I froze bbq sauce once and it was horrible when defrosted. While I don't think good barbecue needs any sauce, I would make it fresh each time or just enough to be refrigerated for a few weeks.

You could can it. I have canned homemade ketchup & marinara sauce.

Acidic and peppery things tend to wash out their flavors when frozen. However, it is not safe to can recipes not developed for canning. I freeze spaghetti sauce all the time and it tastes good but not quite as yummy after thawing. You might find the same thing with the barbecue sauce.

Her recipe. It's a cooking, not canning recipe. A little more complicated than the one I throw together and I don't make 1 1/2 quarts at a time, but I don't know what it would hurt to freeze what's leftover - it might slightly affect taste, it wouldn't be a safety thing. If you were terribly disappointed you'd just know not to do it again. But I freeze spaghetti sauce all the time and no one complains. There are I think 7 or 8 quart bags of lasagna sauce with meat in my freezer right now from a cooking frenzy my SIL had last month, and her small freezer was full. I'm babysitting sauce until she wants it ;0)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large onion)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)

1 cup (10 ounces) tomato paste

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup honey

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 cup (8 ounces) hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add the onions and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not browned. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add the tomato paste, vinegar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili powder, cumin and pepper flakes.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Use immediately or pour into a container and refrigerate for several weeks.

Thanks to all for your responses. I thought since she didn't mention freezing, there might be a safety issue. Given the circumstances and your thoughts on it Morz8, I'm going to take my chances and freeze the remainder. Otherwise it would just get thrown away as it won't be eaten soon.

I can't think of any reason not to freeze that BBQ sauce....never EVER had acedic and peppery things "wash out" when frozen.

Thanks Sleevendog and Lindac. Glad to hear your positive experiences and ideas for adding some freshness, if needed.

Yeah, with a cup of cider vinegar I don't think it's going to "wash out" with freezing. Also the dried spices and canned tomato products are already flavor-concentrated, so this is an excellent candidate for freezing. There would perhaps be safety issues for canning (I won't go there, not relevant) but not with freezing. It sounds delish, and I might try it myself since I have yet to find a home made barbecue sauce that I really like. I have an upright freezer in the garage and freeze a lot of stuff.