Creating a healthier alternative to barbecue sauce isn’t easy. The extreme range of flavors, from piercing vinegar to salty to sweet to barely perceptible umami, isn’t easy to recreate. The first time I tried, I ended up fleeing to the dark corners of the pantry, adding gobs of ketchup and a can of soda. It was, admittedly, delicious.
But, this summer, I felt re-inspired. I've found that grilled chicken is one of the fastest, easiest ways of getting protein on my family's plate, but it needs a massively flavorful sauce to finish it during the final minutes of cooking. So I decided that this would be the year I figured out a better barbecue sauce.
The version I came up with recreates the full-on concentrated flavor of a good barbecue sauce but with a handful of ingredients that I can fully get behind. It starts with a base of garlic cloves toasted in olive oil, followed by tomato paste for maximum tomatoey umami without the need for ketchup. To that, I add maple syrup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and hot sauce, and it's ready to go.
Just as with other barbecue sauces, you can’t put this one on your meat (or fish or summer squash) too soon or it will scorch. Wait until the meat has rendered its fat and browned—or your vegetables have almost finished cooking—before starting to lacquer it on.
Turns out, healthy barbecue sauce is a lot like regular barbecue sauce: a bit sticky with sweetness, balanced by tart and tangy tomato flavor, with a vinegary peppery finish. And it takes all of ten minutes. The soda cans are staying where they are.
