Healthy homemade BBQ sauce made with healthier ingredients from scratch without sugar. This healthy barbecue sauce is also vegan, gluten free, sugar free, paleo, keto and whole30 compliant. The sauce makes a perfect addition to your healthy dinner: brush it onto veggies, your favorite piece of meat or use it as a dipping sauce.
A Healthy BBQ Sauce
Since summer is here and the grill is hot, I needed a healthy BBQ sauce recipe. I wanted a sugar free BBQ sauce that is made with whole foods and also to be gluten free, vegan, whole30 friendly, so no nut butter should be involved. I consider this a healthy barbecue sauce recipe because even the tomato sauce is made from scratch with fresh whole foods, no ketchup base here!
The best part about this recipe is that it’s so versatile – there are endless possibilities for how you can use it. I personally like to use it in spaghetti squash boats and chicken, but it would also go very well with roasted veggies or any kind of meat.
Related: Smoky Honey Mustard Sauce
A Homemade Barbecue Sauce Is Also Gluten Free
A conventional store-bought BBQ sauce is mostly GMO processed sugar with a sprinkle of spices, liquid smoke, artificial color and preservatives.
Even “healthier“ versions of BBQ sauces have some weird ingredients, lots of sugar or are kind of hard to find. But if you make your own sugar free BBQ sauce, you will be eating mostly whole veggies and some good quality spices.
By eliminating Worcestershire sauce will also make it a gluten free bbq sauce.
The point is this healthy BBQ sauce is tasty enough even for people who are not following a special diet, it’s simply delicious!
Creating A Healthy BBQ Sauce Recipe
Making your own barbecue sauce recipe at home is easy, and you can tailor the flavor to your taste. You need to aim for a healthy balance of sweetish, smoky, spicy, tangy flavors all layered beautifully in a smooth silky texture.
As with any recipe, you can tweak it to your liking. Make this sugar free barbecue sauce thinner and use it as a dipping sauce, or thick to stick to grilling meats. Want a BBQ sauce with just a bit more heat? Fine!
Add some cayenne pepper, and if more sweet: add some sweetener. More smoky undertones? Add some liquid smoke, but honestly this homemade barbecue sauce tastes awesome as it is!
Related: Mango Sauce For Chicken And Fish
How To Make A Healthy BBQ Sauce
This sugar free BBQ sauce is pretty easy to make! To start, you need crushed or diced tomatoes, sautéed onions, garlic, celery, some tomato paste, stone ground mustard and dried herbs.
The tanginess and sweetness comes from apple cider vinegar + coconut aminos, followed by a slightly smoky / spicy flavor derived from smoked paprika and red pepper flakes. Combining all these in the right proportions makes an amazing flavor layered BBQ sauce.
Instructions
- Add oil to a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Make sure to stir and watch the garlic, it can burn easily.
- Add the rest of ingredients including the seasonings and spices. Stir to combine.
- Allow mixture to come to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring. Use a lid to prevent splashing.
- Taste and adjust seasoning for desired flavor.
- Cool. Transfer to a large tall jar and use an immersion blender right in the jar to blend everything together until smooth. You can also use a regular blender too.
Video: How To Make A Healthy Sugar Free BBQ Sauce
Homemade BBQ Sauce Storing
Whenever I make my sugar free BBQ sauce I usually get a double or a triple batch and store it in a few mason jars. Not too big, so I could keep the rest unopened until it’s time to use it. They can easily be frozen as well: up to 2-3 months, but they never last that long in my fridge!
More Healthy Sauces You Might Like
- Smoky Honey Mustard Sauce
- 7 Creamy Gluten Free Dairy Free Salad Dressings
- Healthy Honey Mustard Without Mayo & Dairy
- Mango Sauce For Chicken And Fish
- Peach Vinaigrette – Creamy Peach Salad Dressing
If you tried this healthy BBQ sauce recipe please leave a comment and star rating below.
Your feedback is super helpful for me and readers. Thank you!
Healthy BBQ Sauce (Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Vegan, Paleo, Keto, Whole30) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup tomato paste - unsalted
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion - fresh, diced
- 3-4 cloves of gralic - diced
- 1 tbsp stone ground mustard
- 1 stalk of celery - diced
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup coconut aminos
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes - or 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Pinch of stevia extract powder - (optional, to make it more sweet)
Instructions
- Add oil to a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Make sure to stir and watch the garlic, it can burn easily.
- Add the rest of ingredients including the seasonings and spices. Stir to combine
- Allow mixture to come to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring. Use a lid to prevent splashing.
- Taste and adjust seasoning for desired flavor.
- Cool. Transfer to a large tall jar (to prevent splashing) and use an immersion blender right in the jar to blend everything together until smooth. You can also use a regular blender too.
Video
Notes
Tips For A Healthy Homemade BBQ Sauce
- This recipe makes about 2.5 cups of sugar free BBQ sauce. I like to pour them into two jars – one for immediate use and one for the freezer.
- To make this BBQ sauce really spicy add ¼ tsp ground up chile peppers such as cayenne, chipotle, or add a few splashes of your favorite spicy hot sauce.
- This homemade BBQ sauce stays fresh in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (airtight container).
- If you want to add some fruit flavor, the best thing to use is blueberries – it makes a great blubbery BBQ sauce, just replace the crushed tomatoes with 2-3 cups of blueberries and simmer until reduces. Then add the rest of ingredients and mix well.
- Feel free to vary up the recipe ingredient ratios to your preference.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
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Connie
Thursday 31st of October 2019
Since I'm doing whole30 and have been trying to avoid processed ingredients and sugar, I subbed the stevia with 5 dates, put it through the food processor and then cooked it....it turned out great!!! Thank you for the inspiration!
HealthyTasteOfLife
Thursday 31st of October 2019
That's wonderful, thanks for sharing!