- ¾ cup bourbon
- ½ onion, diced
- 2 cup ketchup
- 2 Tbsp liquid smoke
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp hot sauce
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- Put onion and bourbon in saucepot, heat over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients, cook for 20 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally.
- Puree using a stick blender
- Allow to cool and store in refrigerator or can.
So this is based off a recipe I found on the internet. It’s a good base, but you can make changes based off what you want with it.
- If you’re being adventurous, you can increase the amount of hot sauce. Since I’m using apple cider vinegar, I have some apple-based hot sauce. It’s the same sauce I used for my baked beans.
- Changing the amount of brown sugar will change the sweetness and a bit of the thickness.
As with most alcohol-based recipes, use good-quality bourbon for this. Jack Daniels is not a bourbon. It’s Tennessee Whiskey. One can argue the differences, but this isn’t a Whiskey BBQ sauce, it’s Bourbon. Remember that much (but not all) of the alcohol will cook out when making this. Be sure to have the fan in your kitchen going and optionally the windows open, lest you get a bit tipsy standing over it (unless you’re into that sort of thing).
My daughter hates anything with pepper in it, telling me it’s too spicy. Many of the dishes I make get a nose up from her and she instead makes a PB&J and yogurt. While making this recipe, the tomato and bourbon smell filled the house and she asked what I was making and when she could have some.