Rhubarb BBQ Sauce

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Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free/Nut-Free/Vegan Option

Skill level: Beginner

Yield: About 2 1/2 cups of sauce

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Equipment Needed:

• Cutting board

• Chef's knife

• Medium saucepan

• Wooden spoon

The Recipe:

Recipe adapted from the website House of Nash Eats

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 1 medium onion, chopped (I used yellow)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 cup rhubarb, chopped

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown)

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 cup ketchup

• 3 tablespoons molasses

• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire (check label if you are gluten-free)

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon hot sauce

• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add onion and cook until softened, stirring occasionally, 3-4 minutes.

3. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 more seconds.

4. Add in all remaining ingredients and stir until combined. When the sauce starts to bubble, lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently, until rhubarb is tender.

5. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

6. Transfer contents of pan to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If you feel your sauce is too thick, thin out with water, 1 tsp. at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency.

7. Taste and adjust salt/pepper/seasonings as desired.

8. Store in refrigerator.

To Serve: I used this on smoked chicken legs, pulled pork sandwiches and ribs. I think you could use it anywhere you like to use BBQ sauce!

Adjusting for your diet: Some Worcestershire sauces are not gluten-free, so if you are on a gluten-free diet be sure to check the label of your Worcestershire. I used Lea & Perrins brand, and it does say it's gluten-free on the back of the bottle.

Worcestershire sauce also contains anchovies, so it is not vegan. However, if you subbed a vegan Worcestershire sauce, you could make this BBQ sauce vegan.

Tips:

• If you have any interest in growing rhubarb in your yard, you should! It doesn't require much aside from a spot that will get lots of good sun, and it comes back every year.

• If this is your first time working with rhubarb, be sure to remove and discard the leaf at the end of the stalk and rinse/rub your stalks with water to remove any dirt. I usually chop off the root end and discard that as well.

• The original recipe I found called for a sweet onion; I thought yellow worked just fine. In a pinch I'm confident you could use red as well.

• Although the original recipe didn't call for dark brown sugar, I often prefer it over light brown in these types of recipes. I'm sure light brown would be great too though!

• The original recipe called for smoked paprika. I only had regular on hand so I just used that, but I bet smoked would be great.

• In the original recipe, the hot sauce was listed as optional. I think it gave the sauce fantastic heat so I would never leave it out, however if you prefer a more mild BBQ you might consider leaving it out. I always use Frank's Red Hot hot sauce.

• I got all of my ingredients ready in advance; chopped my onion, minced my garlic, cleaned and chopped my rhubarb, and then measured out all of the dry spices into a little pinch cup. I also measured out all of the liquids into a small bowl. This made everything go super smoothly when I got to the actual cook.

• I found it helpful to use a ladle to transfer my sauce into the blender; it helped reduce splatters.

• The second time I made this sauce, I doubled everything so I could freeze half of it in a gallon-sized ziploc bag; this worked great!

The Story:

I will tell you the first thing you thought when you looked at this recipe, because it's the first thing I thought too: holy crap, that is a LOT of ingredients. Will it be worth it?!

Oh hey good lookin'...

The answer is a RESOUNDING yes. Like, seriously. I'm always looking for new ways to use rhubarb, because we have a nice healthy patch in our yard that just gets bigger every year. My husband asked me to trim it back a bit this weekend because the patch is so big right now that the leaves are draped on the yard, killing the grass they're covering. So, I dutifully went out and pulled about 4 lbs. worth of stalks out to thin it out a bit, removed the leaves and chucked them down by the pond, and carried my bounty inside. After washing the stalks, I laid them out to dry and started researching what the heck I was going to do with all of this rhubarb.

Sooo pretty...

My go-to for rhubarb is usually muffins or some type of baked goods, so when I stumbled upon a collection of savory rhubarb recipes, my curiosity was piqued. We had talked about smoking chicken legs for dinner that night, so why not serve them with Rhubarb BBQ sauce?

Although the ingredient list was a bit daunting, I did actually have all of the ingredients and since it was a Saturday, a little more time to cook as well. I decided to go for it, and MAN, I'm glad I did.

A friend texted and asked what I was doing, I replied making a BBQ sauce with like 9000 ingredients

Once the cook was complete and I had blended the sauce, I grabbed a tasting spoon and sampled my work to see if it needed any adjustments. I'm DEAD SERIOUS when I say this is the best damn BBQ sauce I have ever tasted, and while I'm no pit master I have tried a BBQ sauce or two in my day. The perfect amount of sweet and heat. So luscious and surprising. My husband walked into the kitchen as I was lost in the ecstasy of my spoonful and I shoved the blender at him and told him he had to try it. While he's probably not *quite* as passionate about food as I am, he agreed that it surpassed expectations.

Since eating this BBQ sauce with our smoked chicken (my husband commented at dinner that he's never seen me go at chicken legs with quite the ferocity that I did that night-that sauce tho), I have been thinking of any and all ways I can use it. We're having pulled pork sandwiches tonight, it will go on those. We've decided to smoke ribs next weekend, so we can use it there. I already have plans to make more and freeze it in smaller batches to ensure that we will be eating this sauce all summer long.

Happy tasting!