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
- brown sugar
- red win vinegar
- honey
- molasses
- pineapple juice
- worcestershire sauce
- onion
- garlic
- oil
How to make it
- Chop onion and mince garlic. Add onion to large saucepan with a splash of olive oil. Saute until translucent.
- Add minced garlic.
- Use fresh or frozen pitted cherries.
- Add remaining ingredients to pan.
- Strain cherry juice into pan.
- Add cherries to food processor. Process to a paste.
- Strain cherry pulp into saucepan, pushing juice through with the back of a wooden spoon.
- Discard solids.
- Cook down over medium low heat, stirring often for about 50 minutes, until thickened to BBQ sauce consistency.
- Add thickened sauce to canning jars.
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! 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.
Canning Cherry BBQ Sauce
This sauce can be canned. Follow proper canning techniques. Here is a link to my very first post where I explain the procedure.
This is a link to Ball’s Canning 101. Here is my favorite set of tools that saves me a ton of time when I’m canning!
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 BBQ sauce
Tools I use
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Cherry BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 c cherries fresh or frozen
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 cup onion, finely diced
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 7 cloves garlic
- 3 Tbsp molasses
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 2/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar
- 3 Tbsp worchestershire sauce
- 2 Tbsp Pineapple juice
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.
Notes
Test lids for seal. Press center of lid down in the middle. If it flexes up and down, jar is not sealed.
If lids have not sealed, store those jars in refrigerator and consume those jars first.
Store in a cool place.
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.
Cindy
We made this and used it over some air fryer chicken this afternoon. It was delicious!!
Beth Neels
Thanks Cindy! I’m so glad you liked it!
Bhawana
wow, I love this BBQ sauce with cherries, such a innovative idea of adding fruits in bbq sauce. Bookmarking it try out.
Beth Neels
Thanks Bhawana! Glad you liked the recipe!
Capri Lilly
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!
Beth Neels
Great to hear. Thanks so much Capri!
veenaazmanov
Delicious. I am drooling. I love the sweet and smoky combo. Cant wait to make some for home.
Beth Neels
Thanks Veena! Let me know how you like it!
Elaine
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!!
Kushigalu
Love this sweet and smoky combo. I would love to try this with few recipes. Thanks for sharing
Beth Neels
Thanks you Kushigalu! Hope you like it!
Monica | Nourish & Fete
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!
Binky
You definitely won’t be disappointed, Monica!
Mindy Fewless
I bet this tastes amazing!!
Binky
That it does! Thanks Mindy!
Veena Azmanov
I love the sound of cherry in BBQ Sauce. So delish. Love the color and how thick the sauce is. Can’t wait to try this soon.
Binky
Thank you Veena! I’m so glad you enjoyed the post!
sue | theviewfromgreatisland
Forget the chicken, just hand me a spoon, in fact, I could eat this over ice cream!!!
Binky
Haha! Ice cream might be a little weird, but I’ll hand you the spoon! Thanks, Sue! 🙂
Dana Sandonato
I’m so with you when it comes to the “cooling” period. I can’t wait to sample! I feel like initially, making your own dressings and sauces is intimidating, but once you start and see how simple and tasty it is, one is left to wonder why the heck they waited so long! I love this recipe and love the use of cherries. I’ll be eagerly awaiting your use of peaches late summer, too 🙂
Binky
Oooh! I love the peach, too! It is gorgeous on chicken and pork! Thank you Dana! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Sarah at Champagne Tastes
Whyyyyy have I never made my own BBQ Sauce? Why?? And this sounds so delicious- I’ve got tons of cherries right now!
Binky
It is so easy, Sarah! You should really give it try! Thank you!
Laura
Delicious Beth, from now on I will make my own BBQ sauce
Binky
Thank you, Laura! You won’t be disappointed!
Kristina
oh yay! we have a cherry tree and I am going to pick more today – now I know what I can make with them! this sounds fantastic.
Binky
Glad I could help, Kristina! Thank you for your comment!
Jenn peas and crayons
The sweetness from the cherries must be so completely fabulous here! Thanks for the creative recipe!
Binky
Yes, Jenn, the cherries add a special sweetnes to this sauce! Thanks for your comment!
Michelle
This sounds delicious! I’ve made watermelon BBQ sauce before and just love it. Cherries are my favorite summer fruit– but did you forget to add the cherries to the recipe?
Binky
Oh my goodnees, I did! Thank you for pointing that out to Michelle! I’ve fixed it now!
Lisa | Garlic & Zest
I love how thick and unctuous your sauce looks! Cherry has always been a favorite flavor for me and it just sounds perfect mixed into this flavorful sauce. I’ve got some chicken legs that need this sauce!
Binky
Your chicken legs will not be disappointed with this yummy sauce slathered on them! (Neither will you! 😉 ) Thanks, Lisa!