Cherry BBQ Sauce
This Cherry BBQ Sauce is fantastic with chicken, pork, and a variety of other proteins. Cherry BBQ Sauce is sweet, thick and smoky. It’s so easy to make too.
If you have never made your own homemade Barbecue Sauce, you are in for a surprise\. It is much easier than you imagine.
In Upstate NY we are blessed with tons and tons of a variety of fresh fruits grown locally.
I am fairly sure I have made barbecue sauce with all of them. This Cherry BBQ Sauce is among our favorites.
What you need
- pitted cherries, with juice – we use dark sweet cherries like Bing cherries or Black Tartarian
- brown sugar
- red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- honey
- molasses
- pineapple juice
- Worcestershire sauce
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- oil
- salt to taste
- optional; if you would like it a bit spicy, add cayenne pepper, ancho chili powder or chipotles in adobo, including some finely chopped chipotle peppers.
How to make it
Step One
Use fresh or frozen, thawed pitted cherries.
Step Two
If previously frozen, strain cherry juice into pan.
Step Three
Add cherries to food processor. Puree to a paste.
Step Four
Strain cherry pulp and juice into saucepan, pushing juice through with the back of a wooden spoon.
Discard solids.
Step Five
Chop onion and mince garlic. Add onion to large saucepan with a splash of olive oil. Sauté until translucent.
Step Six
Add minced garlic. Sauté for a few minutes until fragrant.
Step Seven
Add remaining ingredients to pan.
Cook down over medium low heat, stir often for about 50 minutes, until it is thickened to BBQ sauce consistency.
Step Eight
Ladle hot sauce into hot jars with the aid of your canning funnel.
Step Nine
Wipe rims with a damp paper towel.
Remove air bubbles by running a spatula or plastic or wooden chopstick around the inside edge of the jar.
Center lids on jars. Screw on bands fingertip tight.
Process jars for 15 minutes, adjusting for elevation.
Pro tips for success
- You can make this Cherry BBQ Sauce with either fresh or frozen cherries and it will not affect the flavor.
- Be patient and let the sauce cook down on low until it is very thick
- An immersion blender can be used instead of the food processor, to blend sauce.
- Leave the cherry skins in, if you don’t mind a chunkier sauce.
- The most time consuming part is pitting the cherries. A cherry pitter will help speed up the process.
- This Cherry BBQ Sauce can be processed in water bath canning pot.
- If you don’t process, store refrigerated.
The hardest thing about this barbecue sauce is being patient enough to wait for it to thicken up. And then waiting for it to cool enough to sample.
We love this Cherry BBQ Sauce on smoked pork or smoked ribs. You would honestly never know it has cherries in it.
It is also fantastic on barbecued chicken. It is not overly sweet. Similar to Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey barbecue sauce for those of you who know it.
If you don’t want to water bath can this sauce, it can be refrigerated for at least a year.
Do yourself a favor, make your own BBQ Sauce and skip the preservatives in the store bought stuff. You’ll be glad you did!
Other delicious homemade BBQ sauce recipes
Tools I use
Love growing your own produce? These articles are packed full of information about how to get that big harvest by the end of the season! Don’t miss How to Start a Garden Series!
The first part is Planning Your Garden! Second is Preparing the Garden Site. The third is Choosing Plants and Planting Your Garden.
The fourth is Garden Maintenance, and the last is Harvesting a Garden and Preserving the Harvest, this post has over 100 FREE recipes for preserving your harvest!
Connect with us through our social media pages! Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter.
Please ask any questions or share your comments in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you.
I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Cherry BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 cups cherries fresh or frozen
- 1 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 cup onion, finely diced
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 7 cloves garlic
- 3 Tablespoons molasses
- 3 Tablespoons honey
- 2/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons worchestershire sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Pineapple juice
- 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt or sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Pit cherries. Process cherries in food processor. Strain juice with a fine sieve to remove bits of skin. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
- Sweat onions in oil until they are soft and very fragrant.
- Add minced garlic and cook along for another few minutes until that is very fragrant.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan. Bring to a low boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer until sauce is thickened, about 50 minutes.
- If canning, heat jars and lids. Ladle hot cherry barbecue sauce into hot jars leaving ½ inch headspace.
- Remove air bubbles by running a spatula or chopstick around the inside edge of the jar.
- Wipe rims with damp paper towel.
- Center lid on jar. Screw on bands fingertip tight.
- Place jars in canning pot. Bring to low boil. Once boiling, process for 15 minutes. Remove pot from the heat. Remove lid. Allow jars to stay in hot water at least 5 minutes. Adjust for altitude. (see recipe notes below for altitude adjustmnet)
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!Notes
If lids have not sealed, store those jars in refrigerator and consume those jars first.
Store in a cool place for at least one year.
Nutrition
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you click the link and purchase something. See FTC Disclosure, here.
I just made this recipe and it is *so* delicious! I have a tomato allergy and haven’t had BBQ sauce in years but this recipe really hits the spot! It was delicious mixed in with pulled pork. The garlic flavor comes through a bit stronger than I anticipated and I was a little sweeter than I thought. Might make a couple adjustments for that next time, but that’s just down to personal preference. Thank you for this awesome recipe. It’s a game-changer for us nightshade-intolerant folk!
We’re so glad that you like it Lara! Thanks for letting us know and rating the recipe. We have a few other BBQ sauce recipes on the blog too. Apricot, Peach and Blue berry. Maybe you’d like those too!
Could this sauce be made using bottled cherry juice? Cherries are my favourite fruit and this recipe sounds heavenly.
Sure. You could used bottled juice. I think fresh will have more flavor though.
I made this last night 6/19/2023.
Soooooo yummy! Can’t wait to add it to chicken, pizza, and other things.
The hardest part is definitely waiting for it to boil down.
Yes, that’s where patience is really required. Thanks for letting us know Annie!
Can this recipe be doubled, or even tripled without impacting its quality? If waqtr-batherd can, what is its shelf life?
It can be doubled or tripled but you may not be able to put all of the jars in your canning pot at the same time, depending on your canner. It will last at least a year, stored in a cool place, away from sunlight.
Wow! This sauce is amazing. I used it to marinade chicken for grilling and was I blown away! My family and I enjoyed every bite!
Great to hear. Thanks so much Capri!
I’m a sucker for anything Cherry!! This BBQ sauce looks so temptingly tasty that I want to eat it by the spoonful. It looks so thick and perfect to slather on some ribs – ooooo, or chicken wings!!
This looks incredibly thick and delicious. I’ve never tried making my own BBQ sauce, but I think it’s about time to right that wrong!
You definitely won’t be disappointed, Monica!