Most commercial BBQ sauces are filled with artificial sweeteners and cheap fillers. This is a very decadent homemade alternative. It still has lots of sweetness but none of the ingredients come from a laboratory. It does take a lot longer than opening a prepared bottle but it is so worth it! You can make it the day before serving and store it in the fridge.
Steak with Bourbon Bacon BBQ Sauce
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS:
- BBQ sauce
- 1 cup bacon cooked and chopped (around 10 regular size strips)
- 1 cup water
- 1 small white onion
- ½ cup bourbon
- ½ cup strong coffee
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons bacon drippings strained
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 dash sea salt
- 4 steaks (I used rib eye)
- Optional side dishes: brown rice and grilled asparagus with olive oil, sea salt and pepper
DIRECTIONS:
- BBQ sauce
- Place a large wok or cast iron pot over the stove on medium heat. Add the bacon drippings and once hot add in the onions and sprinkle them lightly with sea salt. Let them cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, so that they become nicely caramelized. If they start to burn, turn down the heat a couple notches and add in a tablespoon or two of water. Caramelizing the onions brings out their sweetness, which really changes the whole base of the dish, so don’t be tempted to skip this step. Now add in all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and let simmer until reduced down to desired thickness, up to 30 minutes. Let it cool then blend together in a blender or food processor. It should be pretty thick but smooth.
- Rice
- If you are making rice, put it in the rice cooker now or bring to a boil over the stove on high heat with twice the amount of water to rice. Reduce to a low simmer and cover for 20-25 minutes.
- Asparagus
- Place all the washed asparagus spears on a plate and drizzle with the olive oil, salt and pepper then mix with your hands to ensure they are evenly coated.
- Steaks
- Heat up the grill and rub spoonfuls of the sauce on one side of all the steaks. Once the grill is hot enough, place the steaks on with the saucy side down. After 4-8 minutes (depending on how well you like it done) place sauce on the exposed side and flip for another 4-8 minutes. If you want nice crisscrossed grill marks you can give the steaks a quarter turn after the first two minutes on each side. Once you remove them from the heat let the steaks rest for 5 minutes before serving and grill the asparagus spears for 3-4 minutes, flipping halfway through.