Supermarket Standoff: Barbecue Sauce

We have embarked on a taste test tour of your favorite supermarket foods. We nibble, we score, and we share the results with you to help you avoid the paralyzation that can come with Brand Choice Overload. Today's topic: barbecue sauce.

Photo by: Emily Fleischaker

We asked the question in a blog post: What is your favorite store-bought barbecue sauce? More than one hundred responses flooded in from our readers, one of whom has won Circulon's Outdoor BBQ Pan. (Congrats, Tracey Miller!) With that many entries, we couldn't just test the five sauces with the most votes, as planned. We had to go for the top ten (well, eleven, since one brand boasted two favorite flavors).

 

 

Photo by: Diane Chang

Then we asked barbecue expert Steven Raichlen how best to go about this blind taste test. We settled on using un-brined pieces of chicken that we brushed with the sauces during the last two minutes of grilling. We also dipped those pieces in the sauces, if necessary, and we tasted each sauce on bread to avoid any added smoky flavor from the grill. "Some sauces are meant to be served solely on the side," said Raichlen.

After a long night of dipping, tasting, and consulting our splattered score sheets, we tallied our votes and revealed the brands behind our three favorite sauces.

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Photo by: Diane Chang

#1 Kraft Original

Nutrition: 1 serving = 50 calories, 0 g fat; 440 mg sodium; 12 g carbohydrates

Cost: $1.99 for an 18-oz. bottle, Key Food, New York, NY

Blind Tasting Notes: "Smokiness and tangy-ness...yes"; "Nice and smoky"; "Bold".

Photo by: Diane Chang

#2 Stubb's

Nutrition: 1 serving = 30 calories, 0 g fat; 220 mg sodium; 7 g carbohydrates

Cost: $4.99 for an 18-oz. bottle, The General Greene, Brooklyn, NY

Blind Tasting Notes: "Sweet and a lot of heat"; "Can taste the peppercorn"; "Nice balance of heat".

Photo by: Diane Chang

#3 KC Masterpiece Original

Nutrition: 1 serving = 60 calories; 0 g fat; 240 mg sodium; 15 g carbohydrates
Cost: $2.19 for a 1 lb. 2-oz. bottle, Associated Supermarket, New York, NY
Blind Tasting Notes: "Nice and round"; "Substantial texture"; "Addictive"; "Nice tang".

 

 

We strongly believe that homemade sauce--prepared with fresh ingredients--is almost always better than any store-bought version. (Not to mention healthier; the first ingredient on almost all of the 11 sauces we tested was corn syrup.) In a pinch, though, it's good to know how things stack up in the aisles of your local grocery store.

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