I was recently inducted into the absolutely cool Recipe Redux group of food bloggers. Once a month I will be challenged to do something with food. Isn’t this cool – someone giving me ideas to do something with food. To think outside of my normal box and find something to do with it. This months challenge is to make a Kitchen Essential – for me that would normally be homemade a jam. I make jam at least twice a month and have posted those recipes here and here, but I decided to give you my recipe for homemade vegan, gluten-free, clean eating BBQ Sauce.

I love making everyday food essentials myself. There is just something very comforting about making my own jams and sauces, making sure they are to my taste and not having to constantly look at food labels to see what was added to those items in the processing. With this months challenge to create and give you a recipe for something that you used to buy but now make. I decided to give you my BBQ sauce. I love sauces – usually I buy them, but once you find and make a recipe that turns out awesome you just constantly keep making it and making sure you always have some on hand. This is one of them. The perfect BBQ sauce is one that is sweet and savory, tart and tangy all at the same time – and makes you want to keep dipping your finger in the sauce because it’s so good. How do companies do that? By using ketchup and tons of sugar. Well not this recipe – real tomato sauce and maple syrup makes this an awesome sauce.

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Easy sauce is the best sauce. Dump all ingredients into a medium size pot and turn the heat to low-medium. Let cook for about an hour to make sure everything gets incorporated and cooked down and thick. The tomato paste actually helps to thicken this up, and it’s so thick that if you turn the heat up any higher than low-medium it will bubble and spit. And that’s hot and stains your clothes. But this sauce is so good – once it was done I was dipping sliced veggies in it and eating it like it’s dip. It’s just so good! This recipe makes a ton so it’s perfect for summer outdoor grilling, but if your like me and don’t have an outdoor grill it can be frozen for later use. Perfect!

BBQ Sauce,

1 Large Can Muir Glen Tomato Sauce
1 Can Muir Glen Tomato Paste
1 Tbsp San-J Gluten-Free Reduced Sodium Tamari
2 Tsp Cumin
1 Tbsp Paprika
2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
3 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
4 Tbsp Maple Syrup
3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1. Dump all ingredients into a medium size pot and whisk.
2. Turn heat on low-medium heat and let stew about 60 minutes.
3. Enjoy on anything!