Homemade vegan barbecue sauce

London’s weather in May this year was surprisingly warm and we’ve had mostly sunshine, it was almost too good to be real for England. Everyone seems to want to spend all their time in the park, in the garden, in the pub with a pint of beer or cider. It is barbecue time, I can smell the burning charcoal every weekend in the neighbourhood. In preparation for my very first barbecue in 2018, I made my own pickle cucumber and homemade barbecue sauce last week.

Since there are so many ready-made barbecue sauces available in the supermarket and the web is loaded with hundreds of different homemade barbecue sauce recipes, why should I bother creating my own barbecue sauce recipe?

Firstly, although I am not a complete health freak as I still eat processed and junk food occasionally, I am very aware of just how much refined sugar, preservatives and chemicals are found in pre-made foods and am trying to cut back on these as much as possible. Most barbecue sauce recipes I have found online use ketchup which contains tons of refined sugar!

Secondly, one of the main ingredients in most barbecue sauce recipes is Worcestershire sauce, which may contain anchovies or gelatin.

So there really aren’t many healthy options out there. Luckily it is not difficult to make your own homemade vegan, gluten-free and zero refined sugar barbecue sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over high heat, add minced garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes until the garlic turns slightly golden in colour.

Reduce to low heat, pour in the tomato passata and then add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Cook for 5 minutes stirring frequently to really blend the flavours together.

Meanwhile, mix 2 tsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp water in a small bowl.

Slowly pour over and mix gently into the sauce. Stir for a couple minutes, you should get a thick and rich barbecue sauce.

The sauce is great to make and eat on the same day. However, if you are not in a rush, it tastes even better on the next day.

An extra day in the refrigerator allows the flavours time blend together more thoroughly, creating a smoother and more flavorful sauce. You can also store the sauce in a refrigerator for up to 3-4 weeks.

This barbecue sauce is smokey, garlicky, sweet and sour. It goes gorgeously with vegan burgers/sausages, pulled jackfruit and tofu steak or vegetables. You can also add chilli powder or dried chill flake to give the barbecue sauce an extra little fiery kick.

If you have followed and made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and take a picture, tagging it with #k33_kitchen and share it on Instagram! I’d be very excited to see what you come up with. Cheers, hope you enjoy my recipes!