Best Kansas City Classic Sauce Recipes

KANSAS CITY STYLE BARBECUE SAUCE RECIPE

Steps:

• Prep. In a small bowl, mix the American chili powder, black pepper, and salt. In a large bowl, mix the ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire, lemon juice, steak sauce, molasses, honey, hot sauce, and brown sugar. Mix them, but you don't have to mix thoroughly.
• Finely chop the onion and crush or mince the garlic cloves.
• Cook. Over medium heat, warm the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and sauté until limp and translucent, about 5 minutes. Crush the garlic, add it, and cook for another minute. Add the dry spices and stir for about 2 minutes to extract their oil-soluble flavors. Add the wet ingredients. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes with the lid off to thicken it a bit.
• Taste and adjust. Add more of anything that you want a little bit at a time. It may taste a bit vinegary at first, but that will be less obvious when you use it on meat. I recommend you run with my recipe the first time and then you can make it your own. Strain it if you don't want the chunks of onion and garlic. I like leaving them in, they give the sauce a home-made texture.
• Serve. You can use this sauce immediately as you would any other BBQ sauce, but I think it's better when aged overnight. You can store it into clean bottles in the refrigerator for a month or two.

KANSAS CITY-STYLE BARBECUE SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the vegetable oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is golden, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, 1 cup water, the vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, mustard, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the onion is tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in the liquid smoke. Strain the sauce, pressing on the solids to extract any liquid.
• Photograph by Andrew Purcell

KANSAS CITY BARBECUE SAUCE

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Add ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire, mustard, cayenne, and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 5 minutes. Carefully transfer mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Sauce can be cooled completely and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

KANSAS CITY-STYLE BBQ SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, chili powder, paprika, red pepper, allspice, and cloves and cook, stirring, until paste is dark brick red, about 3 minutes. Add the ketchup, water, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, salt, soy sauce, Worcestershire, mustard, black pepper, and bay leaf. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the flavors come together, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf before using.

KANSAS CITY CLASSIC SAUCE

Steps:

• In a saucepan over medium-high heat, mix tomato paste and water together until smooth. Then add the remaining ingredients, in order. Cook over medium heat until sauce reaches 190 degrees F, about 5 to 10 minutes. Enjoy!

BIG AL'S K.C. BAR-B-Q SAUCE

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together the ketchup, tomato sauce, brown sugar, wine vinegar, molasses, liquid smoke and butter. Season with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika, celery seed, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper.
• Reduce heat to low, and simmer for up to 20 minutes. For thicker sauce, simmer longer, and for thinner, less time is needed. Sauce can also be thinned using a bit of water if necessary. Brush sauce onto any kind of meat during the last 10 minutes of cooking.