Barbecue Sauce Comparison: Kansas City, Texas, and New England
Kansas City sweetens with molasses, Texas relies on smoke, Maine on fruit. Four manufacturers compared — with their heat scales, their peculiarities, and the question of which meat each type is intended for.
Barbecue Sauce Comparison: Kansas City, Texas, and New England
Four manufacturers, four distinct styles. Learn about the differences between the styles, which manufacturer offers what spice levels, and for which meats each type is intended. This is not a ranking or review.
American barbecue sauces can be categorized by region, and this categorization is not just folklore. It follows the type of meat traditionally grilled in each area. Where pork was cooked for hours, a thick, sweet sauce emerged. Where beef was grilled over an open fire, the sauce remained thinner and smokier.
In our category, four producers stand side-by-side, still reflecting these differences. If you know what style was developed for which purpose, you don't have to try seventy bottles.
Kansas City: Molasses, Brown Sugar, Full-Bodied
The Kansas City style is what most people mean when they say barbecue sauce. Dark red, thick, sweet, with a tomato base and molasses or brown sugar as its backbone. It originated for ribs and pork shoulder, meaning for fatty meats with long cooking times.
Rufus Teague from Kansas City bottles their sauces in 432 and 454-gram whiskey bottles. The ingredient list is striking: pureed raisins, orange juice, and anchovy paste are found in several of the manufacturer's sauces. Raisins provide a deep sweetness rather than just sugar, and anchovies add a saltiness that doesn't taste fishy.
The range covers a wide spectrum: Honey Sweet with ten percent honey as a mild base, Whiskey Maple with whiskey and maple syrup, Smoky Apple with apple juice for a subtle acidity. The KC Gold Mustard stands out: a mustard sauce with apple cider vinegar, served in the Southern states with pork, chicken, and fish.
Texas: Smoke Leads, Sweetness Recedes
Texas grills beef, and beef doesn't need sweetness. The Texan style therefore focuses on smoke and spice instead of sugar, and the sauces are thinner than those from Kansas City.
Old Texas builds its range as a heat ladder. The Original remains mild and thrives on smoky flavor. The Chipotle gets its heat from smoked jalapeño, thus enhancing the smoke. The Jalapeno Pepper Sauce ups the ante, and the Ghost Pepper uses Bhut Jolokia.
For context: Ghost Pepper is not just a slight increase in pepper. The chili pod is many times hotter than a jalapeño. When opening the sauce for the first time, it's best to dose it drop by drop and taste before putting the entire spoon on the meat.
Alongside these is the Spicy Buffalo Wing Sauce, which uses cayenne, mustard, and garlic and is intended as a marinade for chicken wings, not as a glaze at the end.
New England: Fruity, Finely Spiced, Broadly Positioned
Stonewall Kitchen from Maine works in a different tradition. Here, the focus is not on pit cuisine, but on the pantry: grill sauces, relishes, salsas, and simmering sauces side-by-side.
The sauces are correspondingly fruitier and more finely spiced. The Hickory Brown Sugar combines smoked hickory wood with brown sugar, Dijon mustard, and apple cider vinegar. The Roadhouse Steak Sauce is seasoned with clove, Dijon, and Worcestershire, and sweetened with raisin and tamarind. The Hot Honey Wing Sauce pits honey against cayenne.
Those not looking for tomato sauce will also find counter-designs here: the Chimichurri with parsley, oregano, and lime, or the Chile con Queso based on cheddar.
Europe: American Recipe, European Production
Easton Reed stands somewhat apart from the three American producers. The recipes bear the hallmark of Southern cuisine, but they are cooked in Europe and bottled in 260-milliliter glass bottles.
The difference is evident in the smoke. The Ribhouse derives it from smoked spirit vinegar instead of smoke flavoring, and the Maple Chipotle from ground chipotle. How this can be read on the ingredient list is explained in our guide BBQ Sauce: Which One Suits Which Meat?
Two Things None of These Sauces Achieve
None of them replace a rub. All four manufacturers create sauces that sit on the outside and glaze. The deep flavor is created beforehand, through salt and time.
And none survive direct heat. The sugar content that carries the glaze will burn on a 250-degree hot grill. The sauce belongs in the last few minutes and in the indirect zone — even more so with the sweet Kansas City style than with the thinner Texan ones.
Four styles, one grill. You can find the entire selection under Grill & BBQ Sauces.
