Why wouldn’t you add bacon to your BBQ Sauce? My Bacon Bourbon BBQ Sauce recipe is thick, rich, and delicious. It has a nice bourbon, vinegar, and mustard flavor and a kick of heat from chili powder and hot sauce. Top that all off with good quality smoked bacon to push it right over the edge. My mouths already watering just thinking of it.
I don’t puree my BBQ sauce. As a result, you see bits of bacon, onions, and the coarse ground mustard. You’re gonna love this barbeque sauce recipe.
Barbeque Sauce Ingredients
- Bacon: a half-pound of crisp, smokey bacon goes in this BBQ sauce recipe.
- Bourbon: A nice little kick of flavor that really wakes this sauce up and makes it special.
- Onion and Garlic: Sautéed in bacon grease, the little bits still visible in the sauce. This sauce is thick, chunky, and beautiful.
- Molasses and Malt Vinegar: I choose malt vinegar for this recipe. I think the flavor compliments the Bourbon and the bacon better than other kinds of vinegar that are more popular in some barbeque sauce recipes. The molasses has a dark bittersweet flavor that is great with Bourbon.
- Ketchup and Worchestershire Sauce: These are pretty normal BBQ sauce ingredients and they work great in this smoky, bacony sauce.
- Coarse Ground Mustard, Lemon, and Hot Sauce: I wanted to continue the chunky look of this sauce with nice coarse mustard. The lemon adds brightness and the hot sauce gives it a good punch of flavor.
- Chili Powder, Salt, and Black Pepper: All of the other ingredients have such great flavors, the seasonings are simple and don’t compete with the stars of the show, Bacon and Bourbon.
Here’s my Bacon Bourbon BBQ Sauce recipe:
Bacon Bourbon BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 Pound Bacon 1/4-inch dice, crispy
- 2 Ounces Bourbon
- 1 Cup Red Onion 1/4-inch dice
- 1 Tablespoon Bacon Grease
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Crushed and chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
- 1 Cup Ketchup
- 1/4 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/4 Cup Molasses
- 1/4 Cup Malt Vinegar
- 1/4 Cup Coarse Ground Mustard
- 1 Tablespoon Hot Sauce Tabasco
- 1 Lemon Juice only
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
Instructions
- Brown the bacon, set aside on paper towels to drain, reserve bacon fat
- Place a large, covered, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat
- Add bacon fat and onion, sauté for 3-4 minutes until softened
- Add garlic and chili powder, stir constantly for 1 minute, it will stick a little, but it’s important to cook out the raw flavor of the chili powder
- Add all ingredients except the bacon and bourbon, stir constantly for 10-15 minutes until nicely thickened
- Remove from heat, add the bacon and bourbon. Use immediately or store in a mason jar in the refrigerator
Nutrition
There are no preservatives in this sauce. Therefore, I wouldn’t keep it for more than a week in the refrigerator. This BBQ sauce may be frozen for up to 3-months. This Bacon Bourbon BBQ Sauce is great on pretty much any grilled chicken, brisket, ribs either directly or as a dipping sauce.
