Barbecue is Life
Barbecue is more than just a cooking method. It is tradition and fellowship that is handed down through generations. It is all about the time and attention to detail. While you can make your own sauce, sometimes, incorporating other traditions, styles and recipes into your own menu makes things stronger and gives you more time to eat and fellowship with family. Whether you are a semi-pro pitmaster or just throwing something on the grill for a week night meal, the sauce can make or break you. These black owned barbecue sauces are more than just condiments, they are culture and creativity in a bottle.Handcrafted from pitmasters, chefs, and people who just love to eat, the brands in this guide all offer something unique for your meals. Whether you like it sweet and smoky, tangy and vinegar-forward, or blazing hot with no sugar added, this roundup of must-try Black-owned sauces will help you turn up the taste on every summer cookout. Don’t forget to visit our directory to find a great seasoning blend as well, and all of the other great Black Owned condiment and grocery options for your table.
Known as “The King of Ribs”, Arthur Bryant’s has been serving up delicious barbecue for decades. The Kansas City staple has served food to many luminaries over the years and now you can bring a little bit of it home. You can get their original sauces shipped to your door and get the legendary taste at your own home from their website or via Amazon. Now, the skills to make your meat flavorful and tender, you have to learn that on your own.
John Tom’s is another barbecue sauce brand that is based in the Midwest. Voted as Indiana’s Best Barbecue Sauce by Indianapolis Monthly Magazine, the sauce is the culmination of the years of work on barbecue perfection by family patriarch John Tom Branson. Inspired by a love for him, and for the time spent around the grill, his grandsons have recreated the flavor and bottled it for the world to enjoy.
Uncle Jammy’s Sauces and Seasonings is a Pittsbrugh, PA based black owned barbecue sauce company that has its own proposition. There is a lot of originality with this brand with options you won’t find elsewhere. This company has several great flavors for you to try including “Vanta Be Starting Something”, a blend that is made from Penn Brewery’s Dark Lager and Cuttlefish ink to give it the unique color. But if this is a bit much, don’t worry because this brand of sauces has flavors like sriracha, a golden BBQ,and a cajun style sauce too.
What do you get when you combine years of family heritage and recipes and a modern understanding of Food Nutrition and Bioprocessing? Num Num Sauce. You can get this sauce online or in select Whole Foods Stores across the South. What that should tell you is that this Num Num Sauce is tasty and made of the highest quality ingredients for you while being lower in sodium. Hop on over and get your order and continue those lifestyle changes into the summer with a sauce worthy of your gains.
CEO Tyla Simone Creighton has done a lot with Sienna Sauce in a short amount of time. Juggling her sauce business, and a restaurant, the recent college graduate is proving that perseverance and hard work can lead to good results. Her Sienna Sauce is still a staple and makes a great topping for burgers, grilled chicken and wings. Less of a barbecue sauce and more of an anything sauce, you can get 4 flavors from her online store, including lemon pepper. Made with natural ingredients and lower sodium, you can feel free to indulge with Sienna Sauce.
With a great love for food, JP’s Que is a brand of condiments that combines Mexican and Black influences and cultures. The passion from the owners shows in their sauces which will wow you with their flavor and originality. Options like Rich Maple Rye Whiskey and Rora Gold will open your eyes and taste buds to amazing flavor.
Kevin Bludso is a BBQ legend and his Compton based bbq stand has grown to international levels with restaurants in Australia as well as the US. This black pitmaster learned to ‘que spending his summers in Texas and brought his skills to his native California. You can catch this James Beard award winner on TV and Netflix judging barbecue competitions. Get your own bottles of his Texas style sauce for your own meats and see how your beef, chicken and pork hold up to some of the best in the biz.
This North Carolina style barbecue sauce has been in the Scott family for generations. The tangy vinegar based sauce offers true Carolinian style and flavor. It also is a great choice for those who have some dietary restrictions and are looking for something with less sugar. This family sauce dates back to the early 1900’s but this modern version is sugar free and fat free so if you’re diabetic, or just concerned about your sugar intake, this brand is here for your enjoyment.
You cannot forget about Kansas City if you’re talking about BBQ. When you talk about Kansas City barbecue, you have to mention Jones Bar-B-Q. This landmark barbecue restaurant has been serving hungry patrons since the 1970’s when Leavy B. Jones Sr. opened it. Now it is run by his daughters, including who have kept the family name alive and brought their own spin to it. Now you can bring home their classic sauce flavors yourself and have a little bit of KC que in your own home.
Some people merely want to bottle their family’s secret barbecue sauce recipe, but Zeke’s barbecue sauce is a little different. Zeke’s sauce started with the family base, but adds its own razzle dazzle of spice and flavor to be its own thing. Now you can get this sauce which was honed in battle on the Kansas City circuit before landing in Atlanta where its owner now lives.
Let’s head to the Northwest for a Black Family Owned Sauce from Seattle, Washington. Brown Family Sauce started in the late 80’s upon the family’s move to the Pacific Northwest from Milwaukee. Using his grill more often, Rick Brown then developed his own special sauce to mop onto his grilled meats. Now you can get the same carefully crafted barbecue sauce recipe for you and your family in three tasty varieties so that you and your family can feel and taste the love.
My love for the Kyvan foods can’t be understated. Owned by former NFL player Reggie Kelly, this Black Owned Brand of premium sauces and salsas has great flavor made with the best ingredients. Each of their three Barbecue sauce flavors are sweet but also have the hint of flavor that each is based off of. None of them are overwhelming and go great with your favorite chicken and beef recipes. Grab your own bottles daily on their website and choose from varieties like Cherry Apple and Sweet Potato barbecue sauce for a unique topping for your barbecue meats and veggies.
Rappers are increasingly entering the food space and Sniffin’ Griffin’s BBQ comes from Rap Legend Warren G. This sauce is a West Coast take on peach based barbecue sauces with a tropical flavor to each of the three varieties. Smokey and sweet, these sauces are finely crafted with natural ingredients. If you enjoy a more tropical style of sauce, Sniffin’ Griffins is something you might want to give a try.
Pitmaster LT’s barbecue sauces are sweet and smokey Kansas City Style sauces representing the best of the city and its barbecue. Made with natural ingredients, you can also get your sweet sauce in a no sugar variety as well. No high fructose corn syrup, no preservatives, and all of the flavor and richness that you come to expect from your barbecue sauce makes Pitmaster LT’s a sauce you should look into.
You have to include legendary pitmaster Ed Mitchell on any list of barbecue sauces. Not only is this line of sauces developed with the richest of traditions and highest standards, but they are also Sugar Free. Everything Truemade makes is crafted with natural sweetener from fruits and veggies to provide you with all the flavor without the negative side effects. They offer varieties from all across the country and you can get multipacks like the Western Variety pack which highlights Kansas City, Memphis, and Central Texas.
Moving from Oakland to Portland Felton and Mary Campbell brought a love for barbecue and community with them. In their new home, they created a much beloved barbecue restaurant where they shared their food and created a community. Now you can be a part of that extended family with one of their three flavors. Each reflects the quality and history of the brand and come in a glass jar, just like homemade.
Detroit is slept on as a food and barbecue city, but like Chicago, it was a destination for the great migration. Belledine’s is a descendent of that tradition. Owner Miriam Brown grew up watching her mom cook and after her passing, took on the role of cook at her church, and it gave her an opportunity to work on her sauce at a large scale. The sauce, and her seasoning blends, are her way to recreate the feelings she got watching her mother cook for her large family. You can get that feeling too when you order one of their three flavors of barbecue sauce, “Famous Original,” “Heat Seeker’s Delight,” and “Honey Bee with a Sting”.
