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Based off of my mom’s favorite barbecue sauce recipe, this is definitely my favorite healthy barbecue sauce to date! I’ve made a few already, including the one used in this Sweet & Spicy BBQ Meatball Bake, as well as a few more to be included in my upcoming cookbook. This one took inspiration from a recipe in a church cookbook we like to use, but I made enough of my own tweaks to turn it into another recipe (because what’s the fun in making something the same way twice?). It’s a sweet barbecue, so adjust that according to your family’s preferences. I made pulled pork with it (you can find instructions for that in the printable recipe below). Pork loin is an inexpensive meat, and I’m always trying to find good ways to prepare it – this is definitely my new favorite!
This barbecue sauce recipe makes about 6 cups, which was enough to make pulled pork out of a 4 lb. pork loin with 3 cups of sauce left over. We just kept the rest in the fridge and have been using it on everything from grilled chicken to haystacks to green beans to brown rice! I kind of love barbecue sauce….
I served this yummy barbecue with salad and roasted okra. Roasting okra helps cut some of its sliminess. Simply slice okra in half lengthwise and toss it with olive oil and garlic salt, then roast it in the oven at about 450* until it’s as tender as you want it to be (15-20 minutes).
Every good Southern barbecue needs a good coleslaw to go with it. Good news! There’s a yummy coleslaw recipe in my upcoming cookbook! I’m working with my designer on a cookbook cover design right now; hopefully the book will be available for preorder here on my website sometime in October!
Trim Healthy Mamas, this perfect barbecue sauce contains butter which would normally be an S ingredient, but if you use 1/4 cup of sauce or less in a serving, the fat stays within Fuel Pull boundaries and can be used in any fuel setting. Pair the sauce with a lean meat such as chicken or turkey breast or pork tenderloin to stay in Fuel Pull territory, or use it with a fattier meat for a THM:S. (New to the whole Trim Healthy Mama thing? Click here for my quick synopsis and a bunch of helpful links!)
No-sugar-added ketchup can be hard to find, but you can make your own using the easy recipe on page 482 of The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook or find a low-carb recipe online that uses a low-glycemic sweetener. OR do it like me and just use regular ketchup as a personal choice item. It does have some sugar in it, but it makes my life much easier and I don’t think it’s done me much harm since I don’t eat ketchup on a daily basis. 🙂
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for answers to FAQs, and check out the Suggested Products section below the printable recipe to find links to products I use and recommend.
Other pages you might enjoy:
- Starting THM
- my picture recipe index
- my recipes indexed by THM fuel type, allergy info, and theme
- Substitution FAQs and Baking Tips
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
- ½ c. salted butter
- 4 c. no-sugar-added ketchup
- ½ - 1 c. water*
- 2 T. THM Super Sweet Blend
- 2 T. apple cider vinegar
- 1 T. yellow mustard
- 1 T. Worcestershire sauce (or an allergy-friendly alternative)
- 2 tsp. chili powder
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. molasses
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the rest of the ingredients and whisk to combine. Taste and add more sweetener if desired. Simmer (uncovered) for 20 minutes. Store in the refrigerator. Yields 6 cups (24 servings)
- To make barbecue pulled pork for 12-14 people, cook a 4 lb. pork loin in a crockpot on high for 4 hours, flipping it over halfway through. Drain the juice (reserve it for another use), break the pork loin into chunks, and add 3 c. barbecue sauce. Simmer on low for 4 hours, stirring occasionally (do this with a meat fork to shred the pork finer). Serve with additional sauce as desired.
-No-sugar-added ketchup can be hard to find, but you can make your own using the easy recipe on page 482 of The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook or find a low-carb recipe online that uses a low-glycemic sweetener. OR do it like me and just use regular ketchup as a personal choice item. It does have some sugar in it, but it makes my life much easier and I don't think it's done me much harm since I don't eat ketchup on a daily basis. =)
Suggested products:
I have trouble finding sugar free ketchup without harmful sugar substitutes. Have you ever tried this recipe with tomato paste?
I recommend making your own ketchup first – THM has a recipe in one of their cookbooks.
I made your THM BBQ sauce. Only changes I made was adding a 1/2 liquid smoke, and cut the super sweet in half. I also added a teas. of smoked paprika.
Thank you for sharing yours. I will definitely follow you. 😊
This sauce is so yummy! I absolutely love Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, but of course it’s full of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. This will help me forget all about it. Thank you!
Really good!! Making pulled pork today with your sauce (doubled so I can make a freezer meal as well). Added liquid smoke and upped the molasses a tiny bit in the “extra” sauce for on top. Great recipe.
Hi Briana, I was given a lot of pulled pork and am trying to come up with creative ways to use it. I’m trying to emulate Jim and Nick’s pulled pork nachos, which I love! I’m going to make my chips out of Joseph’s flatbread but, because I’m trying to stay within the THM guidelines, I have to watch the carbs with that bread and this sauce (which sounds wonderful!). Do you have a carb count for this sauce?
Hi Nancy! I don’t usually calculate nutrition info on my recipes since THM doesn’t require it, but if you’re concerned about it MyFitnessPal is a super easy way to find nutrition facts! If you sign up for an account, under the Recipes tab there’s a place where you can just add the link to a recipe and it will pull up the ingredients for you to confirm, then generate the nutritional info! 🙂 As long as you’re sticking to S and FP ingredients and staying within the recommended serving size on the Joseph’s lavash you should be fine without having to count since this sauce doesn’t have a significant carb source that you need to worry about.
Hi! Regular (store bought) bbq doesn’t have any added fat, so I am curious why this recipe calls for butter. Am assuming there is a reason it is included.
My mom’s homemade BBQ sauce recipes included butter…I assume it just makes it richer? Butter makes things taste better. 😉
Perfect! This was just what I needed for my crockpot beef BBQ. On plan S dinner ready and waiting for my family!
What ketchup do you use and where can I buy it? Or, do you make your own?
I call for no-sugar-added ketchup in all my recipes because that’s technically what the THM plan calls for, but I personally just use regular storebought ketchup. In the amounts I usually use, it doesn’t do much harm, and it’s one thing I can do to keep this plan sustainable long term for me. 🙂 I haven’t noticed any adverse effects. I’ve heard good things about the ketchup recipe in the THM Cookbook though.
I made this sauce and my granddaughter and I baked 2 chicken breast with it and it was delicious!! My granddaughter loved it!! Good job Briana .?
Hi there,
How long would this keep in the fridge, in a sealed jar? Could it be frozen?
Hi Angie! This sauce keeps well in the fridge in a regular canning jar (unsealed) for several weeks. If the jar is sealed, I imagine it would keep even longer. 🙂 I haven’t tried freezing it but I’m guessing that would work.
Hi briana, you say in the recipe to first cook the pork loin for 4 hours on high. Do you not add any liquid before cooking it..I’m worried it might dry out..please let me know..first time making pulled pork with pork loin!! Used your sauce with bbq ribs and it was fantastic! I had more remaining so I’m using the rest for pulled pork.
No, we don’t add any liquid when cooking the pork loin. It makes a lot of juice on its own!
Made this from the recipe provided in Necessary Food. We don’t do ketchup in this house (blech!) so that was replaced with tomato paste. All else was identical. Having never had pulled pork ever in my life, I had nothing to compare it to. But, my husband said it was terrific and would I please make it again.
But
The biggest deal was the cole slaw that you recommended. When my husband says, “It’s pretty good,” it is very high praise indeed. But, for the cole slaw recipe? Wow. Here’s what he said about that. “This is the best cole slaw I have ever had.” He’s in his early 60s and has eaten a lot of cole slaw over his life and yours is the best. Thank you! 🙂
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!
The recipe calls for molasses, which is made from sugar. So by definition this is not sugar free. Or is there a sugar free mollases I’m not aware of.
Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve heard different definitions of “sugar-free” over the years; it seems to vary. I’ve included a note about that in the recipe description now.
Oh my, there are so many ads on this page that I’m tempted not to return. I had to look through the whole page twice to actually find the link for the printable. I love your site and your recipes, but I feel like there are more ads now than there used to be. You know you don’t have to let the advertisers put that many ads on your pages, right? I counted 9 ads. In contrast, you only have 8 pictures of the food. Please take a $ loss and get rid of some of the ads.
Thanks for letting me know; I’ll look into it.
PS – viewing on desktop is a much more user-friendly viewing experience because there are no ads throughout the post – only in the sidebar. 🙂 I do most of my work off of a PC, so I sometimes miss how things appear to people on mobile. Thanks for bringing it up. 🙂
I used tomato sauce instead of ketchup because it is sugar free. Came out with too much of a tomatoey taste. Added a bit (1/4 tsp? Didn’t measure) liquid smoke and it balanced out the tomato taste. This is a winner! 🙂
Cool idea! Thanks!
I would prefer to use tomato sauce instead of ketchup simply because it less expensive. I buy my canned tomato sauce from Sam’s Club in a huge can and then repackage it and freeze the 4 oz cubes. Tomato sauce is not sugar free, the tomatoes it is made from have sugar in them naturally, unless you meant no sugar added. Would you clairfy this please?
Sorry, didn’t see this earlier. I meant that the tomato sauce has no sugar added to it. It seemed to me like a more affordable and more available option than the sugar free ketchup.
It’s cooking on the stove as we speak. However, it will be lucky if there’s enough left for the pork considering all the tasting it “requires”. Good thing it’s lava hot or I would have eaten it all already!
Haha…I’m glad you like it! That stuff is addicting!
Update… added a splash of liquid smoke because… why not? LOL Made my tenderloin in my (non-IP) pressure cooker – it was done the same time the BBQ sauce was. It was a FANTASTIC dinner! Thanks again!
How long did you cook yours in the IP?? That’s what I want to do! And did you start from
Frozen?
I cook my frozen 3 pound pork loin, with 1 cup beef broth and a splash of liquid smoke, in the instant pot for 75 minutes on high with natural pressure release. It usually comes out ready to shred.
This looks just like what I’ve been wanting! Thank you, Bri.
Btw, Heinz makes Reduced Sugar Ketchup, I’ve found it in a couple of local stores and also on Amazon. https://smile.amazon.com/Heinz-Tomato-Ketchup-Reduced-Sugar/dp/B00IOE034C/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1473863965&sr=8-1&keywords=Heinz+ketchup+reduced+sugar
Cool! Thanks for the tip. Looks like that one would be within the 1g added sugar per serving rule and therefore acceptable on plan. 🙂
Oh, I just went back and noticed you posted that you actually use regular ketchup. So have you tried this recipe as stated with NSA ketchup and THM sweetener or are you just adjusting the sweetness without actually having tried the actual stated recipe?
I used sweetener even when I used regular ketchup, but I did adjust the amount a little bit to compensate for the fact that I called for the NSA ketchup in the recipe. I have not tried this specific recipe with NSA ketchup, but I see no reason why it shouldn’t work out just fine. 😉 Someone actually commented and said she made it with the ketchup recipe in the THM cookbook and it turned out well.
Does anyone know where to get sugar free ketchup? I have only been able to find a 75% less sugar version and it was a tiny bottle. I have looked at several stores locally and didn’t realize it would be so hard to find a sugar free version. I have just continued to use regular ketchup for the few items I use it for. We don’t use it often anyhow. Since this recipes calls for (4) cups I would definitely want to use a sugar free version.
The No Sugar Ketchup I use is Heinz.
This sauce does indeed look perfect! Thanks for all your hard work!
Hi Briana! Just a question (to consider ONLY if you want more work to do!!) – are you going to autograph some of your cookbooks?!
I will probably have some book-signing events. 🙂
I can’t wait to try this! However, I have not been able to find no-sugar-added ketchup. Do you buy it or make your own? Thanks!
Frankly, I just use regular ol’ ketchup and take that into consideration with the amount of sweetener I call for in the recipe. I call for no-sugar-added ketchup to stay on the THM straight and narrow for my readers. 🙂 You’re welcome to use whatever you like (but you may need to adjust the sweetener amount). My mom usually does the grocery shopping, so I don’t even really know what’s available out there as far as NSA ketchup goes (although I know it exists – somewhere!). There’s a recipe in the THM Cookbook, I believe (or the old plan book, or both).
I did use the ketchup recipe from the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook and the BBQ sauce turned out wonderfully. Thank you for posting this.
Woohoo! Thanks for letting me know!
There are recipes on Pinterest for sugar free ketchup! Going to try to make it
Jet.com
What kind of ketchup do you use for this?
Frankly, I just use regular ol’ ketchup and take that into consideration with the amount of sweetener I call for in the recipe. I call for no-sugar-added ketchup to stay on the THM straight and narrow for my readers. 🙂 You’re welcome to use whatever you like (but you may need to adjust the sweetener amount).