Sweet Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce
A jar of ketchup, sugar, and smoke simmered down over a fire until it coats a spoon.
- calories
- 90
- weight
- 2.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 36
- protein
- 0 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ketchup | 400 ml | one squeeze bottle is close enough |
|---|---|---|
| Brown sugar | 3-4 tbsp | |
| Honey | 2 tbsp | a squeeze bottle beats a jar in the cold |
| Apple cider vinegar | 3 tbsp | |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 tbsp | |
| Chipotle powder | 1 tsp | |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Ground mustard seed | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp |
Method
- Mix the five dry spices at home so camp is two bottles and one bag.
- Put everything in a small pot or the smallest dutch oven you have. Stir until no dry pockets are left.
- Set it on the edge of the coals or a high grate. You want a lazy bubble, not a boil. Sugar on direct flame scorches fast.
- Simmer 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes and scraping the bottom.
- If it tightens past a pourable sauce, loosen it with a spoonful or two of water or apple juice.
- Pull it off when it darkens and coats the back of the spoon. It thickens again as it cools, so stop earlier than looks right.
This is a condiment, not a meal, and it earns its weight by making plain camp food taste like it was planned. Ketchup is already cooked tomato, sugar, and vinegar, so the simmer is not about cooking raw ingredients down. It is about driving off water, letting the sugar deepen, and giving the mustard, garlic, and chipotle time to stop tasting like separate powders.
Heat control is the only real skill here. Sugar and honey sitting on a hot spot will catch and turn bitter before you notice, so keep the pot off direct flame and keep the spoon moving. Once it cools it holds about two weeks in a cooler, or a few days in a jar on a cool trip. Left undated in a hot car, it will ferment, so make it the night you plan to use it.
One note on the tags: this is dairy-free and gluten-free only if your Worcestershire is, since some brands are cut with malt vinegar. It is not vegetarian either way, as Worcestershire is anchovy-based.
Packing
Spices premixed in one small bag. Ketchup, honey, vinegar, and Worcestershire ride in squeeze or dropper bottles with taped caps. The finished sauce goes back into a screw-top jar or bottle.
Variations
- Set the pot on a rack in a smoker or a lidded grill over low coals for two hours instead of simmering it. It picks up real smoke.
- Swap chipotle for smoked paprika if you want the color and smoke without the heat.
- Drop the honey and use all brown sugar to make it vegan, assuming your Worcestershire has no anchovy.
https://petromax.de/blogs/its-all-about-food-1/sweet-honey-bbq-sosse