Making your own homemade BBQ sauce is so rewarding and when you can customize it like with this cherry BBQ sauce recipe. It just takes it to a whole new level. This easy BBQ sauce is healthier than BBQ sauce you buy from the store and it makes great use of cherries when they are in season!
I love making sweet cherry BBQ sauce because it leaves a beautiful caramelization on the meats that it is added to. In the summer, when I pick up my CSA box and cherries are in it, this is what I love to make with them. This sauce is:
- Healthier than store-bought sauce: If you have tried my brown sugar BBQ sauce, this BBQ sauce has the same idea of using sugar in the BBQ sauce except instead of adding sugar, we are relying on the natural sugar from the sweet cherries.
- Perfect for grilling: This sweet and fruity BBQ sauce is the perfect partner for grilled chicken or pork. It is also great on top of burgers for a delicious twist to traditional BBQ hamburgers or on top of pulled pork sliders for a fruity bite.
- Tastes better: Homemade BBQ sauce just tastes better!
What You Will Need
Making this is just like making a regular homemade BBQ sauce except we are adding in fresh cherries. Here is what you will need:
- Sweet cherries: I really love the idea of using fresh cherries in season when making this cherry BBQ sauce but frozen cherries that have been thawed work fine too.
- Shallots: This adds so much flavor to the sauce.
- Garlic: Fresh is best here.
- Worcestershire sauce: This is the background umami flavor for so many BBQ sauce recipes. It just works.
- Tomato paste: This is the base of this cherry BBQ sauce. If you do not have this, you can use ketchup and omit the vinegar and salt in the recipe.
- Red wine vinegar: Adds a tangy note.
- Kosher salt
Pro-Tip For Homemade BBQ sauce: To remove the cherry pits, you can use a cherry pitter gadget or use. my method which is gently smashing the cherries with a large knife and removing the cherry pits that way.
Once you master this cherry BBQ sauce recipe, you can learn how to make blackberry puree and try swapping out the cherries and using that.
How to make cherry BBQ sauce
This sauce is so easy to make and will not take long at all. Once you are ready to make it, it takes about 20 minutes or so from start to finish. Here is what it looks like (full recipe below):
- Prep the ingredients. Chop the shallots and garlic. Remove the pits from the cherries if you are working with fresh cherries. Frozen cherries that are thawed will already have the pits removed.
- Cook it up. BBQ sauce is cooked up on the stovetop so that all of the flavors come together. Here you cook the garlic and onions until soft then add the vinegar, cherries, and tomato paste. You will need to thin it out a bit with a little water since the cherries make a really thick sauce. You can thin the cherry BBQ sauce to your liking.
- Let it cool. You want to make sure that you let the homemade BBQ sauce cool before adding it to any meat.
- Serve: You can leave the BBQ sauce as is with a little texture or use an immersion blender or food processor to blend it until smooth.
When to add BBQ sauce to meat
A lot of people get frustrated when they end up with charred meat or vegetables when they add BBQ sauce to them. The reason this happens is the BBQ sauce was added at the beginning of cooking and the sugars in BBQ sauce will burn when they are heated for too long.
When you are ready to use this cherry BBQ sauce, you want to cook the meat or veggies that you are using this with almost fully then during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking you brush on the cherry BBQ sauce.
Best cherries to use for this BBQ sauce
Picking the right cherries for this homemade BBQ sauce makes all the difference in flavor and how easy it will be to make.
- You want to make sure you are using sweet cherries for this BBQ sauce recipe. Tart cherries will not have enough sugar.
- You can use fresh or frozen cherries. If you are buying frozen cherries for this recipe, make sure to thaw them first. This is the easiest option since they already have the pits removed.
Serving ideas
If you are looking for ideas on how to use this cherry BBQ sauce, here are some of our favorites in addition to the ones listed earlier in the post.
The Best Cherry BBQ sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups fresh cherries (pitted) frozen and then thawed cherries will work too
- ⅛ cup red wine vinegar you can substitute with apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup water to thin bbq sauce as needed
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 small shallot finely diced
- 1 clove of garlic finely diced
- 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
Instructions
- In a blender add your vinegar, worcestershire sauce and cherries and blend on medium speed until it becomes a puree and then set aside.1 ¼ cups fresh cherries (pitted), ⅛ cup red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- In a small sauce pan over medium heat add your olive oil, garlic and shallots and cook for about 5 minutes or until the shallots are translucent.1 clove of garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 small shallot
- Next, pour your cherry mixture from the blender into your sauce pan and mix well. The mixture will be thin at this point.
- Now add your tomato paste and carefully mix that in with a whisk or a fork until it is incorporated.¼ cup tomato paste
- Add your salt¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- At this point, taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed. If the BBQ sauce is too thick you can add a tablespoon of water at a time until it reaches the consistency that it is spreadable. This is a very thick sauce.½ cup water to thin bbq sauce as needed
- Once the sauce is done, remove from the heat and set aside on the counter to cool to room temperature.
- Use after cooling on your favorite meat or store in the fridge for up to one week in a covered container.
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer hereTried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
Darren says
This cherry bbq sauce was perfect on grilled pork. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Melissa says
I am so glad you enjoyed it!