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Low Carb No Sugar BBQ Sauces
 Moderated by: Vargr, shadowcat-x, boojum
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 Posted: Fri May 2nd, 2014 03:45 pm
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Vargr
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Craving a thick, sweet, tomato-y BBQ sauce but on a restricted sugar or low-carb diet?  All is not lost!  Here are a couple variations on a "KC" type of thick, sweet, spicy, tomato-y BBQ sauce that substitutes imitation sweetner for the sugars normally found in those sauces.

Older artificial sweetners from years ago would break down under heat and become totally unsweet and nasty tasting.  Most of the crop of these sweetners available today do not have this problem. Brands like Splenda note right on the package that you can cook and bake with them, as you would with normal sugar.  This is especially important when you use them in a sauce that will likely go on a grill or under a broiler when you're "finishing" the meat you've spread it on.

The recipes below are what this wuff would call "Basic" BBQ bases.  Yup, they're not bad just "as is", but creative cooks can take these in many different directions without altering any of the no-sugar/lo-carb qualities in the slightest.  Vargr will post a few of those ideas following the original recipes.

Basic No-Sugar/Low-Carb BBQ Sauce:

Ingredients:
3/8 cup vinegar
1 1/2 cup tomato sauce. (1 15 oz can) Don't use o sauce that has spices or flavorings
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon yellow hot dog mustard
3/4 tablespoon Franks Hot Sauce (the chicken wing sauce)
3/4 tablespoon salt (optional)
1 dash cayenne pepper
3 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
6 teaspoons Splenda

Directions:
Add vinegar and all other ingredients except mustard to a sauce pan and cook over medium low heat until all the flavors combine.

Put mustard in a cup and slowly stir in a couple tablespoons of sauce until well blended to "temper" the mustard and keep it from breaking in the heat.. Then add mustard mixture back to sauce in pan.

Increase heat to medium, and bring to a boil

Lower heat and let sauce simmer for a few minutes.

Refrigerate a couple hours before using. The flavor improves after it rests a bit.


Version #2 of Basic No-Sugar/Low-Carb BBQ Sauce:

Ingredients:
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 T dijon mustard
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 packets stevia
1 t crushed garlic
1 T worstershire
1 T dried onion flakes
1 t liquid smoke
A good shake of Penzeys BBQ 3000

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and cook together on medium heat until flavors are fully combined.

It is better after it sits for a while, so recommend refrigerating it for a couple hours, or a day.

Variations:
"Heat it up" - Cayanne, Chipottle, and Black peppers hit your taste buds and heat receptors at different times and in different ways. Blend these three peppers and add to the basic sauce to "bring the heat" across your pallet.  Note, the Cayanne is the "hottest", Chipottle next, and black pepper has the lowest heat, so keep this in mind when making your blends.

Cardimon, allspice, and nutmeg can bring sweeter aromas but add no sugars.

You can crank up the onions and garlics if you like those flavors

Experiment with different vinegars: White vinegar has no extra flavors but brings sharp tanginess, Cider vinegar will add apple and fruit tones, Wine vinegar will bring different fruits and more complexity, and other exotic vinegars like champagne have their own traits. Just be cautious of Balsamic - while it has wonderful, deep flavors, it often has a lot of additional sugar.

Imitation liquid flavors, like Maple, Orange, Cherry, etc., can swing the flavor profile in wonderful directions, but will add no additional sugar or carbs (or very little).

Whiskey (Jack Daniel's, Kentucky Burbon, etc) can take your sauce in whole new directions! But be careful! Not all the alcohol will "burn off" in the brewing, and you can pick up carbs here in addition to the wonderful flavors and aromas.



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 Posted: Mon May 5th, 2014 12:55 pm
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Vargr
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Yet another from the "Atkins Diet" folks. This one is a lot closer to the traditional "KC style". It has a little more carbs because of the molasses, but FAR less than the commercial brands. And the addition of the molasses brings this much closer to the traditional thick, sweet, spicy KQ version.

Net results: 10 Cal, 0 G Fat. 2 G carb per 1 Tbs serving.

Ingredients:
* 1 cup Low Carb Ketchup (either Heinz or Linda's "Better Than Heinz" Recipe - http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/evenbett...)
* 1 cup tomato sauce
* 1/2 cup Splenda or liquid equivalent (preferred)
* 1/2 cup vinegar
* 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
* 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
* 1 tablespoons butter
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* Dash of chili powder
* Dash ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a heavy sauce pan. Heat over medium-high heat until simmering boil. Cook for about 20 minutes. Refrigerate.

Will keep about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Tips:
Many of the variations on the original posts will work for this. Heat it up with a combination of pepper and hot sauce, or add the whiskey of your choice. Add complexity by experimenting with "bbq spices" like paprika, nutmeg, cardimon, or different types of cinnamon, or play around with the type of vinegar used.

Last edited on Mon May 5th, 2014 12:58 pm by Vargr



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 Posted: Mon May 5th, 2014 01:45 pm
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Vargr
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Mana: 
Yet another from the low-carb searches.

This one brings its unique flavors from bacon and diet cola. Make sure you use a "splenda" sweetened diet soda, as the aspartame version don't hold up to heat at all.

Though the recipe calls for generic diet cola, you can get very good results with a wide variety of soda flavors: Grape, Dr. Pepper (or generic "doctor" brands), Cherry cola, rootbeer, etc., will all create wonderful sauces, though rather different in flavor. Don't expect this to taste like you're drinking a Coke though - the soda flavor is "background" and can bring surprising complexities and "hidden" flavors.

This recipe has approx 3.5G of carbs per 1/4 Cup serving. There are 4 Tablespoons per 1/4 Cup, so it is less than 1G carbs per 1 TBS service (to compare to the prior recipe).

Ingredients:
•2 strips of thick bacon, chopped fine (or see note)
•1 small onion, minced
•1 clove garlic, minced or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
•1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste
•1 can (12 oz) diet (sugar-free) cola - Splenda-sweetened preferred
•1/4 cup low carb (sugar-free) catsup, (or see note)
•3 T mustard
•1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
•1 pinch ground cloves
•Hot sauce to taste

Directions:
Note: If you can't find low carb ketchup, like Hienz-1 Carb, there is a link to a "make your own better than store-bought" low carb recipe in the posting before this one.

1) Fry the bacon in a saucepan - a 2 qt pan works well.

2) Add the onion and cook over medium until soft - 3-5 minutes. Add garlic at this point if you're using fresh and stir it for half a minute or so.

3) Add the rest of the ingredients, plus about half a cup of water. Stir well.

4) Simmer for 20-30 minutes. It will cook down a bit and flavors will combine.

5) Adjust the seasonings so you have the balance you want -you can add vinegar, artificial sweetener (liquid preferred), or hot sauce.

The recipe makes approximately 10 servings of 1/4 cup each. Each serving has about 3.5 grams of carbohydrate plus 1 gram of fiber.

Last edited on Mon May 5th, 2014 01:45 pm by Vargr



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 Posted: Tue May 6th, 2014 01:36 pm
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boojum
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Ok, I'm particularly interested in the middle one, the KC knock off.. :) That one looks very yummy!

Boojum

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 Posted: Tue May 6th, 2014 08:18 pm
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Vargr
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boojum wrote:
Ok, I'm particularly interested in the middle one, the KC knock off.. :) That one looks very yummy!
Boojum


I definitely agree!

And converting the various serving sizes to a common element (Tablespoons) indicates these range from a little under a gram of carbs to 2 grams per serving - which all seem VERY reasonable!

From my experience here, a chicken drumstick needs about 1/2 tablespoon, and a thigh needs about 1 tablespoon, a full breast about 2 (3 for a very large bone-in one). A baby-back pork rib or a Carolina rib need from half a tablespoon to a full tablespoon (for a large rib) each. And one of those large country style ribs needs between 2 & 3 tablespoons of sauce to cover it nicely.

So as long as you don't pour the sauce over it when it comes off the grill, you're still doing very well keeping it all "low carb".

I'm also thinking that last one, with liquid smoke substituted for the bacon, would likely make a very nice brine/marinade for the ribs. You'd get far less of it on the rib than "saucing it" to put on the grill, especially if you rinsed or patted the ribs dry before pressure-cooking them. And if you put about 2/3 Cup or so of that into the water in the bottom of the pressure cooker, you'd infuse the BBQ flavors without actually picking up the carbs and sugars into the meat.

Last edited on Tue May 6th, 2014 08:23 pm by Vargr



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 Posted: Mon May 12th, 2014 04:02 pm
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boojum
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OK, and here is a base rub for the meat. I'm probably going to modify it in a few ways, however.

Ingredients Edit and Save
Original recipe makes 1 /2 cup Change Servings

3 tablespoons Sweet n Low brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons paprika

3/4 tablespoons salt

1 1/2 tablespoons ground black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

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