Barbeque Sauce From Scratch (Gluten Free)

Barbeque sauce is one of those deliciously tangy, smokey and sweet sauces that compliment food perfectly. I primarily use BBQ sauce in pulled pork, burgers and in meatballs or as extra flavouring in meatloaf. It is such a diverse sauce.

One problem I have when catering for coeliac or gluten intolerant people is that gluten can be hidden in sauces, BBQ sauce specifically can be hard to find without traces of gluten in Australia where I live.

So I decided to make my own sauce and I hope you enjoy (even if you can eat gluten please enjoy this too!!).

Step 1: Ingredients and Equipment

Ingredients

- 1 Medium onion, finely chopped.

- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

- 1 ½ cups tomato paste (ensure it is gluten free, I use 100% pureed tomato paste so no gluten yay!)

- 1 Tbsp mustard powder

- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika

- 3 tsp onion powder

- 3 tsp garlic powder

- 1 ¼ Cup Dark Brown sugar (you can use normal brown sugar but the dark brown has more molasses in it, making it nice and sticky

- 1 ½ Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

- ½ Cup apple cider vinegar

- ¾ cup water

- ½-2 tsp hot sauce (Depending on your spice preference. I recommend at least ½ tsp you don’t even notice the heat)

- Salt and pepper to taste

Equipment

- Frying pan

- Chopping board

- Knife

- Mixing spoon
- serving dish / Sterilized jar for storage

Step 2: Brown the Onions

In a large frying pan heat your oil on a medium high heat then add your chopped onions to the pan. Continue to cook and stir your onions until they brown this may take about 3-5 minutes **

** You can add some salt at this stage to help draw moisture out of your onions and brown them quicker

Step 3: Add the Spices and Vinegar

Once your onions are browned add the mustard powder and smoked paprika, onion and garlic powder and continue to stir on a medium high heat for about a minute until they become aromatic.

Add half of the apple cider vinegar and stir thoroughly until the spices make a thick sauce. Then add the rest of the vinegar.**

**Only add only a small amount of liquid to start to prevent the spices sticking together. If you add all your liquid at once you may get little pockets of dry spice and its not as nice. We want a nice even sauce**

Step 4: Add the Rest

Once that is all combined add the tomato paste and gently mix it into the spice ‘slurry’ then add the sugar Worcestershire sauce, water and hot sauce. (Add more water if you like your sauce a bit thinner, everyone likes their sauce differently).

Then bring the sauce up onto a high heat to boil then immediately turn it down to a medium low heat to cook for about 30 minutes until the flavours are all mixed together (of course you can have this simmering for longer, this helps mix the flavours and thicken the sauce).

If you like a really smooth sauce you can also blend this in a blender or use a stick blender in the frying pan.