Why should you make your own BBQ sauce?

Do you have your own BBQ sauce? Perhaps a family recipe that never fails when it comes to grilling? If not, you might want to consider making your own. There are many benefits to making your own signature sauce. It’s easy, healthier than most store-bought options, and you can customize it to suit you and your family’s tastes. In this article, you’ll learn why having your own custom sauce is a good idea, plus get the recipe for a starter sauce and learn a secret to great flavor combinations.

Store bought sauces – sugar overload!
Have you looked at the ingredient list on a store-bought or brand name/conventional BBQ sauce lately? Where you might expect tomato paste or roasted red peppers, you’ll usually find high fructose corn syrup. Sometimes corn syrup is even the first ingredient…and these aren’t necessarily the “sweet” style sauces. The spiciest and saltiest sauces can also contain a surprising and unnecessary amount of sugar. If you check “honey bbq” you will almost never find real honey. Whether they replace it with malt, HFCS, cane juice, etc., it’s still sugar. Adding a lot of sugar to meat is not the answer to getting the best flavor.

Custom Sauce – Eliminate Preservatives, Add More Flavor
When you customize your own sauce in a small batch, there’s no need for preservatives. When you are not forced to heat anything (pasteurize, can, preserve, or bottle), the foods you use will retain more nutrients. By making your own, you know exactly what’s going on. Use your favorite local honey for a true honey barbecue. Customize the spiciness, thickness, heat level, and sweetness level. So a homemade sauce will not only taste better, but it will also be better for you.

How hot do you like it?
You can turn the heat up exactly as much as you want for each dish you make. Choose from red pepper flakes, cayenne powder, or your favorite chilis and hot sauces. Capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers taste hot, is actually good for you. When you use real natural heat sources like chili peppers, you get the benefits of capsaicin such as anti-inflammatory properties, hunger-fighting abilities (great if you want to lose weight). Making your own sauce is also quick and easy.

A secret to a better mix of flavors
Different tastes work together in harmony, so season your dishes and complement the flavors of your food. A great way to help the flavors blend is to add chia gel to the sauce. Chia gel is the soluble fiber on the outside of the chia seed. The seed itself and the fiber do not have any flavor. However, the soluble fiber in the seeds sticks to liquids and mixes flavors. If you add chia gel to your sauce, it’s best to refrigerate for at least half an hour before serving or using, so the chia has time to do its job.

When you scoop out your own special sauce and serve it, you’ll impress your guests. They will know that it has been customized for this meat, this food, and they will also know that it is fresh. You can get started right away with this simple recipe for a starter sauce. This recipe provides a basic sauce, but is meant to be modified by adding a bit of your favorite ingredients. For example, you can replace the molasses with honey or add hot sauce instead of chili powder for a spicier sauce.

Basic BBQ Sauce Recipe
BBQ sauce ingredients
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons lime juice
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon molasses
1 tablespoon of dried chia
¼ cumin
¼ chili powder

To make, simply mix all of the above ingredients well, in a measuring cup or small bowl. Stir well to make sure the chia is fully mixed. Let the sauce rest for about half an hour before using. This will give the chia seeds time to do their job of blending the flavors, for a smooth and flavorful sauce. Next, try some of the sauce. If you need any adjustment now is the time. Otherwise, you’re ready to go with your favorite grilled dishes.

Where else is mixing of flavors important?
Once you get started with your own sauce and see how easy and tasty the results are, you may want to try making more at home. Sweet or savory salad dressings, mixed berry dips for your ice cream, and even stir-fried marinade, pasta, or your favorite soups. Chia seeds work great in all of these applications. They add two types of fiber, complete protein, omega 3 oils, and many different trace minerals. So when you use chia seeds in your cooking, it not only helps improve the flavor, but it also helps improve the nutritional quality.

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