Apple cider BBQ sauce
Here’s a first for me – homemade BBQ sauce! Apple cider BBQ sauce, no less – because when has adding cider to anything ever been a bad thing? (answer: never. It has never been a bad thing.)
I’d never made my own BBQ sauce before – making homemade condiments sounds like quite a lot of work, and as far as I’m concerned, a lot of work < buying a bottle from a shop.
Buuut, it turns out it’s really, really easy to make your own BBQ sauce! Just add your ingredients to a pan, and simmer for a while until the sauce is nice and thick… and that’s it! That’s all there is to it. You don’t even need to give it much attention as it bubbles away, just let it do its thing and stop interfering.
As you can imagine, apple cider BBQ sauce calls for a really great bottle of cider. I used Wyld Wood, which is a cider made in Herefordshire. It’s nice and sweet (I don’t like ciders that make me gurn), but not so sweet that it feels artificial. Just a really good, solid cider.
Wyld Wood is appearing at Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival later this month, along with a few other Westons Ciders including Old Rosie and Henry Westons. The ‘Feastival’ sounds amazing – a winning combination of live music, good food and drink, and hopefully lots of sunshine! I’m devastated that I can’t go. If you’re heading down for the weekend, make sure you sample some of the three ciders (have an extra one for me!) and vote for your favourite.
Personally, after thoroughly sampling all three ciders (don’t say I’m not committed to my work…), I think I’m #TeamRosie – so I decided to keep that one for drinking, and used the Wyld Wood in my BBQ sauce instead. Any of the three would work well in this recipe though! Obviously a sweeter cider will give a sweeter sauce, so keep that in mind when choosing.
Once you’ve selected the perfect cider, just throw all your ingredients in a pan, and you’re good to go.
I served my BBQ sauce smeared on a veggie burger – you really can’t beat a good burger. A toasted roll, loads of fresh salad, and a good dollop of apple cider BBQ sauce. A new favourite combination!
The flavour of the cider really comes through in this sauce, giving a lovely sweetness that goes perfectly with the smokey paprika. It’s unbelievable how much flavour a few simple ingredients can give! If you’re not a burger fan, this apple cider BBQ sauce is perfect for dipping chips in as well. Just in case you ever needed an excuse to eat some chips…
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Apple cider BBQ sauce
Ingredients
- 500 ml apple cider (~ 2 cups)
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 3 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 50 g brown sugar (~ 1/4 cup)
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a small saucepan, and mix well. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for around 40 minutes, or until the mixture has reached your desired consistency. Leave to cool, and store in the fridge.
Note: nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Info above is for the full batch.
If you enjoy making your own condiments, here’s another one you can’t miss – homemade burger sauce!
I’m very keen on ciders with good provenance. Did you know that many ciders have only 40% apple juice and it’s delivered to the cider makers in tankers of concentrate? Not the lovely farm-made natural product we are led to believe. Love the idea of the Wyld Wood organic cider and the cloudy one – and really like what you did with it :) If it’s good enough for Jamie O…
I’ve never tried making my own BBQ sauce. Looks so good and so easy to make! Definitely need to give it a go! :)
I am looking at this before breakfast and am now craving a burger with apple sauce for breakfast. Luckily the weather is sooooooo hot that I might be able to make it happen for lunch.
It’s been so nice the last few days hasn’t it! Loving it – definitely calls for a BBQ! :)
Oh my goodness this BBQ sauce looks awesome! I am ready to make some of it this weekend!
Hope you enjoy it Alicia! :)
I’m already a fan of Henry Westons and Old Rosie, I didn’t realise Wyld Wood was from the same company. I bought a bottle of it the other week and it was just about right for me. Looks like I need to go and get more and have a go at this super easy sauce :)
I take it you mean proper cider, not apple juice? That actually looks very good – commercial barbecue sauces tend to taste too smoky for my taste, but a little smoked paprika wouldn’t have that horrid artificial smoke taste…. must try that!
Yep, the bubbly kind of cider that’s around 6% alcohol :) (though I’m sure normal apple juice would work too!) And I agree about shop-bought BBQ sauce often being too smokey – it can be so overpowering!
Homemade bbq sauce is the best! So much flavor for so little effort. The apple cider in this one is definitely intriguing!
I just told my hubs last weekend that I want to start making homemade bbq sauces…yours is fantastic!!! And I just love dressing up a solid veggie burger with a terrific bbq sauce. Sold!
Is your cider a hard cider like a beer? We don’t seem to have cider where I live except for the occasional pretty much just apple juice stuff in big bottles at Halloween time or hard cider in the beer section of the store. This sounds good but I think the right cider would be important here.
Yes it’s about 6% alcohol. That’s a shame, cider is everywhere here – just as easy to get hold of as beer! I’m sure the recipe would work with apple juice too if you can’t get hold of a nice cider.
Adding apple cider to BBQ sauce sounds fantastic! I’ll have to keep this in mind in the fall when apple cider starts appearing where I live…hopefully I can snag some before my boyfriend drinks it all!
Haha that’s the main problem – make sure you buy an extra few bottles to drink ;)