Kansas City BBQ Sauce
On July 30, 2019 (Updated June 06, 2021)
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Kansas City BBQ sauce is the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. It’s rich from the molasses, bright from the acidic tomatoes and vinegar, and has just the right amount of heat from the chili powder. It’s a classic, ketchup-based BBQ sauce that is a must-have for chicken, ribs, and more!
Homemade BBQ Sauce
Making your own homemade BBQ sauce is something I recommend trying at least once. Though, once you make some from scratch, you’ll likely find yourself making your own sauce over and over again. I personally love making food that has all natural ingredients without anything added (especially all those ingredients I can’t pronounce!), and this BBQ sauce is full of only the good stuff.
This sauce is made from a tomato and molasses base. I add in some brown sugar and apple cider vinegar for a sweet and tangy zip, and then infuse it with 8 spices to give it a well-rounded flavor with a tiny kick of heat at the end. It’s my go-to BBQ sauce when I need that perfect, quintessential sauce. It’s so good, I usually have a jar of it in my fridge at all times.
This sauce is great to make and eat the same day, but if you’ve got the time to let it sit, it is even better after letting it rest for 24 hours. That extra day in the refrigerator gives all of the ingredients time to hang out and get comfortable with each other, resulting in a smoother and more delicious sauce. If you end up with any leftovers, it lasts great in the refrigerator. Make sure you keep it in an airtight container (I usually store my sauces in a simple wide mouth mason jar), and it should last you at least two weeks.
What is Kansas City BBQ Sauce?
I was fortunate enough to visit Kansas City in 2017 for my second Guinness World Record and eat at the best restaurants around. It was pretty darn amazing. While there, I packed my days with BBQ for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Kansas is famous for their burnt ends, and the best complement for tender, smoked beef is a great sauce.
Kansas city BBQ sauce has got it’s own flare and flavor. Most Kansas City style sauces are tomato based, almost all have molasses, and from the ones that I tasted, they all give you a little kick of heat at the end from chili powder, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, or a combination of all three. This homemade version hits all of those major flavor components with my own Hey Grill Hey twist.
How to Make BBQ Sauce
Making your own BBQ sauce at home is inexpensive, easy, and takes less than 30 minutes. Follow along with these 3 simple steps, and you will soon see how it’s totally worth it to make your own sauce at home.
- Boil the ingredients. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Use a whisk to combine and mix the ingredients while it comes to a boil.
- Simmer the sauce. Once your sauce is boiling, reduce the heat to low and allow it to simmer for 20 minutes. The sauce should thicken nicely, and your house will be filled with the sweet aroma of delicious BBQ sauce.
- Cool and refrigerate. Remove the sauce from the heat and allow it to cool completely. You can use it immediately, but I recommend transferring it to a container with a lid and refrigerating it for 24 hours for the best flavor.
This sauce keeps well, and you can store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks (assuming it lasts that long!). I highly recommend trying this on my Smoked Chicken recipe. The smoked chicken is moist, juicy, and it is packed with flavor when cooked with this tasty sauce. This sauce is also great to have on hand for dipping. We love to slather it on grilled and smoked meats, and use it as a dip for grilled veggies.
Best BBQ Sauce Recipes
I’m a firm believe that homemade BBQ sauce is the perfect way to finish your hard-earned, long-smoked meat. Check out these recipes below for more amazing BBQ sauce recipes:
Honey BBQ Sauce
Carolina Vinegar BBQ Sauce
Coffee BBQ Sauce
BBQ Sauce Recipe
Kansas City BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup ketchup
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup molasses
- 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Whisk to combine. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low to simmer.
- Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool completely before transferring to an air tight container.
- This sauce can be used immediately, but I recommend refrigerating overnight for the best flavor. This sauce will last 2 weeks in the refrigerator if sealed tightly in an air tight container.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
**This post was originally published January 2018. It has since been updated with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.
Hey Hey from Canada Eh! About to make this for my third time. Absolutely Love it… not just me, but all those for whom I cook (smoke) with love. Using most of this batch for Brisket Burn Ends, and will freeze the remainder (keep well). Have used it on Chicken and Pork as well.Have had been using a Camp Chef Woodwind for 2.5yrs now, and most times I look up recipes from your site.Keep up the great work!
Wow this sauce is great! Loved it with burnt ends. I will absolutely make it again.
Hi I was thinking of trying this recipe out and I was curious as to what would be the best molasses to use?? I currently have fancy molasses but was wondering If blackstrap would be a better choice??
Terrific sauce and I love that it has mostly common ingredients. No shopping necessary! We ran out of molasses and subbed some maple syrup to complete it.
That sounds pretty darn good right bout now making me hungry
If my tomato path grows this year I will have lots. Can I use fresh tomato’s in the sauce?
Sure!!
I don’t know who you talked to in your travels, but this is the closest thing to Grover’s BBQ sauce I have ever tasted. Grover’s was a staple in Topeka, KS growing up and has been closed for many years. As far as I know, no one has the recipe (or do they?). Now I can finally make a close clone at home. Thanks!
Dang I was laying here just thinking about Grover’s sauce while I was reading this recipe i’m going to have to try it.
Awesome, will definitely try this now! I have tried for years to find the recipe for Grover’s BBQ sauce without any luck.
That is awesome, I miss Grovers so much. The BBQ meat was hit or miss but that bread soaked in juice and BBQ sauce was out of this world!
Hi there! Love all your recipes…but I’m curious…why crushed tomatoes AND ketchup? We don’t eat ketchup so hoping it’ll still taste great without. Any suggested substitutions? More sugar or extra spices? Thanks!!
Absolutely love this sauce. It is my go to. Thanks for this recipe so much.
This is delicious. I made it for the smoked Chicken Halves tomorrow. I used Kosher diamond salt and thought 1 tablespoon was perfect. Everything is perfect in this recipe. Thank you!