Ketchup With That

  • Ketchup With That Kitchen
  • Blog
  • Recipe Index
  • About
  • Contact

Tart and Tangy Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce

July 5, 2015 Mary 2 Comments

Jump to Recipe

fresh rhubarbYou’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. ~Wayne Gretzky

If I had to be a plant, I’d think I’d choose rhubarb.

It’s predictable and reliable, but can always surprise you.

This rhubarb-based barbecue sauce is a good example.

Inspired by a recipe for Victorian Barbecue Sauce from the Bernardin Complete Book on Home Preserving (a book I highly recommend), this sauce has a rhubarb rather than a tomato base.

The original recipe is more of a chutney, and I wanted to create something spicier with a broader range of flavors. Cranberries help create a deeper color, and provide a slightly different range of tang to the finished sauce. A blend of spices rounds out the flavors.

For sweetness, I used brown sugar and molasses.

And it just so happens that Crosby’s Molasses, a Maritime company and household staple since the late 1800s, is holding a summer recipe contest for members of Food Bloggers of Canada.

Crosby's MolassesNow, this is not a sponsored post. But since I actually really do use Crosby molasses in my Maritime kitchen, I’m entering the fray with this recipe.

I’m sure the competition will be stiff, but what the heck. I hope you will try this sauce in any case. Win or lose, I think you’ll like it.

(FYI: Crosby’s molasses actually features twice in this recipe, because I used it for making the brown sugar.

Don’t pay extra for brown sugar when you can make is so easily yourself. Simply mix 1-2 tablespoons of molasses into a cup of granulated sugar.

If you have a stand mixer, you can whip up a batch in just a few minutes. I usually mix up 8 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of molasses at a time.

If you are mixing your sugar by hand, it will take a bit of patience, so only work with small batches in order to thoroughly incorporate the molasses.

I prefer the flavor of this home-mixed brown sugar to the commercial varieties available in the stores. The flavor is deeper and more interesting.)

Tart and Tangy Barbecue Sauce
Print
Tart and Tangy Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
1 hr 15 mins
Total Time
1 hr 25 mins
 
This barbecue sauce is tart and tangy and makes a nice change from tomato-based sauces.
Category: Sauce
Type: North American
Servings: 2 quarts / liters
Author: Mary Gillespie - Ketchup With That
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup / 60 ml vegetable oil
  • 4 cups / 1 liter chopped onion
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1-1/2 tablespoons / 22.5 ml cumin
  • 1 tablespoon / 15 ml dry mustard
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons / 7.5 ml chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon / 2.5 ml pepper
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml coriander
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml ginger
  • 2 teaspoons / 10 ml paprika
  • 8 cups / 2 liters chopped rhubarb
  • 1 cup / 250 ml cranberries
  • 1/2 cup /125 ml molasses
  • 1/2 cup / 125 ml tomato paste or ketchup
  • 1 cup / 250 ml cider vinegar
  • 2-1/2 cups / 625 ml brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml thyme
Instructions
  1. Heat a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-low heat.
  2. Add vegetable oil.
  3. Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure onions are not browning. If the onions start to brown, turn down the heat.
  4. Add garlic and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes.
  5. While onion and garlic are cooking, combine cumin, mustard, chili powder, salt, pepper, coriander, ginger and paprika in a small bowl. Add spices to onion and garlic mixture and stir to coat vegetables. Cook spices for 1 minute, stirring to keep them from sticking and burning.
  6. Add tomato paste or ketchup, and stir well to completely combine. Cook for one minute, then add molasses. Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes to give flavors a chance to combine.
  7. Add rhubarb, cranberries, cider vinegar, brown sugar and thyme. Stir thoroughly to combine ingredients, then bring to a boil over med-high heat.

  8. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for one hour, or until mixture has started to thicken. When the sauce is ready, it should look a bit chunky, with the rhubarb broken down and the cranberries popped.
  9. Take the sauce off the heat and let it cool a bit before tasting. If you prefer a sweeter sauce, you can add up to 1/2 cup of brown sugar and stir it into the sauce until it has melted.
  10. If you like a chunky sauce, you can leave it as it is. Blend in a blender or food processor for a smooth sauce.
  11. Store sauce in fridge for up to 4 weeks.

sauce

Comments

  1. Susan Barkman says

    July 15, 2015 at 7:05 pm

    It sounds wonderful. Would it be able to be canned?

    Reply
    • admin says

      July 16, 2015 at 9:35 am

      Thanks for stopping by:) I haven`t canned this yet, but plan on canning the next batch. The acidity balance should make it okay for processing.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Welcome

Hi. I'm Mary. My recipes are vegetarian, but you don't have to be - there's room for everyone at the table in my Maritime kitchen. Read More…

Official Meatless Monday Blogger

Looking for a recipe?

Featured Posts

Food Heroes: People working for hope and change

Maple Dumplings with Apples

Maple Dumplings with Apples

Festive Eggnog Tarts

Festive Eggnog Tarts

Peanut Butter Pretzel Toffee Bites

Peanut Butter Pretzel Toffee Bites (and Ketchup With That turns 3!)

Big Batch Multigrain Bread

Potato Flat Bread

Meatless Monday: Potato Flat Bread

Chocolate Overload Brownies

Chocolate Overload Brownies

Easy Pastry Made with Oil

Easy Pastry Made with Oil (Vegan)

Free Printable Cookbook

Fifty-Two Meatless Meals Cookbook from Ketchup With That

Looking for a recipe?

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 · Ketchup With That