Cherry BBQ Sauce

We love BBQ sauce, but store-bought sauces can contain a number of ingredients we try to avoid - from seed oils, to corn syrup, to soy. Cherry BBQ sauce is a departure from the typical tomato-based sauce, but it has a great flavor all its own!

I can't remember where we found the original recipe for this sauce (if you find the site, please let us know so we can give them credit!). We have tweaked the original recipe a bit. We make it as shown below and sometimes we substitute plums for half of the cherries with great results. We typically double the recipe if we plan to can the sauce.

Cherry BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

3 lbs. pitted Bing cherries (we have used whatever sweet cherry we had on hand)

1 c. diced white onion

2 cloves diced garlic

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. molasses

1 c. apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)

1/3 c. bottled lemon juice

1 t. chili powder

1 1/2 T. pickling or kosher salt

1/2 t. cayenne pepper

2 t. dry mustard

2 t. paprika (you can use smoked paprika)

1/2 - 1 t. smoke flavoring (if using smoked paprika, you can leave this out or use the lesser amount)

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive pot. Cook on medium-high heat for 20 minutes with the lid on. Stir often to prevent scorching. Once done, cherries should be soft in texture.

Using an immersion blender, puree the ingredients until smooth. Continue to boil on low until mixture has reduced by half, or until desired consistency is met. Continue to stir frequently to prevent scorching. When finished, let cool and refrigerate, or while still hot, following the instructions below to can the sauce.

To can:

Funnel completed, hot BBQ sauce into hot, sterilized pint jars. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims, and apply lids and rings.

Process 20 minutes (adjust for altitude) in a water bath canner. Remove jars from canner. Allow to cool for 12 hours. Once cooled, check the seals on the jars. Refrigerate any unsealed jars for immediate use.