick so if you favor the heat, check out our top 40 hot sauces here.
If ever commit a crime (for which I am caught doing) and get sentenced to the chair, I want my last meal to be deep fried spare ribs that’s dipped in General Tso sauce and then refried again. I will eat these will I smoke a pack of Kamel Reds (they actually had the highest tar amount of any cig which is why they went down so smooth).
Let’s break down the most common styles of barbecue sauces out there…
Alabama – This is one of the hardest to find BBQ styles. You will not see many options in your local super market. People from Alabama must not take their health very seriously as Alabama BBQ sauces are white due to them being mayonnaise based. That’s right, you heard correctly. Slather chicken, fatty pork or ribs in mayo and then grilling that son of a bitch right up. Nice knowing you.
Carolina – Usually orange or yellow in color, Carolina sauces are usually mustard based and on the creamier, sweeter side of bbq sauces. They lack tomato puree which is found in all Texas style sauces so they do not have that tomato taste.
Texas – I’m not a big pan of Texas BBQ, too much tomato puree. I get enough of tomatoes in life: Italian food, Mexican food. I just don’t care for it as a BBQ sauce.
Kansas City – This style sauce is known for its smokiness. Kansas City style barbecue sauces are typically a cross between the sweetness of Carolina, the color of Texas, but with its own unique smokiness added to the mix.
Memphis – My personal favorite as it contains a tangy vinegar based sauce and lacks the brown sugar sweetness found in the darker, sweeter bbq sauces. Memphis sauces are typically runny and sometimes even clear due to them being vinegar based. They also lack the sugar and sodium of the sweeter sauces and do not have the fat content of Alabama sauces.
But let’s also take a look at barbecue outside of the US.
Argentina (Asado) – While the sauce varies, grilling in Argentina uses a variety of offal or organ meats that made up about half of the meats on the grill.
Offal or achuras are very popular. You will find chinchulines (cow intestines), morcillas (blood sausages), mollejas (sweetbread) and a variety of other organ meats. These are delicious Argentine indulgences and can add to your grilling experience.
Korean – Similar to the other eastern style barbecue sauces, this one is composed mostly of soy sauce, ginger and various fruits to give it a robust, earthy flavor with a light kick of sweetness from the fruit.
Japanese – Known as “Yakiniku” this sauce is typically soy sauce based. Japanese barbecue sauce has hints of fruit, typically lemon, to give it a runny, sweet & savory type combination of flavor.
Mongolian – This Taiwanese based style of barbecue originated in the United States in the 1980s through a chain called Mongolian Barbecue. Just kidding.
Barbecoa – A Mexican style barbecue as discussed above.
For the list, we went to all different types of grocery stores in the midwest and also ordered highly rated small batch bbq sauces. The point of the list is to encompass all types of bbq sauces whether store bought or small batch and see how they compare to one another. We tried each sauce in the slow cooker with either pork or chicken and on the grill with chicken.
Now jab that insulin pen straight into your thigh and let’s get started…
57. Guy’s Award Winning BBQ Sauce Smokey Bacon
Overall: 5.5/10
Pretty bad. super vinegary but not in a good way, strong vinegary and onion kick with a spicy cat pee aftertaste. Someone dubbed this sauce as having a “strange meatloaf flavor”.
Style: Sugar Free
Consistency: Thick with whole peppercorns
Flavor: Bacon, Smoke, Vinegar, Cat Pee
56. Guy’s Sweet Garlic Sugar Free
Sweet and Mild with a bit of a garlic after taste that gives it a slight amount of heat. Pretty good considering there is no sugar within this sauce.
Style: Sugar free
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Ranch like sauces with spices
55. G. Hughes Sugar Free
Style: Sugar free
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Molasses, Spices
54. Stubb’s Honey Pecan
Overall: 7.3/10
Stubb’s is usually a go to brand in the world of grilling, but this sauce leave a lot to be desired. I give them points for putting out something original that no one else has done, but at the same time it is just unpalatable and we couldn’t imagine using this on anything.
Style: Kansas City
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Sweet, Honey Pecan
53. Stubb’s Spicy
Overall: 7.4/10
I am huge Stubb’s fan, but this was one of my least favorite. In our testing we also noticed that this isn’t a very versatile sauce as it didn’t really work on poultry, but only for steaks.
Style: Texas
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Tomato Puree, Spices
52. Sweet Baby Ray’s Hawaiian
Style: Hawaiian
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Pineapple
51. Great Lakes Brewing Co. Christmas Glaze
Overall: 7.7/10
What? You can’t include a glaze on your list?! Actually we tried this as a barbecue sauce as well as a glaze and they worked in both applications. Super sweet even though it’s not really a bbq sauce. One of our panelists described it as “straight apple butter.”
Style: Glaze
Consistency: Thick (Like gelatinous animal fat, yum)
Flavor: Apple Butter
50. Yuengling Barbecue Sauce Bacon
Overall: 7.7/10
Even though this sauce is labeled as a “bacon” sauce it has a mesquite taste with a strong aftertaste to it. Out of the few bacon flavored sauces we tried – this was our favorite.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Medium
Flavor: Bacon, Smoke
49. KC Masterpiece Original Recipe
Personally, I am not a fan of the thick, molasses style barbecue sauces. This is more on the sugary, sweet side which is not my favorite type of barbecue sauce. This is not well-balanced as Guy’s Sweet Garlic and doesn’t have the tang of Montgomery Inn’s BBQ sauce.
Style: Kansas City
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Molasses, Spices
48. Famous Dave’s Blue Label Zesty and Sassy
Overall: 7.8/10
Chocolatey taste that fades into a weird vegetable oil finish. This was our least favorite barbecue sauce made by Famous Dave’s.
Style: Kansas City
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Vinegar, Chocolate
47. Sweet Baby Ray’s Original
Overall: 7.8/10
Sweet Baby Ray’s is a decent barbecue sauce, but the name precedes itself. This is your basic, middle-of-the-road, high fructose corn syrup super sweet barbecue sauce.
Better than Famous Dave’s Rich & Zesty sauce which had a strange chocolate taste to it.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Molasses, Spices
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Yes, First Ingredient! Watch out!
46. Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7
Overall: 7.8/10
gross super thick, artificial sweetness, scrotum sweat aftertaste
Not drastically different from Jack Daniels Sweet & Spicy especially when barbecued. We noticed that the two Jack Daniels tasted much different from each other when room temperature, but after being cooked in a slow cooker they tasted pretty similar.
Old No. 7 pours a much thicker viscosity with no heat and mild sweetness. Not too molasses like and a hint of vinegar keeps both sauces pretty balanced and neither on the “syrupy sweet KC Masterpeice” side nor too vinegary like a Memphis style BBQ.
Style: Kansas City
Consistency: Super Thick
Flavor: Molasses with Vinegar
45. Jack Daniel’s Spicy & Sweet
Overall: 7.9/10
JAck Daniel’s Spicy & Sweet is a little bit better than their regular flavor – Old No. 7, but isn’t light years different or better for that matter.
Caution: None of the Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauces contain actual Jack Daniel’s whiskey, but “Jack Daniel’s extract”. Whereas the Jim Beam sauces contain actual Jim Beam Whiskey.
Style: Kansas City
Consistency: Super Thick
Flavor: Super thick Molasses with a whiskey flavor extract
44. Kraft Hickory Smoke
Style: Kansas City
Consistency: Thick with whole peppercorns
Flavor: Hickory, Smoke (duh)
43. Montgomery Inn Chipotle
Overall: 8/10
Ultimately this barbecue sauce fails as a chipotle sauce while their original recipe sauce is definitely worth getting. The sauce itself is very thin, runny, sweet with tastes of paprika. I do give it points for not being overtly smokey like most chipotle based sauces.
Style: Chipotle
Consistency: Thin
Flavor: Sweet with hints of paprika
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
42. Bulls-eye Texas
Overall: 8.0/10
Bullseye is one of the most common barbecue sauces that you can find at any local grocery store. I used to think this was the best sauce on the planet. What a moron. It’s still decent, but there are more advanced sauces out there.
Once again, Texas style sauces are my least favorite barbecue sauces as I don’t care for the tomato puree taste.
Style: Texas
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Tomato, Spices
41. Stubb’s Smokey Mesquite
Overall: 8.0/10
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Smokey, Honey
40. Guy’s Award Winning BBQ Sauce Spicy
Just a middle of the road bbq sauce. Much more tolerable than Guy’s Sugar Free barbecue sauce. While the spice is notable, this one still fails to leave a lasting impression.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Vinegar, Spices
39. Stubb’s Hickory Bourbon
Overall: 8.1/10
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Smoke, Vinegar, Molasses
High Fructose Corn Syrup : No
38. French’ s Cattleman’s Tangy Carolina Gold
Overall: 8.1/10
Carolina Tangy Gold ended up being the sweetest of all the barbecues sauces on this list. A little bit too sweet. Typically, I am a fan of Carolina sauces, but this is overtly sweet sauce that lacks the vinegar that is needed to balance it out. Pours a very orange color and flavor is that of spice and sweet mustard.
Style: Carolina
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Sweet, Mustard
High Fructose Corn Syrup : No
37. Quaker Steak Buckeye BBQ
Overall: 8.2/10
Many of you might be wondering why there is alack of Quaker Steak & Lube sauces on this list. The reason being that we consider their sauces “wing sauces” as opposed to “barbecue sauces”.
Buckeye BBQ showing its roots to the Ohio State University actually has a modest decent taste to it. More of a tomato puree flavored Texas style sauce.
Style: Texas
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Smoke, Spices
36. Jim Beam – Bold ‘N’ Spicy
Overall: 8.2/10
At first, we thought this was a Texas-based bbq which I do not care for. Texas style sauces are too tomato puree tasting to me, but this sauce is actually a Kansas City bbq which is very smoky. Upon using this for slow-cooking I can say that I wasn’t super impressed with this sauce, a little too spicy and not enough flavor, like a smoky Texas BBQ that lacked authentic flavor.
Style: Kansas City
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Smoke, Spices
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free: Yes
35. Stubb’s Sticky Sweet
Overall: 8.3/10
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Sweet
34. Dinosaur Creole Honey Mustard Sauce
Overall: 8.3/10
Known as a biker joint in New York , the typical yuppy will feel like a real tough guy when they pour some of this on their ribs.
A decent mustard barbecue sauce with a cajun kick to it.
Style: Creole
Consistency: Thin
Flavor: Mustard
33. Open Pit
Overall: 8.3/10
Style: Texas
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Strong Tomato puree flavor
32. Pf Chang Mangolian
Overall: 8.3/10
Style: Mongolian
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Hoison, Ginger, Sweet
31. Heinz Classic Sweet & Thick
Overall: 8.4/10
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Sweet
30. Bulls-eye Carolina
Overall: 8.4/10
Style: Alabama (Mayo)
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Ranch like sauces with spices
29. Hak’s Habanero Pineapple
Overall: 8.4/10
Typically sold in grocery stores for $8 a bottle, Hak’s does offer a higher quality bbq sauce over what you’ll typically see on the shelf. No artificial sweeteners, preservatives and also gluten-free, Hak’s barbecue sauce offers a grilling option for the more health conscious.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Hot, Spicy, Pineapple, Smokey
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
28. CJ Buolo Korean BBQ
Overall: 8.4/10
27. Heinz Memphis Sweet & Spicy
Overall: 8.5/10
More heat and kick to it than I expected. This more on the spicier side of Memphis style sauces as opposed to just have a strong vinegar based flavor. Has bits of something in it that we couldn’t really identify. I’m not fan of chunks of unidentifiable objects in processed bottles of barbecue sauce, so spare me the chunks please.
Style: Memphis
Consistency: Thick with bits of something
Flavor: Vinegar, Spicy,
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
26. Charlie Staple’s Real Barbecue Sauce
Overall: 8.5/15
No heat to this sauce, but has a sweet chocolatey finish to it. Pretty unique compared to other sauces. Famous Dave’s being the only other barbecue sauce we tested that had an apparent chocolate taste to it.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Medium
Flavor: Sweet, Chocolate
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
25. Bulls-eye Kansas City
Overall: 8.5/10
Style: Kansas City
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Sweet, Smokey
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
24. Jim Beam Smoky Barrel
Overall: 8.5/10
This sauce has a very spicy, smokey strong taste to it.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Medium
Flavor: Bourbon, Smokey
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free: Yes
23. Stubb’s Moppin’ Sauce
Overall: 8.5/10
I thought this sauce was absolutely disgusting at first. Its pretty much straight vinegar but it’s actually decent if you use it in moderation. Like A1 Chicago’s marinade, but even more vinegary. I thought this would come out way worse, but it wasn’t as vinegary spicy as we thought. If you taste this straight outta the bottle you will throw up – its straight up vinegar but, it turns out much better once you cook it. Especially good for shredded chicken.
Style: Memphis
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Straight Vinegar
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
22. Jojoen Yakiniku Barbecue Sauce
Overall: 8.6/10
Style: Yakiniku (Japanese Barbecue)
Consistency: Thin
Flavor: Soy, Garlic, Rice Wine Vinegar
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
21. Sticky Fingers Carolina Classic
Overall: 8.6/10
Thicker and sweeter than Sticky Finger’s Memphis sauce but honestly, liked Memphis better. Carolina has a sweet honey mustard taste to it.
Style: Carolina
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Mustard, Sweet
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
20. Hak’s Chipotle Bourbon
Style: Chipotle
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Bourbon, Chipotle
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
19. Bone Suckin’ Sauce
Overall: 8.6/10
Good but a pretty basic sauce, not super sweet which we found favorable.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Tomato Puree, Apple Cider Vinegar
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
18. Heinz Vinegar Carolina BBQ Sauce
Overall: 8.7/10
Style: Carolina
Consistency: Medium
Flavor: Kind of cross between a Memphis & Carolina style bbq sauce
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
17. Salt Lick Chipotle BBQ Sauce
Overall: 8.7/10
This one will surprise you as it is not a “hot” chipotle style barbecue sauce, but a sweet one.
Style: Chipotle
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Light Chipotle flavor, Sweet
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
16. Famous Dave’s Devil’s Spit
Overall: 8.7/10
Starts off somewhat sweet with a lot of tomatoes puree thin and peppery with a heat that fades in but lingers for a decent amount of time.
Style: Texas/Kansas City
Consistency: Medium
Flavor: Hot, Tomato Puree, Peppers, Paprika, Cinnamon
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
15. Kingsford Applewood
Overall: 8.8/10
When I first saw that Kingsford made a barbecue sauce, the first thing I said was “Oh man, this has got to taste like shit.” No with the exception of one playground fight – I have never tasted shit but I like to think I know what it tastes like. The sauce was surprisingly good. More Smokey than Kraft’s Brown Sugar sauce, this has a sweet plum apple taste to it. Can be a little too Smokey at times but pretty well-balanced with the right amount of flavor. Nothing comes close to grilling over real applewood for that matter.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Apple, Smoke
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
14. Jim Beam Maple Bourbon
Overall: 8.9/10
Pretty sweet – it’s basically Bourbon Chicken when you use it on Chicken obviously.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Maple, Bourbon
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free: Yes
13. Ebara Yakiniku Sauce
Overall: 8.9/10
Style: Yakiniku (Japanese Barbecue)
Consistency: Thin
Flavor: Soy, Ginger
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
12. Stubb’s Sticky & Sweat
Overall: 9/10
The best sauce that Stubb’s makes – hands down.
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Ranch like sauces with spices
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
11. Famous Dave’s Sweet & Zesty
Overall: 9/10
Overall flavor was great on this sauce. This is the best sauce that is produced by Famous Dave’s. Better than Rich & Zesty which had a strange chocolate taste to it.
Style: Texas
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Tomato Puree, Sweet
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
10. Winking Lizard Barbecue
Overall: 9/10
This sauce is delicious, but super fattening because its made from Vegetable oil so watch out. What else would you expect from the midwest?
Style: Barbecue
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Sweet, Spicy
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free
9. Montgomery Inn Original Restaurant Recipe
Overall: 9.1/10
Better than Guy’s Award Winning Sauce when the two sauces engaged in a head-to-head showdown. Montgomery Inn has more tanginess to it than most of the sauces we testes. While not as sweet as Guy’s, it has a little bit more heat and bite to it. Montgomery Inn more of an A1 type taste to it. We were extremely let down by Montgomery Inn’s Chipotle flavored barbecue sauce.
Style: Barbecue)
Consistency: Medium
Flavor: Tomato Puree, Vinegar
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
8. We Rub You Original Korean BBQ
Overall: 9.1/10
Korean Style barbecue as with many oriental barbecue sauces – is soy based. I am a huge fan of soy sauce so I tend to favor these types of sauces. Asian barbecue sauces such as Mongolian, Japanese and Korean are soy based or hoisin based. Ideal for any asian cooking wether grilling meat to add to stir fry.
Style: Korean
Consistency: Thin
Flavor: Soy, Garlic, Rice Wine Vinegar
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
7. Lillie’s Q Barbecue Smoky Sauce
Overall: 9.2/10
Style: Memphis
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Vinegar based with a kick of sweetness
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
6. Hak’s Thai Chile Tamarind
Pleasantly surprised by this one. Its has the lowest ratings of all the Hak’s sauces on Amazon, yet everyone liked this the best out of the ones we tasted. Definitely more of soy sauce similar to a hoison sauce that you find in asian cooking. Think of General Tsao’s chicken. I found it to be not very hot considering it has Thai chili in the title. Overall, it is quite mild and not overpowering and a pretty well-balanced bbq sauce lacking the sweetness and smokiness of most sauces.
Style: Hoisin, Soy
Recommended: Asian cooking, pork, chicken
Consistency: Thick with whole peppercorns
Flavor: Hoisin, soy, Chile Pepper
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
5. Lillie’s Q Barbecue Ivory Alabama Sauce
Overall: 9.3/10
You won’t find “Alabama” sauces that often which is probably due to the fact that they are mainly comprised of mayonnaise. The mayo allows the sauce to burn quickly on the grill giving it a great caramelization effect. It’s definitely an acquired taste, but if you’re a ranch dressing lover, chances are you will appreciate Alabama style barbecue sauces… and also a prime candidate for heart failure.
Style: Alabama (Mayo)
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Ranch like sauce with spices
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free: Yes
4. Hak’s Smoked Maple Mustard
Overall: 9.4/10
Pleasantly surprised by this one. It’s not loaded with sodium or sugar, but just has a sweetened, smoked mustard flavor to it with whole mustards seeds. This sauce can actually be used as a condiment just like mustard, not only on the grill or slow cooker. So much better and not as gross as French’s Cattleman’s BBQ which is just too sugary sweet.
Style: Mustard
Consistency: Thick with whole peppercorns
Flavor: Mustard, Vinegar
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free: Yes
3. Lillie’s Q Barbecue Carolina Sauce
Overall: 9.5/10
Style: Carolina
Consistency: Thick
Flavor: Sweet
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free: Yes
2. Jim Beam Southern Tang
Overall: 9.6/10
Jim Beam really surprised us in our testing. Their sauces do not contain high fructose corn syrup or a ton of preservatives. If you look at the expiration date of any Jim Beam barbecue sauce it won’t have a date like February 12th 2097.
This sauce has a vinegary yet sweet taste to it. The sodium and sugar levels are somewhat hight: 360 grams of sodium which gives it a much saltier taste with stronger hints of cumin similar to Lillie’s Q Smoky sauce.
Style: Southern
Consistency: Medium
Flavor: Sweet, Spicy
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free: Yes
1. Sticky Fingers Memphis
Overall: 9.7/10
Surprised? We know we were, but this was the sauce that 75% of our panel voted as the best. While somewhat on the runny side as many vinegar based sauces tend to be, this barbecue sauce is surprisingly delicious. Neither too sweet or too vinegary, our panel found this sauce the most versatile whether used in slow cooking red meat or when used for grilled poultry.
Style: Memphis
Consistency: Thin
Flavor: Vinegar
High Fructose Corn Syrup: No
Gluten Free: Yes
