I’m a sauce girl through and through. I love to dip stuff in sauces albeit it ranch, Italian gravy, marinara, BBQ Bacon Sauce (god that stuff is truly amazing!), pizza sauce, Alfredo and so forth. So when Mr. Fantabulous asked me the one day to make honey bbq wings, I knew right away what sauce I wanted. See I have been making this sauce for eons. Well okay not eons but ever since I discovered Sweet Baby Ray’s. I love that sauce and since you all know me well enough you know I have to try to make something like that. Now I still love that sauce but I actually like mine better. It’s certainly not a copycat recipe but rather just another type of sauce. It’s sweet with some background tang for excitement.
As I was making this sauce I think I ate about 2 cups worth from tasting, adjusting, re-tasting. By the time it was done I was stuffed! LOL It has the perfect balance of sweet and tangy with that hint of hotness. The longer it cooks the thicker it gets plus as it cools it thickens.
But the flavor is just incredible! I’ve used this on baked chicken breasts were it gets all thick and sticky on the chicken, as a wing sauce and even as a pizza sauce.
Now you can make a few jars of this BUT it has to be kept in the fridge. You can jar this but you need to use the water bath method on this. See the notes in the recipe on how to do it.
Sticky Honey BBQ Sauce
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Ingredients
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 3/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
- 3/4 cup honey
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder (or Tabasco sauce)
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
- Whisk to combine.
- Bring to a low boil and reduce to a simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes for a thin sauce, 1 hour for a thicker sauce.
- Store in the fridge.
Notes
To can this you need the following:
Water Bath Canner
Canning Set
Pint Jars with lids and rings
1. PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2. LADLE hot sauce into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
3. PROCESS jars in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.
Absolutely delish! Had to substitute a few things as I didn’t have enough honey on hand and I was in a hurry but it turned out just amazing. Going to baste & cook my slow cooked ribs in it and bake till there are crispy bits with extra sauce! Thank you!!!
★★★★★
Made this today. Love it. In South Africa we have Chutney, so added a bit of chutney.
Delicious! We ran out of bbq sauce so I whipped this up and let it simmer for a couple of hours while my husband cooked ribs. He loves it so much I canned what was left and saved the recipe. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
When water bathe canning, how much does this recipe make? 1 pint, 2 pints? Please advise
Close to 2 pints.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Made this today July 4, 2020. It came out great. Used it on my ribs. Plan to use it on chicken next. Used just a sprinkling of chili powder as I don’t like it too spicy. Glad I found this recipe.
So happy you loved it Judy! I made it as well for the 4th! Thank you so much for the kind words!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Yes, I made this. I added some hot sauce to it . we like our sweet and hot. Came out perfect
Oh I like the way you think! I love that sweet heat type vibe!
Thank you so much!!! So happy you loved it! If you haven’t done so already, make sure to Subscribe to my newsletter that way you can receive more delicious recipes and tips!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
This sauce is great; I added some spicy mustard and used Trader Joe’s White Modena Vinegar instead of white vinegar (because that’s all I had); came out fantastic. I made a double batch so I used about 1/4 cup of spicy mustard.
Hi Marcia!
Yeah! I’m so happy you loved it as much as I do. Oh great addition of the spicy mustard; yum!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
i cant find molasses in my country. only have blackstrap molasses. can i use that one or change with sugar or brown sugar maybe corn syrup