My Favorite BBQ Sauce Recipe

These are the raw ingredients for my favorite bbq sauce.  I have tried quite a few different recipes, but none of them grab me the way this one does.  I think it's because of the molasses and chipotle.

I found this recipe on the Foodnetwork.com site years ago-way before I ever started blogging.  As a matter of fact, I think it was the first from-scratch condiment I ever attempted.  Now I regularly make bbq sauce, ketchup and mustard.

This is a Bobby Flay recipe.  It went with a burger recipe, but that part of it was lost years ago.  It looks like there are 3,000 ingredients, but honestly, I have every single one of them in my pantry at any given time, so it really isn't hard.  Oh- and I ALWAYS double it.  I give a few small jars away, then find excuses to slather the rest on anything I can find! :)

Here's the rundown:

Bobby's BBQ Sauce

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 Spanish onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup ketchup (I use my own homemade, but if you don't make your own, splurge on organic)
2 tablespoons ancho chile powder (you could sub regular store-bought chile powder)
1 tablespoon paprika (I use smoked paprika)
1 heaping tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (I always sub apple cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 chipotle in adobo, chopped
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon molasses
salt and pepper to taste

Heat canola oil over medium heat and add onion.  Let it sauté around for about 4 or 5 minutes, until it gets soft.  You don't need to put any color on it.  Then add the garlic, and let it cook for about a minute, stirring constantly.  Then dump everything else in (except the salt and pepper) and let it come to a boil.  Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

If you want smoother sauce, use an immersion blender, or blend it in very small amounts in a regular blender (be careful blending hot sauces- it can splatter out and burn you).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  The recipe makes 1 cup.

I have never tried to water bath can this stuff.  Honestly, it doesn't last long enough.  So, put it in a mason jar, label it (and date it) and put it in the ice box.  Mine has lasted as much as a month without growing any visible ickies.  But like I said, it rarely lasts a month.