Chocolate Chile BBQ Sauce Recipe. Yes, You Read That Right.

This Chocolate Chile BBQ Sauce Recipe has the classic taste profile of all the most popular barbecue sauces, sweet, tart, and slightly spicy, but with a wonderful twist: The seductive tastes of chocolate and chiles. If it sounds weird, well, it is a bit weird, but I’m here to tell you it works. And don’t worry, it is not too hot. Of course you can make it hotter if you want…

How to use it? I love it on pork ribs and even meatloaf, not so much on other beef products. If you put it on pork ribs, just dry brine the meat. Skip the herb and spice rubs when cooking the ribs.

Chocolate Chile BBQ Sauce Recipe

Chocolate Chile Barbecue Sauce Recipe

4.13 from 65 votes

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This delicious sauce has the classic profile of any great BBQ sauce, sweet, tart, spicy, but with a wonderful twist: The tastes of chocolate and chile. While the chocolate BBQ sauce recipe might sound weird at first, you are sure to instantly fall in love with it the first time you try it on ribs, chicken, steak, and more.

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Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings: 44

Course: Sauces and Condiments

Cuisine: American

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients Method Approximate Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

 

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• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup water
• ¾ cup rice vinegar
• ½ cup tomato paste
• ¼ cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
• ⅛ teaspoon chipotle chile powder

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Method

 

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1. Mix the sugar and water in a pan and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
2. Paint it on your meat after it is fully cooked. One layer is all that is needed. If you wish, put the sauced meat over high heat to caramelize the sugars a bit, but watch it carefully so it doesn't burn. Then, for a festive touch, grate some orange zest on top. Serve it with a big red wine.

Notes

About the cocoa. I use Hershey’s Natural Unsweetened. Click here to learn more about chocolate and the different types in my article on the Science of Chocolate.

About the salt. Remember, kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works.

Optional. Grate on some zest of orange just before serving.

Approximate Nutrition

Serving: 2tablespoonsCalories: 396kcalCarbohydrates: 95gProtein: 4gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1191mgPotassium: 878mgFiber: 4gSugar: 87gVitamin A: 1105IUVitamin C: 31mgCalcium: 52mgIron: 3mg

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