My Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce stays true to the traditional and is on the sweet side using a brown sugar base, but is balanced with chili powder and black pepper that gets simmered with molasses, yellow mustard and other warm spices. Used on Kansas City Style Ribs that are typically characterized by this thick, sticky sauce brushed on in the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce
This BBQ sauce is a well balanced flavored sauce.
Starting with a quick sauté of onions and garlic I add brown sugar and lots of ketchup, dark molasses, apple cider vinegar and yellow mustard staying true to the traditional.
With other warm spices, all of this simmers away and thickens. When Done it’s cooled and using a hand blender wand or a blender it’s puréed to a smooth consistency. If too thick add a little water to your liking.
This is brushed on the ribs 30 minutes before the ribs are done and while it doesn’t quite caramelize like others, it is a sweet and spicy, thick layer on top of each rib.
Bite after bite.
This is my go to recipe for my Kansas City Style Ribs. For another great sauce to try, see my Apricot Chipotle Sauce. Enjoy!
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Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1/3 cup dark molasses
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard (See Note 1)
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat melt butter. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, chili powder, black and cayenne peppers and whisk to combine.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Use a hand blender or carefully pour into a blender and purée until smooth. Let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or transfer to a clean jar with lid and keep refrigerated for up to a month.
Notes
- Yellow American mustard is traditional, but I also like to use Dijon mustard as a substitute with a little more bite.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
Nutrition
thank you again Kevin! I was out of bbq sauce and not wanting to go to the store during the coronavirus lock down in my state – and remembered your delicous sauce! So quick and easy to make. Why did I revert to store bought for my husband a while back? Anyway – thanks again and lesson learned! This is the best and worth the tiny bit of effort to make
Really nice recipe man! Tough to get as smooth as I might like, but for a first try – it came out well.
Nice! Glad to assist Griffin. If you have a Vitamix, it definitely is more powerful than the average kitchen blender and makes for a smoother sauce. Cheers!
This is the best bbq sauce ever! I’ve never been a huge bbq sauce fan – could kind of take it or leave it – and have tried just about every national brand out there – but one fateful night a few nights ago as I was searching what to do with the pineapple and chicken I had in my fridge, I came across your pineapple bbq chicken recipe (will post a rave review on that next!) and then your recommendation for your own bbq sauce – which I happened to have all the ingredients on hand for. I can’t… Read more »
Now that’s an endorsement! Thanks so much for giving it a try and for taking the time to come back and let me know. Lots of tasty recipes here so I hope you take a look around Cathy. Cheers! 🙂
Kevin, you really need to use a funnel! 🙂
There are times I wish you were a bit closer so we could taste test and share recipe ideas. A good BBQ cook out would be one of those Jeff!