We know that when it comes to barbecue sauce, most pitmasters choose to go homemade style, which allows them to craft their very own, secret, and unique recipe that sets them apart from other pitmasters and BBQ aficionados. However, there are others that prefer going for bottled sauces instead, whether it is due to convenience, accessibility, or not having the chance to go through the DIY method to prepare their own personal sauce.
Just as barbecue recipes are plenty, and may differ from one region to the next, the bottled barbecue sauce candidate list turns to be a very wide and diverse world of its own, and having so many options to choose from, knowing that when it comes to supermarket sauces, ending up with the wrong sauce is more likely than choosing the one that will turn our summer backyard cookout into a sauccess, which is why we bring to you 4 of the best bottled barbecue sauces the market has to offer.
Let us know what you think, whether you have tried any of these ones, or if we left your favorite one out of this list.
One of the reasons why most pitmasters and barbecue lovers might prefer homemade sauces instead of bottled ones is the use of natural ingredients. More often than we’d like, condiment companies include less and less natural ingredients, which along conservatives, take a piece of the barbecue sauce out of the mix.
This is not the case with Daddy Sam’s Original Bar-B-Q Sawce, which contains nothing but natural ingredients, and full of traditional Texas BBQ sauce flavor. With a recipe that has been passed from generation to generation, Daddy Sam’s Sawce is the perfect choice for beginners and experts in the field of barbecue, for its rich smoky flavor which, with a tad bit of spice, is ideal to go with any meat (or any snack, really) we’re cooking.
This next sauce comes with a strong presence and awards from several competitions across the nation, and its unique balance of ingredients, texture, and sweet and tangy flavors sets Blues Hog Barbecue Sauce from the rest.
What makes this barbecue sauce really stand out is the texture, glow, and sweet-and-spicy flavor it gives to the meat, plus a versatility that most sauces can’t seem to achieve just yet. The main ingredients in Blues Hog Barbecue Sauce are brown sugar and vinegar, plus a nice mix of spices which will be visible on your chicken or ribs. Definitely not for the less avid fans of subtle sauces.
Next, we have what could be considered the best-selling mass-market bottled barbecue sauce there is out there. Award–winning Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce is what the name promises: sweet barbecue sauce with a spicy flavor and smell that hits as soon as you open the lid.
With a slimy texture, a strong sweet flavor, and an ever-present smell that will make your mouth water as soon as you even think about it, SBRBS is what some consider the epitome of barbecue sauce. Sweetness that hits at first, and a vinegar bite that is followed by a crisp smokiness, later, Sweet Baby Ray’s mastermind Chef Larry Raymond clearly knew what he was doing back in 1985, when he started perfecting his family’s recipe.
Last but not least, we have a barbecue sauce that keeps popping up on Top N lists about barbecue sauces. And it’s just that Stubb’s Original Bar-B-Q Sauce might be the closest to what Texas barbecue style really means. Stubb’s history goes back to the 1960’s, when Christopher B. Stubblefield opened his first restaurant and starting to master his barbecue sauce skills, eventually becoming what Texans will define as the best sauce for barbecue one can find.
Thanks to its Tomato Paste and Vinegar based smoky and tangy flavor, Stubb’s Bar-B-Q sauce stays away from supermarket label sweetness that some consider too much sweetness for barbecue to handle, giving Stubb’s sauce the lead regarding flavor. In the texture area, this sauce finds a perfect balance between dripping off the spoon and slow-moving glops of dressing. Ask your local Barbecue connoisseur, and they’ll all tell you, the legends are true, all of them.
