Chipotle-Bacon-Bourbon Barbecue Sauce
This homemade barbecue sauce brings a wonderful smoky spice with the chipotle peppers and bacon, but it’s also slightly sweet from the sugar and molasses. It is rich and thick and will stick to your ribs or chicken nicely. Get the grills ready! Here is the recipe.
I’m cranking out barbecue sauces this summer like they’re going out of style. Even when I make big batches, they disappear so fast. That’s OK. I don’t want to make my batches too large because I enjoy the variety. When I run out of one batch, I’ll switch it up and go in a different direction.
The last sauce we made was a Peach-Bourbon Barbecue Sauce, and it was delish! I didn’t switch it up TOO much this time around, keeping the wonderful bourbon flavor, but now we’re bringing in smoky chipotle peppers, and everyone’s favorite – DUN DUN DUN – BACON!
Oh yes, chipotle, bourbon and bacon. It’s a powerful trio in terms of flavor. I’ve made this several times before. I would seriously enter it into a barbecue sauce contest with confidence, it’s that good.
You can vary up the amount of bacon and chipotle, depending on your personal tastes. In fact, you can vary up ANY of the ingredients. That is one of the beautiful things about barbecue sauce.
They are EXTREMELY forgiving. I’ve had discussions with barbecue enthusiasts who have no actual recipes for their barbecue sauces. They go into their fridges and start pulling out anything and everything and turn it into a sauce. Crazy! But crazy good, I’ll bet.
I prefer a bit more flavor control, though.
I make mine VERY thick. This way, I can thin it out if I want to by adding either a bit of water, chicken stock, or more apple cider vinegar. Usually it is a combination of water and vinegar.
Just swirl it all together in a pan and give it a little heat. This is best when you want to serve it from those cool squeeze bottles all the TV BBQ people seem to use, or like you see in BBQ restaurants.
Get all cool!
I like this particular sauce for ribs, though it’s ideal for chicken and even shrimp. I hope you like it! Enjoy! Bust out the grill!
Try Some of My Other Popular BBQ Sauce Recipes
- Peach-Bourbon Barbecue Sauce
- Spicy Honey BBQ Sauce
- Ancho BBQ Sauce
- Easy BBQ Sauce
- South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
- 4 strips bacon chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1 small yellow onion chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
- 1 7- ounce can chipotle peppers in adobo
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 4 tablespoons bourbon
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 teaspoon cayenne powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
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Heat a large saucepan to medium heat and add bacon. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring often.
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Add jalapeno and onion and cook 3 more minutes, stirring often, until bacon is nice and crisp.
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Add garlic and cook 1 more minute, or until garlic browns nicely.
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Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
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Bring sauce to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer 30 minutes with an occasional stir. The sauce will slightly thicken.
Recipe Video
You can serve it like this, nice and thick, or you can add a bit of water to thin the consistency.
Heat Factor: Medium. You'll get quite a bit of zing and flavor from the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and other ingredients.
2 comments
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Hey Mike,
How long would this keep? I assume you would have to store it in the refrigerator.
Have you ever tried making a hot sauce with bacon, bacon grease or some kind of off-the-shelf bacon flavoring like Bacon In A Jar? I have some of that and it is just a combination of seasonings that tastes like bacon so you wouldn’t run into a problem with actual meat spoilage.
Jason
Hey, Jason – this should easily last a week covered in the refrigerator, probably longer. I haven’t tried making an actual hot sauce with bacon, though I was in a discussion with some other sauce makers and I’m sure it’s doable. You’re right, though, about spoilage. It really won’t last long with bacon or bacon grease in the sauce, though there are some flavoring elements out there to experiment with. If your ph is low enough, though, it should be OK for longer keeping. Let me know if you learn anything new.