3 Healthy Homemade BBQ, Grilling & Dipping Sauce Recipes

The majority of store bought sauces can contain up to 30% sugar, as well as many other dubious ingredients that are linked to a host of health issues. The best way to get around this is, and still enjoy sauces on your meat you plan to BBQ or that you use to dip your chips in, is to simply make your own.

BBQ basting and dipping sauces from scratch used to be seen as the ‘traditional’ way of doing things. But our reliance on these types of store bought items is part of the reason obesity is a huge problem in the UK. Which is why many people are rethinking where their pre-bought sauces come from, questioning the ingredients that are in them. Leading to a total revival of these traditional methods.

Healthy Homemade Sauces

Food manufacturers for the most part, have profits over health in mind when creating product lines. Especially when it comes to sauces. They know that to create repeat customers, they have to make the food tasty and addictive. Nothing says yummy more to our brains more than the triple threat ingredients we all know and love: sugar, salt and fat (these are also extremely addictive in the right amounts). Get a recipe just right with even just one of these ingredients and food manufacturers will keep you coming back for life.

This is why it is super important we wake up to these hard to digest facts and start making our own food like the good old days so we can take back our health and live an existence where we thrive, and not just survive. On that note, here are today’s healthy homemade sauce recipes.

Sauce Recipe 1: Homemade Tangy & Smoky BBQ Sauce (Refined Sugar Free, Dairy & Gluten Free)

Yield: 1 Cup of Sauce 

Ingredients

• 1 cup tomato passata (from a glass jar not a tin lined with BPA)
• 1/2 cup balsamic reduction
• 1/2 teaspoon Hickory smoked sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika powder
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients into a bowl, mixing with a hand whisk until everything is combined and smooth.
2. Pour into a glass jar and store in the fridge until ready to enjoy. (Will last up to 2 weeks if stored in an airtight jar).

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER CUP

Carbohydrate -  58.78 g

Protein - 2.95 g

Total lipid (fat) - 0.69 g

Iron, Fe - 2.18 mg

Calcium, Ca - 105 mg

Sauce Recipe 2: 4 Ingredient Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe (Refined Sugar, Dairy & Gluten Free)

Yield: 1 cup of sauce

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• 1 cup of tomato passata (from a glass jar not a tin lined with BPA)
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup (optional)

Instructions

1. Add the olive oil and crushed garlic to a small pan over a low heat.
2. Sauté for 3 minutes until the garlic smell is released.
3. Pour in the tomatoes and leave to combine for 15 minutes
4. Once the sauce has thickened up, mix well and take off the heat and then placing in a glass storage jar.
5. Allow to cool and store in the fridge until ready to use. (Will last for up to 2 weeks if stored in an airtight jar.)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER CUP

Carbohydrate -  11.21 g

Protein - 1.5g

Total lipid (fat) - 40.82 g

Iron, Fe - mg - 0.69 mg

Calcium, Ca - 27mg

Sauce Recipe 3: Vegan Homemade Mayonnaise (Egg, Dairy, Gluten & Sugar Free)

Yield: 1 cup of sauce

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup unrefined coconut butter (choose refined if you don’t want a strong coconut taste to your mayonnaise)
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons avocado oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon Himalayan salt

Instructions

1. Add all the ingredients as they are, straight into a food processor with the chopping blade option. Mix on high until all the ingredients are well combined and smooth like regular mayonnaise.
2. Store this in the fridge. Allow to melt a little before serving by leaving outside of the fridge for 15 minutes before using. (Will last for up to 2 weeks if stored in an airtight jar.)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER CUP

Carbohydrate -  13.31 g

Protein - 6.65 g

Total lipid (fat) - 141.8 g

Iron, Fe - 3.88 mg

Calcium, Ca - 27mg

How To Enjoy Your Homemade Sauces

The BBQ sauce and tomato sauce recipe can make great basting options when cooking meat on the BBQ. You might find it better to add the basting sauces in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking however, to ensure the sauces don’t cause the meat to burn on the outside leaving the inside still not cooked. Also, be sure to divide the sauce up for the raw meat that will be basted, keeping some aside for other foods you want to enjoy it with so you don’t contaminate the entire jar of sauce with raw meat juices.

All of the sauces can also be enjoyed when grilling is the next best option if mother nature isn’t showing her sunny side, and as a delicious option for dipping chips in or anything else that appeals to you. Ensure when choosing your ingredients for these sauces that you go for ingredients that are organic and free of salt, refined sugar and other unnecessary ingredients. By doing so you will really be levelling up your health status. 

So, whether you want to use these 3 simple homemade sauces to dip, baste or even add to other recipes you are making, you can feel great when you enjoy them knowing they are made with super simple, clean ingredients that are nourishing your insides. Instead of going for store bought options that might seem convenient at the time, but fast forward into the future where some have the possibility to cause a lot of health issues such as weight gain and type 2 diabetes.