BBQ Hamburger Sauce

BBQ hamburger is nothing without an appropriate burger sauce. Tangy, smoky, and spicy sauce will complement the taste of a BBQ hamburger. If you are looking for the best sauce for a BBQ burger, then you are at the right place.

This article will present an easy and effective BBQ Hamburger sauce recipe. Additionally, we will provide tips to make customized sauces in different flavors provided by our experts. We will suggest how you can customize the BBQ sauce in 5 desired flavors. 

Therefore, you should be with us. Read the article carefully to explore the ingredients, and making process of homemade barbecue burger sauce, and learn to customize flavors of the sauce. Let’s start with the ingredient details.

Classic BBQ sauce for Hamburgers Ingredients

Classic BBQ sauce is a great option for BBQ Hamburgers. You will require the following ingredients to prepare the homemade BBQ burger sauce;

1. Ketchup – 1 cup

Ketchup will be the base of this sweet and smoky burger sauce. 

2. Apple Cider Vinegar – ¼ cup

Apple cider vinegar will make the sauce tangy and also will work to preserve the sauce for a long period. 

3. Brown Sugar – ¼ cup (Adjust to taste)

Brown sugar is a necessary ingredient to prepare the sweet and tangy barbecue sauce.

Note: You can add honey instead of brown sugar to make the smoky honey BBQ sauce. If you want to add both the brown sugar and honey, you should take half of the amount of brown sugar with 1 tablespoon of honey. Otherwise, the burger sauce will become too sweet. 

4. Dijon Mustard – 2 tablespoons

Dijon mustard will add sharpness to the homemade BBQ sauce. It also gives a nice consistency to the burger sauce.

5. Worcestershire Sauce – 2 tablespoons

Worcestershire sauce is a mandatory ingredient to prepare the best sauce for BBQ burgers. It enhances the BBQ flavor of the sauce.

6. Smoked Paprika (Or regular paprika) – 1 tablespoon

Smoked paprika to get a smoky flavor from the smoky burger sauce. If you don’t have smoky paprika, you can use the regular paprika as well. 

7. Garlic Powder – 1 tablespoon

Garlic powder makes the sauce savory and delivers a nice fragrance that goes perfectly with the BBQ sauce. 

8. Onion Powder – 1 tablespoon

After garlic powder, you will also require onion powder to make the sauce sweetly savory.

9. Ground Black Pepper – 1 teaspoon

Using freshly ground black pepper intensifies the spice of the sauce and delivers satisfying flavors to the burger sauce. 

10. Cayenne Pepper (Optional for extra heat) – ½ teaspoon

Cayenne pepper is optional. If you want extra hot and spicy, you can add cayenne pepper to the sauce recipe. 

11. Salt – ½ teaspoon (To taste)

Lastly, you have to add salt. It balances the overall flavor profile. We recommend using salt to your taste.

Tips: You can also use mayonnaise in this recipe to prepare the BBQ mayo for burgers.  

How to Make BBQ Hamburger Sauce at Home: Easy 5 Steps

We are going to tell you how you can make the BBQ Hamburger sauce from scratch with easy 5 steps. So, be attentive to learning the recipe rapidly.

Step 1: Collect & Measure All the Required Ingredients

At the beginning, check the ingredient list and make sure all the ingredients are available in your house. If not, you can buy from the store nearby.

• Collect all the required ingredients beside your cooking setup.
•  Then, measure them one by one using specific measuring cups and spoons.
• Keep them in specific bowls, it will help you not to skip any ingredient mistakenly.

Step 2: Combine All the Ingredients

Secondly, you have to combine all the ingredients.

• Take a medium saucepan.
• Add ketchup, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, cayenne powder, black pepper, and salt into the saucepan.
• Combine them by stirring them properly. 

Step 3: Simmer the Sauce

Then, it’s time to simmer the sauce.

• Place the saucepan on an induction over medium heat.
• Bring the mixture to a soft boil.
• Then, reduce the heat to the lowest heat.
• Again simmer for 15 – 20 minutes at low heat.
• Stir occasionally throughout the process.
• Be careful during simmering to avoid burnt flavor. 

Step 4: Taste and Adjust

After simmering for 10 minutes, taste the sauce.

• Then, you can add seasoning ingredients to make the sauce according to your taste.
• After adding seasoning ingredients, simmer for the remaining time.

We will further discuss in detail about customization of the BBQ sauce with different flavors. 

Step 5: Cool and Serve the Sauce 

At the end of the simmering time, check the consistency, if you get your desired consistency remove the saucepan from the induction.

• Pour the sauce into a bowl.
• Cool the sauce completely at room temperature.
• Then, you can serve the sauce with BBQ Hamburgers. 

Tips: You can also store the barbecue sauce for future use. To store the sauce, you need a dry and clean airtight container. Pour the sauce into the container, seal the container with a lid, then you can store the sauce for up to a week.

How to Customize BBQ Sauce for Different Flavors?

We have already told you the BBQ sauce recipe for burgers. In this sub-point, we will discuss how you can get 5 desired flavors of sauce from the basic BBQ sauce according to our professional experiment. 

1. Spicy BBQ Sauce

• To prepare the spicy version, you can add extra cayenne pepper, chili flakes, or hot sauce.
• If you want spicy with fresh flavors, you can add some finely chopped jalapenos to the sauce base. 

2. Sweet BBQ Sauce

• On the contrary, for the sweet version, you can avoid using cayenne pepper.
• Additionally, you can add a sweeter ketchup to prepare the base of the sauce.
• Besides, by increasing the amount of brown sugar or honey, you can make sweet BBQ sauce. 

3. Tangy BBQ Sauce

• For preparing the Tangy BBQ sauce, you can add extra apple cider vinegar.
• Moreover, you can add some lemon juice to the sauce. Adding lemon juice will make the sauce tangy and refreshing too.
• If you want to experiment, you can use a mustard-based BBQ sauce as the base of the sauce. 

4. Smoky BBQ Sauce

• To prepare the smoky version of BBQ sauce, you have to add smoked paprika.
• Furthermore, you can use some liquid smoke to intensify the smoky flavor of the BBQ sauce. 

5. Caramelized Onion BBQ Sauce

Caramelized onion BBQ sauce is a unique sauce.

• To prepare this rare kind of BBQ sauce, you need to fry finely chopped onion in butter and sugar until golden brown.
• Then, add the caramelized onion to the BBQ sauce base to prepare the caramelized onion BBQ sauce.

Conclusion

It is easy to prepare the BBQ hamburger sauce. You can easily get the recipe from the internet. However, we have come up with a recipe for the perfect BBQ sauce for the BBQ hamburger with amazing customization ideas.

Using these ideas you can prepare 5 types of BBQ sauce using a single recipe. That means this article presents a 5 in 1 recipe.

Read the article and prepare the base of the BBQ sauce. Then, customize the sauce in 5 unique flavors using the mentioned ingredients. Feel free to experiment with ingredients to make the sauce according to your taste.

FAQs

What are the key ingredients in BBQ sauce for Burgers?

Let us provide you with a list of key ingredients in BBQ sauce for Burgers.

• Ketchup 
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Brown Sugar
• Dijon Mustard 
• Worcestershire Sauce 
• Smoked Paprika (Or regular paprika) 
• Garlic Powder 
• Onion Powder 
• Ground Black Pepper Cayenne Pepper (Optional for extra heat) Salt 

Can You Use Store-bought Bbq Sauce for Hamburgers?

Yes, we can definitely use store-bought BBQ sauce for hamburgers. Using store-bought BBQ sauce is hassle-free because you don’t have to make the sauce. It will save your cooking time.

But, homemade BBQ sauce offers control in taste and flavors. You can make the sauce according to your taste. You can make it sweet, tangy, spicy, or smoky as you want. 

What Side Dishes Pair Well With Bbq Hamburgers?

Serving BBQ hamburger is not enough as your main dish. Hence, our experts suggest 5 side dishes that you can pair with BBQ hamburgers.

• Potato Salad
• Baked Beans
• Grilled Vegetables
• French Fries or Sweet Potato Fries
• Tomato and Cucumber Salad