Turn Ketchup Into A Bold BBQ Sauce With Just Two Extra Ingredients

Barbecue sauce is a complex condiment that combines a few different flavor sensations: umami, sweet, smokey, spicy, and tangy. To turn ketchup into BBQ sauce, you only need two ingredients — maple syrup and bourbon — which will mimic those five flavors when added to the ketchup. The bourbon covers the smokiness and some of the spicy flavors, while the maple syrup brings the sweetness; the umami and tangy flavors come through when the three ingredients are mixed. The result is close enough to barbecue sauce to fool your diners and can be made in a pinch, as it only requires five minutes of heating in a saucepan to cook off some of the alcohol. Then, cool the sauce down a bit before serving it as a condiment or pour it from the pot over meat fresh from the grill or oven.

To get closer to the BBQ sauce, you can add just a few additional ingredients, depending on what type of sauce you want. Use the bourbon and maple syrup as a base recipe and add another ingredient or two to enhance a particular flavor. 

You can tweak the umami and sweetness notes by adding Worcestershire sauce and a few other flavors. Umami is savory, and some call it "meaty" as it gives some depth to the flavor of a dish. Umami can be achieved by adding a bit of soy sauce, fish sauce, or shrimp sauce — experiment with combinations of these sauces to get the level you prefer. 

For a spicier sauce, add chili powder, red pepper flakes, or hot sauce, which will amp up the tanginess. Add any vinegar, like balsamic, to your original three-ingredient recipe for additional tangy boosts. The smokey flavor can be enhanced by using smoked paprika, chipotle powder, and liquid smoke. For sweetness, replace the maple syrup with brown sugar, as it contains molasses, which adds a nutty richness that is a bit stronger than maple syrup. There are several recipes around the internet for turning mundane ketchup into a quick and easy barbecue sauce without using a load of ingredients, dirtying many dishes, and toiling over a hot stove all day.