Name: Homemade Keto BBQ Sauce (Sugar Free Barbecue Sauce)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 300 grams tomato paste ((could sugar free ketchup) ); 16 ounces water; 1/4 cup bourbon whiskey; 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar; 1/2 tsp liquid smoke ((optional) ); 1.5 tsp kosher salt; 2 tsp garlic powder; 1 tbsp onion powder; 1 tsp smoked paprika; 1/2 tsp ground black pepper; 1/4 tsp chipotle powder ((optional and to taste) ); 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ((optional and to taste) ); 3/4 cup granular sugar replacement of choice; 1.5 tbsp yellow mustard

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This Homemade Keto BBQ Sauce is the Sugar Free BBQ Sauce of your dreams! Making homemade low carb bbq sauce is super simple with just a few pantry staples. It’s fun, and healthier for you when using a sugar replacement instead of regular sugar. Add a splash of bourbon for some extra flavor and kick. This sweet, smoky, spicy homemade sugar free barbecue sauce is the perfect addition to all sorts of proteins!

spicy bourbon bbq sauce with yellow napkin

If you’re looking for everyone’s favorite condiment, made keto style with a splash of bourbon, look no further! You could of course leave the bourbon out and it would be really tasty still, but this super flavorful homemade bbq sauce is a dream for anyone looking to cut out the extra sugar in their life! Normal bbq sauce has on average 12-15 carbs per serving, while this version only has 3 carbs per serving, and you won’t be able to tell the difference!

Making sugar free barbecue sauce at home is actually shockingly easy, you’ll wonder why you spent so much time (and money!) buying the store bought versions. Slather this stuff on our keto maple bbq glazed shrimp, or these delicious baked ribs. You won’t be disappointed.

Ingredients:

How to Make Homemade Keto BBQ Sauce:

We recommend making this on the stovetop over medium-low heat to keep ingredients from burning. In a sauce pan, add your tomato paste and water, stirring until well combined. Next, add your spice blend.

Stir in your liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, mustard, and bourbon, then add in your sweetener. Let simmer for at least 20 minutes, stirring every so often. The longer you let this simmer, the better the flavors will become, but 20 minutes should do you good! Also note that if you are going to simmer for a long while, you may need to add a bit of water to compensate for all the water that will evaporate away.

adding worcestershire sauce to tomato sauce to make homemade sugar free spicy bourbon bbq sauce

adding sweetener to homemade sugar free keto bbq sauce

Now, when the taste is just right, simply serve this keto BBQ sauce and enjoy! You can also blend the sauce before serving if you prefer, to ensure it’s super smooth. Your choice.

spicy bourbon homemade bbq sauce with a spoon and yellow towel

Substitutions:

Tomato Paste– Feel free to sub with tomato sauce. We don’t recommend subbing with ketchup if you’re concerned about carbs, but if you’re not, feel free! That would allow you to leave the apple cider vinegar out too.
Garlic & Onions- Fresh garlic of course would work for this as well.
Apple Cider Vinegar- Use white distilled or red wine vinegar if you don’t have apple cider vinegar. It balances out the sweetness in the tomato paste.
Bourbon- Don’t drink or hate bourbon? No problem. Just leave it out! You will want to replace it with water though, so that your sauce doesn’t become too thick.

hand holding dry seasonings for bbq sauce in a glass bowl with a yellow towel

Optional Ingredients:

Liquid Smoke– You don’t need this ingredient necessarily, but we love the smoky flavor it adds to this sauce.
Mustard- This is optional, but you want it. Trust us! It doesn’t taste like mustard, but instead adds some subtle flavor.
Spices- For any of the spicier spices (cayenne, chipotle powder, and chili powder) feel free to leave them out if you don’t prefer a spicier sauce. We love a kick of heat and think it’s just the right amount, but everyone is different!
Worcestershire sauce- Are you guys picking up the point that many of these ingredients are technically optional but they add a nice subtle flavor? Yeah, same thing with Worcestershire sauce. You can leave it out if you don’t have it though.

hand holding baby back ribs dipping in bbq sauce

Can I Use Tomato Sauce Instead of Paste?

Yes! You can. We basically make our own tomato sauce that has a richer flavor by combining tomato paste and water, simply because we always have tomato paste on hand. We like using tomato paste because it’s such a great base to many dishes, and we can turn it into sauce on our own. Using tomato paste is our preference since it’s been cooked for longer than tomato sauce, so it mellows out the acidity in the tomatoes, making for a sauce that comes together a little faster. Tomato paste is definitely sweeter than tomato sauce however, which is why we balance the sweetness with more acidity from the apple cider vinegar. We simply dilute the tomato paste with water to turn it into a sauce.

Garlic and Onion Powder Vs. Fresh

You can certainly use fresh garlic and onion in this recipe, but we don’t like to for a few reasons. Number one, it will definitely increase the carb count in the bbq sauce to use fresh onion and garlic. Secondly, when we are making a quick sugar free barbecue sauce, we like to stick with dry spices and seasonings so that it can mix easier into the sauce without creating any chunks. You could also work through this by blending your sauce when everything is all cooked, and then straining it to get out any lumps. We don’t like to take this extra step most of the time, personally.

What Sweetener Should I Use For This Homemade Keto BBQ Sauce?

You can use whatever granular (or even liquid, like stevia drops) sweetener you like for this, but ideally you want something that won’t crystallize after it’s been refrigerated. Allulose is a great choice for Keto BBQ Sauce.

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More Recipes To Try:

If you get a chance to try this sugar free barbecue sauce recipe, let us know what you think, would ya?! Leave us a comment, or catch up with us on Facebook or Instagram, or pin to your favorite Pinterest board for later. We love sharing your versions of our creations over on Instagram @afullliving!

spicy homemade bbq sauce with yellow napkin and a spoon in front

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Until Next Time,
Briana & Chamere