This vegan BBQ sauce is so easy to make and so delicious. It’s packed with all the smokey, salty and sweet flavors that you love. It’s also the best thing ever brushed onto veggie burgers!
It’s so easy to make your own vegan bbq sauce at home. And honestly it tastes SO much better than any of the pre-made sauces you can buy. The flavors really pop!
It has all that smokey, spicy, salty and sweet flavor that you know and love.
It’s absolutely divine brushed onto any and all veggie burgers, and especially on our homemade vegan burgers.
It’s also wonderful as a dip for any vegan nuggets or some baked tofu. And it’s the best thing ever on our BBQ cauliflower wings, crispy BBQ tofu, BBQ jackfruit pulled pork and jackfruit tacos.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make This Sauce:
Ingredient Notes
- Tomato paste and ketchup – we need both in this recipe, the tomato paste to intensify the flavor and the ketchup to create that rich tomato base to the sauce.
- Light brown sugar – or dark brown sugar both work great in this recipe.
- Dijon mustard – is our favorite mustard for flavor, but feel free to use another prepared yellow mustard instead.
- Apple cider vinegar – adds tang to the sauce. I don’t recommend replacing this with any other kind of vinegar.
- Liquid smoke – if you can’t get hold of liquid smoke you could switch this for an extra 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika.
How To Make Vegan BBQ Sauce
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add all ingredients to a saucepan on medium heat and bring to a simmer, whisking regularly to mix well.
- When it reaches a simmer, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes, whisking regularly, to let the sauce reduce and thicken. If you want a thicker sauce, you can let it simmer for longer.
- Remove it from the heat and allow it to cool completely.
- Transfer the sauce to an airtight container or jar and refrigerate.
Chef’s Tips
Make it thicker. If you want a thicker sauce, just simmer it for longer so that it reduces more.
Make it spicier. This sauce has only a small hint of spiciness from the cayenne pepper (we used ¼ teaspoon). Feel free to increase the cayenne pepper or add in some crushed red pepper flakes to make it spicier.
Make it smokier. The sauce is beautifully smokey already, but feel free to add more smoked paprika and/or liquid smoke (to taste) if you want it super smokey.
Make it gluten-free. To ensure this sauce is gluten-free use a gluten-free soy sauce and make sure your liquid smoke is also labeled gluten-free.
Storing and Freezing
Keep your homemade vegan barbecue sauce stored in the fridge where it will stay good for 7-10 days (use your best judgement on freshness when it’s past 7 days).
It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and then use as normal.
More Vegan Sauces
- Vegan Buffalo Sauce
- Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
- Vegan Tartar Sauce
- Vegan Tzatziki
- Vegan Teriyaki Sauce
- Vegan Chipotle Sauce
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- ½ cup Ketchup (120ml)
- ½ cup Water (120ml)
- 2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 2 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
- ½ tsp Liquid Smoke
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ½ tsp Smoked Paprika
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a saucepan on medium heat and bring to a simmer, whisking regularly to mix well.
- When it reaches a simmer, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes, whisking regularly, to let the sauce reduce and thicken. If you want a thicker sauce, you can let it simmer for longer.
- Remove it from the heat and allow it to cool completely.
- Transfer the sauce to an airtight container or jar and refrigerate.
Notes
- Quantity: This recipe makes around 1 cup of vegan bbq sauce.
- Storing: Keep your homemade vegan barbecue sauce stored in the fridge where it will stay good for 7-10 days (use your best judgement on freshness when it’s past 7 days).
- Freezing: It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and then use as normal.
WOW!!! I made it to specs except no liquid smoke, smoked paprika or cayenne, and I was ecstatic 🤩 Alison strikes your taste buds again
Thank you Pat! 🙂
Our diet/lifestyle does not include oil or sugar, so I left out the oil (generally makes cleanup SO much easier!), added no brown sugar and only half the maple sugar; it was so rich and flavorful! We used it with Lindsay Nelson’s (Happy Herbivore) BBQ Sliders and carmelized onions (a quick & easy, yummy favorite) Absolutely delicious! Will definitely be making this again!
That’s great! Thanks for sharing and for your awesome review!
Is there a substitute for ketchup?
Any store-bought tomato sauce should work fine.
Love it
We thought it was excellent!! We left out the brown sugar and it was just the perfect spicy/sweet combo. We used it for vegan ribs and wow – delicious! Better than any bottled sauce!!
Awesome! Thanks for the great review Laurel!
OH MY, This sauce is heavenly! I put it over some cooked navy beans and it was amazing. My favorite lunch is the barbequed beans heated up, then spread on sourdough toast and topped with pickled red onions for more flavor and crunch. I don’t see a recipe on your site for pickled onions but they are so simple and keep for a long time in the fridge. I slice red inions, salt them liberally, let them sit for a couple of hours, drain and rinse off the salt, then add 1 part water and two parts apple cider vinegar. They get better with age.
Hi Sally, so happy you love this sauce, we’re crazy about it too. And thanks so much for sharing your recipe, I’ll definitely have to try it like that! 🙂
Delicious! You were spot on with the spices as usual! I had to make the smoked paprika sub as can’t get liquid smoke here. You mentioned subbing liquid smoke with 2tsp smoked paprika (thank you!!). I was thinking that 2.5tsps total sounded like a lot in 1cup of sauce, so started with 1.5 tsps and taste tested. Quickly realized I could trust you and that it did need the additional tsp to get the Smokey flavour! All your recipes turn out great, I should know by now that I can trust them 100%! 😊
Thanks so much Mo! So glad you loved the recipe and that the smokey flavor was spot on! 🙂
Is it okay to omit the oil?
Yes you can definitely do that. 🙂
Had to make this tonight. I skipped the garlic and onion powder as I don’t eat either. Wife’s comment was “By far the most superior BBQ sauce we’ve ever had.” I liked it so much, I ended up just eating what was left over with a teaspoon 😀
Yay! That’s so good to hear, thanks so much Duane!