A great barbecue is not complete without a glorious BBQ sauce. So today, we want to share with you our sweet and tangy apricot BBQ sauce. It's an exciting summery glaze, sure to bring flavour to any food!
You'll need a few simple ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your pantry.
Ripe and juicy fresh apricots are a must for this recipe for colour and sweetness. But if they're out of season, you can also use the dried ones. You'll find all our tips below on how to swap them.
While there isn't a standard apricot barbecue sauce recipe, we made ours inspired by the American Traeger Sauce.
We have adjusted the ingredients to give it a balanced flavour, but you can also tweak the quantities to get the finish you like: sweeter, tangier, or smokier. We'll tell you how to do it below.
What makes this BBQ sauce really stands out is the unique flavour of apricots, sweet yet a little tangy.
And if you combine it with the sourness of vinegar, the spiciness of mustard, and the warmth of smoked paprika, you'll get yourself quite a mouthwatering glaze!
This apricot BBQ sauce goes well with pretty much anything. And given that it's also dairy-free and vegan, you can use it in all your favourite plant-based recipes.
It's perfect for marinating and glazing vegetables, bean burgers, pulled jackfruit, and tempeh wings or preparing baked beans, quesadillas, and tacos.
Once you try it, you'll probably start using it everywhere as we did!
But don't worry, you'll have enough to keep you going for a while as our recipe yields 380g (140z), the size of a medium-sized sauce bottle.
And a 2-tablespoon serving comes with as little as 20 calories!
Ingredients
| Very Ripe Apricots (pitted) | 320 g |
| Smoked Paprika | 1/2 tsp |
| Dijon Mustard | 1 tsp |
| Apple Cider Vinegar | 2 tsp |
| Gluten-Free Soy Sauce | 2 tbsp |
| Tomato Passata | 4 tbsp |
| Starch (potato, corn, or arrowroot) | 1/2 tbsp |
| Maple Syrup | 3 tsp |
| Water | 120 mL |
Step 1
Before you start, make sure you're using very ripe apricots as they'll blend better and taste sweeter.
If fresh apricots are out of season, read our tips below on how you can use dried apricots instead.
Now, add pitted apricots, paprika, mustard, vinegar, soy sauce, tomato passata, starch, maple syrup, and water to a blender.
Blitz all until smooth.
Step 2
Next, transfer the apricot sauce to a pot and bring it to a boil.
Simmer it over low heat for 15 minutes while always stirring; the sauce will sputter and splatter while it boils, so be careful and keep stirring it.
At the end of cooking time, the sauce should be thicker and glossier.
Step 3
Finally, transfer the sauce into a jar and let it cool down completely before using it.
As it cools down it will thicken slightly, but it will still be quite pourable.
Once cool, taste the apricot BBQ sauce and, if needed, adjust it to your personal taste: add a drizzle of maple syrup if you like it sweeter, a splash of vinegar if your like it sourer, or a pinch of paprika for a smokier finish.
Tips
You can replace tomato passata with half the amount of tomato paste.
If fresh apricots are out of season, you can use dried ones instead. You'll need 8-10 dried apricots to replace the fresh ones we used in the default ingredients. Soak them in warm water for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until they're plumper. Then, drain them and blitz them with the other ingredients and follow our recipe as above. If the sauce gets too dry while it cooks, add a splash of water.
Like this Recipe?
You can also use apricots to make Mexican chamoy sauce with our sugar-free recipe!
For more spicy sauces ideas, check out this salsa recipe with cherries, vegan buffalo sauce, 'kebab shop' chilli sauce, or Indian plum chutney!