And the best commercial bbq sauce is,,,,

[fracmeister]

I love this. Prof almost any homemade is better than store bought. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/...ce-taste-test/

[Donw]

When I read this article the other day it just reinforced my belief that all these "Top XX" articles are a waste of time, often written by people with no knowledge of the subject, and with few exceptions utter nonsense.
Spoiler Alert: number one sauce chosen by the panel was Walmart’s Great Value BBQ sauce whose main ingredient is high fructose corn syrup.

[SheilaAnn]

And I bet the "article" was sponsored by Walmart or has the Walmart ads on the sidebars. Pay to play, I bet.

I am crushing hard on meatheads KC sauce right now. Haven’t had black swan yet.

And my go to store bought for the longest time was Lea and Perrins (brown paper wrapper and all). They stopped producing years ago. I did find a copy cat recipe that works all right.

[Huskee]

To be fair, the 'contest' may have been conducted by judges with little to no real knowledge of the subject (or maybe not, who knows), but that's who we are cooking for. I don't ever have pros over for a ribs or brisket dinner...

[WillTravelForFood]

When we need to purchase a store BBQ sauce, the first thing we do is eliminate any item on the shelf with HFCS.

A few we've found that survive that test are Stubbs, Weber, and..... some Kraft?

[SmokingPat]

'Woody's Cook-in Sauce' has low sugar, as well: https://woodysbbqpantry.com/

[texastweeter]

Stubbs sweet heat is one of the only ones ill use.

[BBQPhil]

We do as well since my wife is allergic to anything corn. For locally available we like Trader Joe's and Bone Sucking Sauce. Black Swan, however is much better.

[STEbbq]

https://blackswancompany.com

[Potkettleblack]

The correct answer.

[Bkhuna]

According to the Wash. Compost....

I'll leave it at that.

[Bruceski44]

My family likes Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet & Spicy. It has HFCS first, but nobody here cares. Besides, good cookin' don't need a lot of sauce!

If I made it myself, I'd use most of the same ingredients, but would replace the HFCS with white or brown sugar. Would that really make that big a difference in it's healthfulness? Sugar in general has little to no nutritional value, so how is HFCS worse?

[Jerod Broussard]

Ahhhh, you're after the Kosher stuff

[glitchy]

I always have 3-4 bottle of various sauces to try, but always fall back to this and Max’s sauces.

[jfmorris]

Hard pass on the Great Value BBQ sauce, haha.

The only commercial BBQ sauce's I *like* that I can buy in stores around here tend to be ones from BBQ restaurants I like - Dreamland because my wife likes their sauce - and Williamson Brothers for me, since I loved their restaurant in Marietta GA when I was in college. When I have a large party and serve pulled pork, I usually offer a homemade vinegar style sauce, or a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's on the side (it's what many folk expect a BBQ sauce to be). If I give BBQ away as a meal to a family, I'll give them a small unopened bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's, as it is readily available.

Aside from the above, most summers I buy some Black Swan and Blue's Hog products (by the gallon) whenever free shipping is offered by the Kansas City BBQ Store.

[Bkhuna]

My Publix just did a massive reset of the BBQ Sauce aisle and many old time favorites are gone and in came a bunch of fru fru commercial brands. They did, however, add some Williamson Brothers. I'll pick up some tomorrow.

[Washblue]

Williamson Brothers are each excellent sauces…
I also use their seasoning salt and cracked black pepper…

[jfmorris]

I’m lucky that the neighborhood Walmart a mile down the road has the Williamson Brothers sauce. They just have the original - not the spicy variety. I’ve turned my kids in to it - funny thing is, they somehow don’t remember eating at the restaurant when we lived in Marietta and the oldest two were 2 and 4, haha…

[Histrix]

The problem with these sort of articles is that they run right smack into one's own confirmation bias.

[Attjack]

How To Enhance Store-Bought BBQ Sauce, According To Bobby Flay
Read More: https://www.mashed.com/862357/how-to..._campaign=clip

​​​​​

[jlazar]

Looks like the bottle he is holding is 365 by Whole Foods or Head Country. I normally only use Head Country or Blue's Hog.

[WillTravelForFood]

Bah. What does Bobby Flay know?

[Bkhuna]

Great article.

I've been doing this for years. The only sauce I make from scratch is Carolina Gold and Lexington Dip.

With one exception, I don't care much for tomato based sauces, but I'm crazy for Killer Hogs Vinegar sauce for for pork.

My wife likes to drown her ribs in sweet and spicy so I start with Stubb's Sweet Heat or Sweet Baby Rays Sweet n' Spicy and doll it up a bit. Never the same twice.

[HawkerXP]

We pick up a case of this when we go to Montana. Everyone likes it.

[HawkerXP]

http://bar3bbq.com/

[Jfrosty27]

Stubb’s original. Cheap, available everywhere, and oh so tasty.

[Steve R.]

I have to say I really do like Stubb's Smokey Mesquite on brisket and beef ribs.

[Panhead John]

Photograph of the Washington Post taste testers

[bbqLuv]

Panhead John are you in there? Which one are you?
Do you have a home recipe for beer-based BBQ Sauce?

[texastweeter]

You mean employees.

[RickyBobby]

🤣🤣🤣

[rlozinak]

We like sweet baby Rays.

[Draznnl]

If I ever get to the point where my choices are serve one of those sauces or none at all, I’ll change the menu.

[rickgregory]

Eh, those articles are always meant to drive traffic, that's all. And there are a lot of good commerical sauces, but most places carry only the mass market ones. A butcher near me carries hundreds, so I usually grab something different from there when I want. Latest buy? Head Country Chipotle.

If you go through a lot, though, make your own. It's not like most sauces use weird ingredients we don't all have.