How to Make Bombastic Barbecue Sauce for Your Food Truck

How to Make Bombastic Barbecue Sauce for Your Food Truck

Don’t settle for store bought barbecue sauce for your next event. Dazzle your patrons with a homemade recipe that will make their taste buds sing. Even if you’ve never made barbecue sauce from scratch, mastering a recipe that you’re proud of isn’t as hard as it seems.

To get started on your recipe adventure, here are some tips and a variety of sauces to experiment with. Whether you like your barbecue sweet and tangy or packed with heat and spice, you’re well on your way to crafting the perfect BBQ sauce that will make customers want to come back for more.

What to Sweeten With

A good barbecue sauce will have some level of sweetness in it even if it’s just a subtle touch. The best ingredients to sweeten up your sauce with are honey, molasses, brown sugar, or agave. Steer away from using fake sweeteners or maple syrup since those are naturally very sweet. Once you have a sauce that’s too sweet, it can be difficult to tame it with other flavors.

To help the sweet flavors blend into the sauce, use some roasted garlic or a few teaspoons of garlic powder. It will help balance the flavors and give the sweetness a more well-rounded taste.

Adding the Right Kind of Heat

Giving your barbecue the right level of heat takes some practice. It also really depends on what kind of heat you enjoy. For something classic, use a Tabasco sauce or some other hot sauce that has a nice balance of vinegar and spices. If you’re going for Louisiana BBQ, lean towards these hot sauces. If you want a smokier heat, go for a chipotle hot sauce that uses adobo peppers.

Be cautious with your hot sauces. If you use Frank’s hot sauce or habanero style heat, be sure to add a little at a time and taste after each dash. The heat from these sauces can escalate quickly and effectively cancel out all other great flavors.

What to Use for a Tangy Layer

Tangy ingredients will help balance out the sweetness in your barbecue creation. Using vinegar can be a good solution. Apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar are good options for that. Don’t use balsamic or white vinegar–the flavors don’t marry well with barbecue spices. Be sure when you add your vinegar, you shake it up well. The vinegar won’t easily combine with the other flavors unless you give it a good shake.

You can also try out some citrus like lime or lemon juice to balance out the sugars in your sauce. Just be sure to use fresh-squeezed citrus juice.

Other Important Flavors to Consider

If you’re not a fan of vinegar BBQ, you are probably going to be making a barbecue sauce with a tomato base. If you’ve got the time to stew some fresh tomatoes and marry them with spices, ground mustard, and Worcestershire sauce, you’re sure to have a bombastic result. Adding some organic ketchup or tomato paste will also help give your sauce the right texture and flavor.

The different styles and recipes for BBQ sauce can go on and on.  The demand for BBQ trailers, and BBQ food trucks keeps climbing.  If you are currently catering, and want to expand with a mobile food unit, we can help you design your custom BBQ trailer or custom BBQ food truck designed to keep up with your expansion.  If you are just starting out your mobile food business, we can make the recommendations that you will need to remain successful.  We have many years of experience, and we are hear for you.