Tag Archives: bbq

Homemade Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce

Sweet and spicy Kansas City style BBQ sauce made with tomato sauce, honey, molasses, vinegar and spices.

It’s so easy to make, simply combine all the ingredients and simmer on the stove for less than 30 minutes and what you end up with is a thick, tangy sauce with the perfect balance of sweet and spice; perfect on chicken, pork or beef.

What I like about making my own sauce is that I can control what goes into it whether it’s the amount of heat or sugar. You’d be surprised to learn that most BBQ sauces sold in the supermarket contain high fructose corn syrup. Did you know most brands of ketchup also contain HFCS too? Don’t worry, I’m working on a ketchup recipe soon!

Homemade Kansas Style BBQ Sauce
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 17 • Size: 2 tbsp • Old Points: 1 pts • Points+: 1 pt
Calories: 47.5 • Fat: 0.1 g • Carb: 12.4 g • Fiber: 0.6 g • Protein: 0.6 g • Sugar: 10.3 g
Sodium: 225.6 mg

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups tomato sauce
1/3 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup molasses (unsulfured)
2 tsp all natural hickory liquid smoke (Colgin)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp chili powder

Directions:

In a large saucepan combine all the ingredients and simmer over low heat for 25 minutes stirring occasionally. Let it cool and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For using on grilled meat, brush onto chicken, pork or beef the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Makes 2 cups + 2 tbsp

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is one of those dishes you can serve all year round. It’s perfect for pot lucks or large gatherings because you can feed a crowd without slaving in the kitchen. I came up with this leaner version using boneless pork tenderloin and homemade BBQ sauce which gave me complete control of what was added.

I’m not a fan of pulled pork that is swimming in sauce, so I use just enough to flavor the pork along with the reserved juices of the pork and serve the extra sauce on the side. I found these delicious whole wheat potato rolls, only 100 calories/2 points plus by Martin’s. and made a simple slaw with a little vinegar, salt and a touch of olive oil and it was a perfect meal.

I used the smallest loin I could find since I was making this for my family. Depending on the size of your pork loin, you will have to alter how much BBQ sauce to add. Keep in mind the pork shrinks after it is cooked, so you will want to weigh it cooked. I basically added 2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce for every 3 ounces of cooked pork along with some of the reserved juices from the pork. (If your kids don’t like BBQ sauce, set some of the pork on the side for them before adding it back to the crock pot)

Zuzu’s Notes: We made this recipe numerous times, and the one thing that we really found lacking was the Homemade BBQ Sauce. We adjusted the sauce every time we made it but the flavor just didn’t work. So we did some research and found out that Stubb’s Spicy BBQ Sauce (you should be able to find it at your favorite grocery store) had the exact same Weight Watchers points value (old points) as the homemade sauce…. but tasted 1000 times better. So you decide which works best for you! For us… Stubb’s makes a HUGE difference!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 8 • Size: 3 oz pork + 2 tbsp sauce • Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 5 pt*
Calories: 206 • Fat: 5.5 g • Carb: 12.3 g • Fiber: 0.6 g • Protein: 26.4 g • Sugar: 10.2 g
Sodium: 554.1 mg

Ingredients:

2.5 lb boneless pork loin roast (center cut, trimmed of all fat)
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Hickory liquid smoke
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup Homemade Kansas City BBQ Sauce (or Stubb’s Spicy BBQ Sauce)

Directions:

Place pork in the slow cooker and season with salt, vinegar, garlic powder and liquid smoke. Cover and set to high 6 hours. Remove pork and transfer onto a large dish; reserve all the liquid into a cup and set aside.
Shred the pork with two forks and put it back into the slow cooker along with about 3/4 cup of the reserved liquid and the BBQ sauce (for every 3 oz cooked pork, I used 2 tbsp BBQ sauce). Cook on high one more hour.

*Nutritional info is for pork only, bread is extra.