Cherry Barbecue Sauce

Cherries, orange juice, and ancho chile meld into the background of this sauce, adding a deep fruitiness.

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated February 28, 2025
A mason jar filled with homemade cherry barbecue sauce, and a silicone pastry brush dipped in sauce is laying across the rim of the jar.

Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

Why It Works

  • Cherries and orange juice add a subtle fruitiness to this barbecue sauce.
  • The raisin-like flavor of ancho chile powder adds to the fruitiness of the sauce, while adding earthiness and a little heat.

Having already tread the barbecue sauce trail from Kansas City to North Carolina, it's time to break out of regional conventions and start having fun with just how diverse barbecue sauce can be—which is exactly what makes it such an exciting sauce to work with.

This cherry sauce has been a project of mine for a while. After tinkering with ingredients here and there, I've finally arrived at a pretty stellar sauce.

While all the main barbecue sauce characteristics are there—tomato base, vinegar tang, sweet molasses—the cherries add a deep fruitiness that gets well-embedded. It's noticeable, yet a little hard to discern at the same time. The cherries are paired with ancho chile powder, which gives an earthy heat, along with the very distinctive white pepper.

Complex and full-bodied, this sauce is ready to take on just about anything you have on the grill or smoker. Slather it on chicken, ribs, or burgers, I think it's bound do them all justice and impress the hungry hoards you're feeding.

August 2011

Recipe Details

Cherry Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Prep 5 mins
Cook 40 mins
Active 20 mins
Cooling Time 30 mins
Total 75 mins
Serves 16 servings
Makes 2 cups
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Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter

  • 1 medium yellow onion

  • 2 medium cloves garlic, minced

  • 2 cups tomato sauce

  • 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped frozen, pitted cherries

  • 2/3 cup dark brown sugar

  • 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

  • 1/4 cup molasses

  • 1/4 cup cider vinegar

  • 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt

  • 2 teaspoons freshly ground white pepper

  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

  1. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

    Closeup of onions cooking in butter.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

  2. Add tomato sauce, cherries, brown sugar, orange juice, molasses, cider vinegar, ancho chile powder, mustard, salt, white pepper, and cayenne and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    The consistency of the sauce is checked with a wooden spoon

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

  3. Transfer sauce to the jar of a blender and blend until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, transfer to a jar and store in refrigerator for up to 1 month.

    Closeup of the sauce being puréed in a blender.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

Special Equipment

Medium saucepan, blender

Make-Ahead and Storage

Sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Read More

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
85 Calories
2g Fat
17g Carbs
1g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 16
Amount per serving
Calories 85
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g 2%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 4mg 1%
Sodium 319mg 14%
Total Carbohydrate 17g 6%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 15g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 6mg 29%
Calcium 30mg 2%
Iron 1mg 5%
Potassium 259mg 6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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