Happy Sunday friends! Know what today is? The PERFECT day to get your bbq on. The sun is shining, the temps are high, the beer is being guzzled. Le sigh……. life is good. It’s also rhubarb season, and even you newbie readers should know how much that rules my world (because, blog name!). So, let’s make some smoky rhubarb barbecue sauce mmmmmkay?
I’ve been really wanting to unlock the savory side of rhubarb this year. Every year I go for the sweet approach, using WAY too much refined sugar to mask the extreme tartness of the rhubarb. Here’s the thing though….. I love that tartness. It’s bitter without being sour, bright without being acidic, and breaks down in a sauce so beautifully, you’ll wonder why you aren’t using it in ERRRRRYTHING. This vegetable, cut down into little comma (or apostrophe) shaped tart bombs, should be your next foodie obsession.
- 5 cups rhubarb stalk, washed and cut into 1" pieces, about 4 stalks
- 4 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 2-3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped, about 1- 1½ heaping Tablespoons, depending on how smoky you prefer
- 1 Tablespoon garlic, pressed or finely minced
- 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
- Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Stir well to combine.
- Heat over medium heat, until bubbling.
- Reduce heat to low, and simmer until rhubarb is broken down and very soft, stirring often, about 15 minutes.
- Puree with an immersion blender, or regular blender. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool completely.
- Store in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator for up to a month, or freeze.
I know, I know. This has a bunch of sugar in it! I’ve got some ideas for rhubarb without sugar…. stay tuned, or check out these recipes from around the web:
Duck and strawberry salad with rhubarb dressing
Noodles with kale and spicy rhubarb sauce
Shaved rhubarb salad with almonds and cheese (just a pinch of sugar!)
Indian spiced lentils with spinach and rhubarb
What is your fave way to use rhubarb? Tag with with #rhubarbarians on Instagram and Twitter!
Patricia Bozeman is a cook. A whiskey lover. A dreamer. A wine-o. A tea drinker. A dog lover. A wife. An extrovert with a dash of social anxiety. A Jeopardy watcher. A dress wearer (because she's a lady, duh). A crass and slightly deaf old woman inside of a 33 year old body. 
A rhubarb bbq sauce?? I’m intrigued!
YES! Totally delicious stuff!
I’m so trying this! Got plenty of rhubarb to use up.
YES! Let me know what you think!
want to make a big batch in my instant pot. Do you think it would work?
Hi Brenda! I haven’t used the instant pot, but I don’t see why not! Let me know if you try it and it works! 🙂
Excellent sauce! I didn’t have enough ketchup so I used only 1/4 cup and added some extra chipotles. But, do they add a kick! I added maybe half a teaspoon of salt… It just needed a bit of salt to finish nicely.
Planning to grill chicken and baste them with the sauce tonight!
YUM! So glad it worked out for you! Yeah, you don’t need much chipotle to get that kick. 😜
Hi,
I don’t think this is a vegan BBQ sauce due to the fact that anchovy is a key ingredient in Worcestershire sauce.
You are right! I used vegan worcestershire sauce. Do you have that at your grocery store?
Hi!
I grow and sell rhubarb on my farm and am making your sauce right now. I stuck my finger in and it tastes delish, even though I was missing a few things lol.
Question: do you think I could make more and can this? I know there’s all those weird things about following special recipes or risk dying 😱 And I’ve seen recipes for canning..but just from reading the ingredient list I think that yours sounds better.
Hi Holly! Honestly, I’m not totally sure about the canning. I’m assuming that if you seal the jars, you should be fine. But, I’m not 100% sure! Let me know if you find out the right answer!
I just made a double batch of this and I canned/jarred mine. I did a water bath, boiled jars for 15 minutes, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove jars from water and leave undisturbed for 25 minutes. Refrigerate and use any jars that did not seal or reprocess/reseal jars/
Sounds awesome! So glad you liked it! I wish we had some jarred, so we could eat it all year. 🙂
Barbeque sauce freezes really well!
So good to know! Thank you!
Hi! I finally made a double batch of this yesterday because I’ve been dyin to make this sauce! We grilled up some chicken tonight seasoned with only the juice of 1 lemon and a little herb de providence. Brushed this beautiful sauce on at the tail end and enjoyed..this sauce is AMAZING!! Perfect amount of tang, smokey chipotle flavor without it being over kill and definitely not to sweet! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe. We think it will go great on baby back ribs! Glad I gave a point to my brother, cant wsit to hear what he thinks!
Oh, so glad you loved it! I need to to make myself a batch this year. Thanks for trying out the recipe!
Do you use sweet cecily with your rhubarb? Really cuts the need for sugar down.
I’ve never heard of sweet cecily! Is it a sugar substitute? A plant?
It is a herb. The leaves or seeds added to sharp fruit like rhubarb or cooking apples takes away the hard edge of the sharpness. I can half my sugar if i use a tablespoon or two of it. It smells slightly aniseedy but i don’t notice that so much (and i am not an aniseed fan).
So i made it with half the sugar and 1 tbsp less syrup and a generous helping of sweet cecily. I also used passata not ketchup (because it was open) and smoked paprika as i didn’t have the chilli (hard to find in the uk) all worked well except i would use chilli paste next time. The allotment bbq crowd are hard to please and it went down a treat!
I just made this sauce, and I dig it:). I didn’t have chipotle in adobo, but rather, on hand I had dehydrated chipotles, which I soaked overnight (2), and chopped from there:). I also added a touch of fresh lemon juice, maybe half a lemon, to tone the heat a touch, not because it was too kicky for me, but I’m not the only human in the house;).
My only question – what should the consistency be? It seems a little jammy, but DELICIOUS, don’t get me wrong!:)
Thanks for this! (Also, I found a no-sugar version if you’re interested:))
Hey there! The consistency shouldn’t really be jammy. It should be like normal bbq sauce, so should slowly pour from a spoon. Hmmm… did you use really large rhubarb stalks?