Yes, The Gourmet Gourmand has been grilling non-stop this summer. Why? Because it’s easy. And between Covid, a toddler, two working parents, and grandparents thousands of miles away… we are in desperate need of easy for dinner these days.
So naturally I made my own Memphis Style Peach BBQ Sauce.
…
(I’m suffering, not dead guys).
But for real, homemade BBQ sauce is actually super easy/ simple and worth the extra 5 minutes it takes. Sure, it’s not as easy as that squirt bottle from the store, but is infinitely better.
My Favorite Type of Sauce
There are so many styles of barbecue sauce out there, and everyone has their preference. I am definitely in the camp of vinegar, although I do appreciate some amount of sweet to my sauces as well. It just depends on my mood. I’m a Northern girl through and through (despite currently living in the Southwest… more on that another day), so I certainly have no hometown biases here.
Memphis Style BBQ
Memphis is probably best known for it’s dry BBQ. The meat is dry rubbed with various spices and slow roasted to perfection.
However, there is a Memphis style of BBQ sauce that is often served on the side. The sauce is typically a bit more vinegar forward and thinner in consistency than, say, Texas BBQ sauce. However, there is still a sweetness and body to it, distinctly separating it from the North Carolina vinegar sauce.
I adapted this version of Memphis Style Peach BBQ Sauce from Serious Eats, and used fresh sweet summer peaches as the natural sweetener in this recipe.
And O.M.G. is is excellent. The peaches perform beautifully in the recipe, just lightly sweetening it and adding a fruity flavor to an otherwise tomato forward sauce. I spent a wholly indecent amount of time licking the spoon before I even got to the part where I slathered it on the barbecued ribs I was making…
The sauce goes great on ribs, chicken, or on its own by the spoonful 😉
If you need some inspiration, serve whatever you’re BBQ-ing with some of my favorite sides:
Enjoy the weekend and hopefully you get to fire up the grill!
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Memphis Style Peach BBQ Sauce
Equipment
- Immersion or Regular blender.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1 small Onion diced
- 2 ripe Fresh Peaches peeled and diced (okay to substitute frozen)
- 1 1/2 tbsp Brown Sugar packed
- 8 oz Tomato Sauce
- 2 1/2 tbsp Molasses
- 1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tsp Yellow Mustard
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/4 tsp Cumin
- 1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/4 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Ground White Pepper (or to taste)
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper (or to taste)
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt (or to taste)
- A few Dashes Louisiana Hot Sauce (or to taste)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and peaches. Saute until onions are softened and peaches are jammy, about 5 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients. Stir over low heat until well-combined and sugar is fully dissolved.
- Remove from heat. Using immersion blender (or regular blender), blend until mostly smooth.
- Use as a spicy and tangy topping for your favorite BBQ meats.
2 comments
omg this sounds amazing. and it doesn’t sound too sweet, cause my husband wouldn’t like that. love all of your seasoning you used. thanks!
same! My husband isn’t into the super sweet sauces