Guinness Barbecue Sauce
It’s grillin’ season, and grillin’ season requires gallons of barbecue sauce for slathering. We mop barbecue sauce on just about everything. It’s Squirrel’s favorite condiment. I love the deep, bold flavor that barbecue sauce adds to just about any cut of meat. It really enhances a recipe.
The other day I made baby back ribs and was going to slather them with one of my favorite store-bought sauces, Sweet Baby Ray’s. Man, I love that sauce. Their honey chipotle is finger lickin’ tasty.
I opened the fridge to grab my beloved Sweet Baby Ray’s when I noticed one lonely bottle of Guinness sitting patiently in the very back of the refrigerator, staring out and looking unloved. I knew it was there; I just didn’t know what to do with it. I’m not even sure why I originally purchased it, considering I don’t drink the stuff straight up. It was ignored, pushed to the side, and hidden behind a jar of pickles. It sat there so long that it began to ferment and get stronger.
After staring at the deprived bottle of stout for a few seconds, a light bulb went off. I quickly sat the Sweet Baby Ray’s down and grabbed the bottle Guinness.
Enter Guinness barbecue sauce. The bold, chocolatey stout created a flavorful sauce.
I started by cooking some onions, green peppers, and garlic. I add the Guinness and reduced it by half, which yielded a rich, dark sauce. The addition of molasses and brown sugar sweetened the sauce and gave it that ubiquitous sticky texture that caramelizes perfectly when slathered on meat and grilled.
This will be your new favorite sauce to grill with.
This sauce takes very little effort to throw together. It’s so simple, I made it on a Monday evening after work.
Baby back ribs never tasted so good. Enjoy!
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 cups Guinness
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
- Salt & pepper
- Heat the canola oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the green peppers, onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 4 minutes.
- Turn the heat up to medium-high. Take the saucepan off of the heat and add the Guinness. Place the pot back on the burner and reduce to half, about 10 minutes.
- Turn the heat down to medium-low. Add the ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, apple cider vinegar, ground mustard, cayenne (if using), and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir the mixture to combine. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Blend the mixture with an immersion blender or transfer the mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Use right away or allow to cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
20 Comments on “Guinness Barbecue Sauce”
summer = grilling
grilling = 2.0 actually making dinner
2.0 making dinner = me building my empire
me building my empire = you bottling your own BBQ sauce for grocery stores
I love it when Squirrel cooks. It frees up so much time for me to do anything I want…which is usually blogging, photographing, and baking.
few things as good as opening my fridge and finding homemade bbq sauce. I always use bourbon, but will try this recipe!
You will probably kill me when I tell you I want to smother some tofu with this sauce. But I do. Don’t hate me.
I think this sauce would be amazing on tofu. It would certainly jazz it up. There’s no hate here.
Guinness is my favorite beer! And I have a huge thing for bbq sauce…I’m always trying different brands and enjoying other’s homemade sauces so it’s time for me to make it at home. Love this, lady!
Oh, girl…I just adore BBQ sauce with beer reductions! Bourbon and beer reductions RULE and your sauce looks divine! Thanks for sharing! xo
This sounds great. I’m not much of a ketchup fan so BBQ sauce is my go-to meat condiment.
Oh man! My Guinness-loving hubby would LOVE this sauce. After all, he mans the BBQ so should get to use a sauce he likes! Going to try this soon. Great recipe, Jennie!
I totally need to start making my own barbecue sauce on a regular basis. And I’m going to start with this recipe! :D
Kiersten, it’s so much better. You really get to be creative. Let me know how you like it.
I think I found my new favorite BBQ sauce! This is great.
Thanks, Susan! Did you make it?
Drooling thinking about this delicious looking sauce!!!
Thanks, Tara. We really enjoyed it.
Pingback: 20 Meat-Loving Barbecue Sauces | Noble Pig
Pingback: Irish Car Bomb Cake | Guinness Chocolate Cake | Eat the Love
This looks super-duper delicious, and easy to make. I’ll have to try my hand at making my own since I’m about to run out of my favourite store-bought brand, the Tonton Kobe – which in all honesty is better for marinating than for basting.
Any reason this could not/should not be frozen?
No reason at all. It should freeze well for up to 3 months.