Spicy Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Last Memorial Day, our lives changed forever. We had gone back home to Indiana to visit my family, and my chef brother casually mentioned that he’d be smoking some ribs for dinner. Well, if you know anything about smoking, you know that there’s nothing casual about it. It was an involved, 8 hour process, and the results were delicious enough that we decided on the spot that we needed to own a smoker and produce such delectable meats at home. Since then we’ve smoked ribs and chicken wings with mouth-watering success, but we’d never tried a whole pork butt. That’s a 12 hour deal, with injecting and rubbing beforehand, so maybe the whole thing intimidated us. Well, we decided to step up to the plate and smoke some Boston butt. And it was worth it. Our house still smells of smoke and delicious pig. Worth it. And I’ve eaten pork every night for the last few nights (and will in the next few). Worth it.

But enough about butts! My husband handled the butt (teehee) from start to finish, so it’s all his deal, not mine. I handled the sauces. I made four sauces: Spicy Honey Chipotle, Hot Vinegar, Sweet Original and Kahlua Coffee. They were all pretty good, but the Spicy Honey Chipotle was a clear favorite (with vinegar coming in second for the fans of that style). I found it on a site called Little B Cooks, and it’s good enough to make even if you’re just having regular old pulled pork and not fantastically amazing smoked pork. It's definitely very spicy, but I find that the fat of the pork and some nice creamy slaw balances it out nicely. 

Ingredients

Olive Oil

1 cup onion, minced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup ketsup

1 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

1 tsp dry mustard

1tsp chipotle chili pepper powder

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan over medium low heat, and add the onion and garlic, sautéing for about ten minutes until the onions are translucent. Stir to make sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and stir. I found that it helped to have all the ingredients out and ready to go before hand so I could just toss them in on cue. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, giving it a stir every once in awhile. The instructions said to puree it with an immersion blender, but I found that there wasn’t enough liquid to do so without splattering it all over myself and the kitchen. I would recommend putting it in the blender or food processor to get it smooth. And that’s it! This sauce plus some amazing smoked pork butt and you’ve got something magical, friend.