The secret is the sauce in the sauce.

I love bourbon, it's good stuff. I think I have my father to blame for the constant presence of bourbon in our home. Also, the lack of bourbon as he tends to drink my bourbon when my parents are over for dinner.

Tonight, the weather is cooler, so we are going to sit in the backyard and grill some chicken. Which necessitates a sauce to baste the chicken with. I felt like a good barbecue sauce and pulled one out I had bookmarked earlier in the summer and just hadn't pulled out to use yet.



This recipe is slightly different from the one I made with the pulled pork a few weeks ago, I like the use of fresh versus dried onion and you can never go wrong with butter.

I made some adjustments, as always, to increase the heat a bit and decrease the tomato-yness of the sauce. If I could figure out where my apple cider vinegar went, I would have added a bit of that as well.

Bourbon Barbecue Sauce (take 2)


Adapted from Epicurious


1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup minced onion
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespooons yellow mustard
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup bourbon


Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until soft, about 6 minutes. Add next 5 ingredients, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and chili powder. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Stir in bourbon; cook until heated through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt. For a smoother sauce, blend in blender or with an immersion blender to desired consistency.