I Tried 5 Bottled BBQ Sauces and Only One Was Finger-Lickin' Great
Summer is on the horizon, which means grills are starting to emerge from their seasonal hibernation–ready to fuel the entire family. Whether you're planning to slap down thick-cut steaks, spiced chicken thighs, flaky fish filets, or even some veggies from the farmer's market, there's one thing that can elevate your grilled goods from good enough to downright addictive: a top-notch barbecue sauce.
And lucky for you, we've got you (and your grub) covered.
As part of our own saucy showdown, we've put a unique lineup of BBQ sauces to the test–ranging from household staples like Kraft and Sweet Baby Ray's to more niche contenders straight from the hands of experienced (and award-winning, might I add) pitmasters. The objective was fairly straightforward: Deliver the best recipe of balanced sweetness, tang, spice, and smoke. Simple enough, right?
Some bottles leaned into the sweetness and nostalgia side of things. Others leaned into the diversity of a Kansas City-style barbecue. And, one in particular ditched the artificial stuff entirely in favor of cleaner, more "whole food" profiles (a tall order in this saucy arena).
Even just this small sampling is a testament to the wide-ranging world of barbecue sauce, where there's a set of flavors for every set of taste buds. So, grab your basting brush and let's find out which of the following bottles deserves a permanent spot in your summertime rotation.
Primal Kitchen Unsweetened Classic BBQ Sauce
Primal Kitchen puts its own organic spin on all your favorite sauces, dressings, and condiments. That means instead of artificial sweeteners and other unrecognizable additives, you'll find real ingredients, good oils, and dairy alternatives in every single bottle. The brand's Unsweetened Classic BBQ Sauce, for example, forgoes high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar. It alternatively relies on a base of tomato puree, date paste, and vinegars, which is then flavored with garlic and onion powder, mustard seed, coriander, hickory smoke flavor, cinnamon, and other spices. One glass bottle cost me $7.99.
The Look: Pale orange-ish brown–closer to the color of fresh mud than a deep red-tinted barbeque sauce. After a good shake, it dumps out in a viscosity similar to ketchup.
The Taste: I expected there to be no sweet element to this sauce–the name is a pretty good hint at that. But what I didn't expect was for most other taste sensations to be watered down as well. All flavors are essentially muted, with the outlier of a strong acidic bite (presumably from all the vinegar). I didn't detect hints of hickory smokiness, chipotle powder, or really any of the added seasonings aside from maybe a lingering aftertaste of pepper and garlic. If you're really on the lookout for a cleaner BBQ sauce (something that sounds like an oxymoron), I'd say you could give this a try. But I think we can do better.
Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce
Kraft and Heinz joined forces in 2015. But that doesn't mean you'll find only one or the other on the shelves these days. In fact, Kraft (the company originally known for its cheese) creeps into Heinz' territory with its own competing line of squeezable condiments. Barbeque sauce is, of course, on the menu, alongside mayo, aioli, and other specialty sauces. I grabbed a bottle of the Original Barbecue Sauce, which the bottle claims is "slow-simmered". It rang up at $3.19.
The Look: Smooth, gel-like, and slow to emerge from the bottle. Its coloring is close to that of burnt umber–mostly brown but with an obvious red influence.
The Taste: Juxtaposed with the Primal Kitchen bottle, Kraft's sweetness levels are off the charts. It immediately coats your mouth in a sticky and partly artificial sugary tang–if I had to guess, I would say it's the high fructose syrup, stevia leaf extract, and molasses at work. Any kind of spice is mild to nonexistent, and the smoky flavors are on the lighter side. But the sauce makes up for it in other ways. All in all, it's a solid, everyday kind of BBQ sauce that would best strut its stuff paired with grilled chicken or even drizzled atop a pizza–just a little would go a long way.
Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet 'n Spicy Barbecue Sauce
Sweet Baby Ray's takes over the barbecue sauce aisle with its minimalistic white labeled bottles–a hint at its vast popularity. The original award-winning recipe takes up a majority of the real estate. But the brand has eight other available flavors as well (almost enough for every finger, as the company points out). These include a Hawaiian Style, Honey Chipotle, Sweet Vidalia Onion, and a new Buffalo Barbecue Sauce. But I decided to spice things up with a bottle of the Sweet 'n Spicy blend for $2.59.
The Look: Sweet Baby Ray's signature thickness once again defines this sauce. It's also glassy and shares nearly the exact same rust-soaked shade as Kraft's.
The Taste: Not quite as sweet as Kraft's (despite its higher sugar content), but it still leads first with that honeyed sensation–much more so than the brand's original recipe. Behind the sweetness, you start to uncover some more flavor diversity. You get a smidge of piquancy accompanied by a range of spices, then the heat becomes apparent right as it leaves your tongue. With jalapeno pepper leading the charge, the spice level is very manageable, even for spice-wary people such as myself. I thought it could even crank things up another notch or two, if we're being honest. Just like the original, this Sweet Baby Ray's spinoff is a classically versatile sauce, and I was surprised to find two others that I liked even better.
Blues Hog Original Barbecue Sauce
Barbequing is in Blues Hog's blood. The brand is the brainchild of Bill Arnold, a pitmaster who spent his life cooking and crafting signature sauce and dry rub recipes to enter in competitions and eventually sell to the masses. Now, the good stuff can be found on grocery shelves, which is exactly where I picked up a $9.99 sampling of the original. The bottle comes peppered with accolades, including its title as the "Best Baste on the Planet" and its People's Choice recognition at the American Royal–a longstanding event in Kansas City, Missouri, which hosts the world's largest barbeque competition. Let's see what all the fuss is about.
The Look: Runnier than the above options with less opacity. This makes the abundant seasoning specks much more obvious and lightens the coloring, but doesn't prevent it from latching onto foods.
The Taste: I've never had another barbecue sauce quite like this. It almost reminds me of a blend between barbecue sauce and sweet teriyaki in the best possible way. You get a pleasant brown sugar sweetness that harmonizes with the tang of ketchup, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. At the same time, it's peppery with a robust range of sensations hiding just under the sweetness, then everything crescendos into the most unassuming of heats. I will say, I was surprised by a few of the recipe's ingredients like anchovies and vanilla extract. But hey, whatever they're adding in there seems to be working. And, I hear tell that the brand's Champion's Blend is more of the same but with even more bite and uniqueness.
Meat Mitch Whomp! BBQ Sauce
The Meat Mitch story is similar to that of Blues Hog. The award-winning sauce was spun up by Mitch Benjamin (or "Meat" Mitch), a former competition barbeque team member from Kansas City, Missouri. After successfully competing, Mitch and his smoking posse now spread the love with a range of retail sauces, glazes, and dry rubs. The brand offers several saucy picks, but I had to find out what the Whomp! Competition BBQ sauce was all about. It comes in a funky bottle stamped with personality and promises of "more bang!" and a taste so good "it'll make you squeal". It cost me $5.99.
The Look: An average consistency that lands between thick and thin, but in the deepest shade of reddish brown–almost as deep as a barbeque sauce can get.
The Taste: It hits every single barbecue sauce high point you could hope for. A level sweetness emerges from the molasses and sugar. You get a small tang from the tomato and vinegar pairing. And smokiness finally plays a role, thanks to natural smoke flavor and a few shakes of paprika. Plus, when you taste a large enough glob, the chili peppers start to do their thing, packing in a serious amount of heat (more bang is right!). It's as full-bodied and rich as I'll get out. And the fact that it leaves high fructose corn syrup off its ingredient list–the only brand besides Primal Kitchen to do so–is another major bonus. I know this Whomp! sauce has won competitions before, but now it has another respectable title under its belt: winner of the Eat This, Not That! sweet and smoky barbeque sauce-off.
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