I like Sonny's sweet BBQ sauce

Agreed with Sherry. BBQ sauce is meant to be a little sweet. I like many different kinds, but if I'm out I can easily whip up my own. I took a couple of different bottles on a camping trip and we had several bbq'd meats for dinner one night. The favorite, by a MILE, was Stubb's Sticky Sweet. I mean, people were writing the name down. So now I make sure I always have some of that on hand.

Sweet Baby Ray's for the win. Yes, I can make my own but that wasn't your question.

My local grocery store has a BBQ unit attached that is open all summer and their house BBQ sauce is great!! I go for the spicier one as I like the heat :-)

My brother makes a mean BBQ sauce as well but not nearly often enough!!

The idea of BBQ sauce being sweet is kind of the whole point! You have to hunt very hard to find any recipes that do not include sugar, brown sugar, honey or molasses. Even Carolina vinegar BBQ sauce is sweetened!!

If you don't like sweet, skip the sauce and just let any dry rubs flavor the meat. But that's a huge waste in my book!!

I have had a mustard style that isn't as sweet. I don't care for the Carolina- had a relative who lived there have a party catered by "the best" and it just didn't do it for me. I was raised on the dry rub with sweet sauce, so maybe just my upbringing. I didn't care so much for the mustard style either....and my husband calls me the queen of mustard. I make the best mustard dressing this side of anywhere:

Another vote for Sweet Baby Ray's. I also like TJ's Bold and Smoky KC Style BBQ Sauce and Jim Beam.

When it comes to homemade, DH makes some tasty versions from Steven Raichlen. He has some great books. I especially like his "Barbeque Sauces, Rubs and Marinades." Great resource.

It is what you grew up with. Now that said, I grew up south Alabama and Mississipi. Sweet catsup sauce, cooked into the meat, and no vinegar slaw. Long story, but wedding day, 1970, no cell phones of course. Meeting at park. They had the food and they had car trouble. Hours later, we are starving. We got a barbeque sandwich, thin vinegar sauce, with vinegar slaw, and it was the best thing I had ever had, lol.

Another Sweet Baby Ray vote.

For chipped ham barbecues I make my own.

Sweet Baby Ray's.

(I'd like to meet Sweet Baby Ray.)

Bullseye, but I don't find that much difference in mainstream products one to another.

I usually find BBQ sauce too thick and too sweet. Both for what I use at the end of cooking for a coating, and what I serve as extra on the table, I dilute it with red wine vinegar.

I don't know that BBQ is supposed to be sweet, and the stuff I make has ketchup, brown sugar , vinegar and yellow mustard, etc and spices. But any bottled is too sweet for me.

Stubbs original if i have to buy. Otherwise i make my own from my mother’s recipe. Sweet Baby Ray‘s is too sweet for me. I used to love the Jack Daniels sauce but can no longer find it

I don't care for barbecue sauce but my sons like Dinosaur barbecue sauce. I think it is from a restaurant called Dinosaur barbecue in Rochester NY. We buy it at Wegmans

Sweet Baby Ray's or Heinz. "IF" I was in Texas...that would change my answer...

my mother’s recipe

If you have time I'd love to have her recipe please.

Wasn’t raised with BBQ sauce, and don’t use it now.

My home recipe is one my mom used: catsup, brown sugar, worchestershire sause and French salad dressing. You can regulate the sugar content then. Not sure what the ingredients of French dressing are, though, as it is sweet also. I'm sure catsup has sugar in some form too.

I have a very strong aversion to any smoked foods, so most commercial BBQ sauces don't work for me, since most of them have liquid smoke. I also avoid HFCS. There is a company in Maine called Stonewall Kitchens, and their products are becoming more available in grocery stores in my area. I buy their Bourbon Molasses Barbeque Sauce. I used to order it from their website.

https://www.stonewallkitchen.com/bourbon-molasses-barbecue-sauce-131145.html

There are two different cooking techniques here. There is barbeque which is cooked, usually on a grill with sauce, and there is grilled meat of any kind., cooked on a grill, without any sauce. I do both of all kinds of meat.

Barbecue sauce is great as a meatloaf topping. I also dip fries in it.

My favorite is made by Weber, the grill people. Sweet, but with a little kick.

Kinder's - Hot BBQ

DH loved Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce. I don’t like the sour mash undertone. @OutsidePlaying, there was a spell when I could not find Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce either, but it finally showed up on the shelves.

I also have G. Hughes Sugar-Free BBQ sauce. DD uses it on everything…and I do mean everything. She uses it in place of ketchup and as a substitute for salad dressing. bleech!

I don't get the love for a really sweet bbq sauce. I tried the Sweet Baby Rays since it's so popular and as I suspected by the name of it, it's super sweet and down right gross...IMHO! I'm from Texas and we didn't ever have a sweet sauce on our bbq although the sauce recipe does have some sugar in it, it's only to cut the sour of the mustard or vinegar that you'd use, very little sugar. I usually just use Kraft original or make my own sauce that's not sugary sweet. Luckily, my husband shares my disgust for sugary sweet BBQ sauce.

I dont agree with the statement that bbq sauce must be sweet. I grew up in the south and that statement is contrary to anything my family used years ago or uses now. Most of my family starts with a vinegar-based basting sauce which included butter and worchestershire cause among a couple of other basic ingredients, not a rub, and follows up with the sauce near the end of cooking. Sweet sauce is a preference by some but not our crew.

I don‘t care for a sweet sauce. This local one is my favorite commercial sauce. https://saltlickbbq.com/sauces-and-rubs/

Cookies BBQ ... it's an Iowa thing, then SBRs and I also make my own ...

Taste of Inspirations Pale Ale Jalapeno

Head Country hands down! I am a Texan and have had a million bbq sauces. This one is not too sweet like Baby Ray's but just perfect!

TJ's Sriracha BBQ sauce, YUM. love the little 'kick'

Love that Sweet Baby Ray's.

Bulls Eye. We used to tell our kids it was made from bulls’ eyes! Ewww!

Not super sweet and the level of thickness is just right. However, there is a note of celery seed that takes over the spicy sauce. There also wasn't much heat, which is ok with me.

I like the varieties of Heinz with NO HFS. Different flavors with different meat.

@MDLN, agree Jack Daniel’s is another good one.

I make my own. No ketchup. The base is Paprika, Worcestershire sauce, some mustard, molasses for the flavor and some dark brown sugar for the sweet but not too much. If I have candied some pineapple I will use the syrup from that instead. Salt, Pepper. I might toss in some herbs like thyme and oregano. Peach preserves can be good for the sweet or any other good jams you have on hand. I make up a bunch and put it in the fridge. It keeps.

We adore the WeLoveJam artisanal jams, and then discovered they make a very fine BBQ sauce. Spicy, slightly sweet, tangy, with molasses in it. Food & Wine liked it, too. Small, family-run company - in fact, Eric is trying to sell it and retire, but only to someone who will keep it as a farm - which is an almost-impossible sell.

His farm is in the Silicon Valley...THE Silicon Valley in the San Jose, CA area. The land is worth millions to developers. At one time it was all orchards...his is one of the very few farms left in that area, needless to say.

MDLN where did you find the Jack Daniels? I haven't seen it around for years. Miss it. I use Sweet Baby Rays and Wegman's Memphis style, half and half. Still not as good as Jack Daniels Old No. 7.

I often mix Gates original and Zarda BBQ sauces together. Both are local Kansas City BBQ restaurant old hats and have been around for many decades. Gates is pretty spicy and Zarda is on the sweeter side and they mesh well.

I do like Sweet Baby Rays on grilled chicken and also like their buffalo wing sauce on wings.

I love barbecue, but I hate sweet. Since moving up here...lots of barbecue joints but I don't like the sauce any of them serve. Not that it is sweet...just don't like it and one of them has undertones of too "ketchup-py".

Every time I go back to the coast, I go to Joe's Barbecue in Alvin. Sometimes they have his bottled sauce for sale and I buy it.

One time they had a cookbook for sale that had recipes from various restaurants, including the recipe for pork ribs from Joe's, and with it a recipe for his barbecue sauce. I bought the book, but haven't tried the recipe for the sauce yet. If it turns out to be the same as what is served in his restaurant, it will be an answered prayer.

Johnny Harris from Savannah, ga for chicken. I use a sweeter bbq sauce for ribs and Sauers for pulled pork. Sauers is the closest to the bbq sauce we grew up on here in Va

I grew up with Johnny Harris!

I prefer Bullseye Bold Original but sometime use Sweet Baby Rays Hickory and Brown Sugar

I usually buy Kraft Original or Bullseye. I do like Sweet Baby Rays with a jar of Grape Jelly and a box of frozen meatballs in the slow cooker. Might have to make those again.

Lucille, did you find one you can use?

I'm still looking around for something that really tastes good but doesn't have too much sugar or corn syrup. Would love a home made recipe if anyone has one that fits.

Lucille, my aunt and uncle owned a barbecue restaurant in Texas when I was growing up, I worked for them as a teen. This is similar to their sauce. Simple, but good. :)

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/texas-style-bbq-sauce

It does look yummy and what a great job! But with both ketchup and brown sugar, probably too much sugar. It might be good diluted with some tomato sauce, enough to reduce the % of sugar but not so much as to take away the bbq sauce flavor. Thank you for posting it.

Argh, I forgot about you needing to watch your sugar, I’m sorry!

(I have experience with that myself and should’ve realized!) ❤️❤️