Gates BBQ Sauce Recipe

Gates BBQ Sauce Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons celery seeds
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons ground red pepper
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 quarts ketchup (Hunt's probably, because of a Hunt's KC connection)
• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons of liquid smoke, hickory flavored
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine the sugar, salt, celery seeds, cumin, red pepper, garlic powder and chili powder in a small bowl. Mix the ketchup and remaining ingredients in a large bowl, then stir in the dry ingredients. The sauce can be served warm or at room temperature.

That's the recipe provided by Mr. Gates, but I do things a little different. To bring out the flavor of the spices, and to get all that sugar and salt completely dissolved I next pour the sauce into a large pan, and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. At that point, I lower the heat and continue simmering the homemade Gates bbq sauce for 5 minutes, at which point it's taken off the heat, covered, and cooled until it can be funneled into 5 or 6 cleaned, empty bbq sauce bottles.

I like the Gates Extra Hot bbq sauce too, and found that by adding an extra tablespoon of ground red pepper, plus 3 tablespoons of ground black pepper to the recipe, I get a sauce that is nice and spicy, while still having that great Gates taste.

For a Smaller Batch of Gates Bar-B-Q Sauce…

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cup salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons celery seeds
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground red pepper
• 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 16 ounces ketchup
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon of liquid smoke, hickory flavored
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

For the hot and spicy version, add an extra 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper, and just shy of 1 full tablespoon of ground black pepper. Follow the above directions for combining the ingredients.

Give this Gates bbq sauce recipe a try, and if it doesn't quite suit your tastes, make an adjustment here or there to create a sauce that pleases you. Make it a little sweeter, or less salty, smokier, or even hotter than fire. There's no law saying you have to follow recipes to the T. And anyway, playing around with recipes is half the fun of cooking!