Smokey Coffee Barbecue Sauce
You know when you have a good idea, and you work on it, and it just doesn’t come out as you planned? That’s how I came up with this recipe for Smokey Coffee Barbecue Sauce. I worked on a coffee marinade for a few weeks, and it just wasn’t going how I wanted it to go. I kept trying to replicate the first version I made, but every time I was off. So I quit trying on that recipe, for a while anyway. But I tried something else, and it worked out so beautifully and made this recipe for Smokey Coffee Barbecue Sauce I am now happy I messed it up. Enjoy the fruits of my (many) mistakes.
You know I love coffee, and I wanted to make it into a marinade. The first time I tried it, I was winging it, and I honestly can’t duplicate it. It’s so frustrating to make something correctly one time and ruin it on every other occasion. While I was being frustrated with marinades that were too acidic or too sweet, I decided I like the flavor of coffee with grilled meat. It’s a perfect match. Deep coffee flavor and grilling go hand in hand.
Coffee Coffee Coffee
If you don’t have coffee on hand or you don’t drink I coffee I can’t recommend espresso powder enough. It’s a lifesaver for anything that needs a profound umami boost of flavor. Beef, in my opinion, always benefits from a bit of coffee. Especially in a pot roast or stew, it’s the perfect addition. I like to have extra coffee on hand for iced coffee in the afternoon, so for me, it’s usually not a problem. But I also keep espresso powder as well; you can’t be too careless with your coffee levels you know.
Smokey Coffee Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup coffee, leftover, hot or espresso powder
- 1 TBSP minced garlic
- 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, more if you like it sweeter
- 1 tsp smoke flavor
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Stir together everything
- cook slowly until reduced by about half, 20-30 minutes
- taste as you go and add more salt or sugar as desired
- brush on grilled meat in the last 10-15 minutes of grilling
If you like it would you pin it? I’d appreciate it!
Wow! What a fun idea. I cannot wait to give this a go and it definitely sounds easy enough to make!
This sounds pretty gosh darn heavenly…can’t wait to try it!!!
Don’t you love it when you mess up but it works out so well? This looks fabulous, I love the sound of coffee and smokey, what a great combo for a BBQ sauce. I use expresso powder in my baking all the time (for choc desserts) but haven’t tried it in cooking and sauces yet. What am I waiting for? 😀 Can’t wait to try it!
This is my kind of barbecue sauce for sure!! I love coffee. PINNED 🙂
This is going on my to try list for certain. It sounds amazing.