When it comes to barbecue sauce, some popular brands contain so much sugar, they could be located in the candy aisle of the grocery store. For those of us who have prediabetes, it’s worth reading nutrition labels.
For example, a two-tablespoon serving of Sweet Baby Ray’s Original Barbecue Sauce contains 17 grams of sugar, about the amount in half of a regular Snicker’s bar. KC Masterpiece is lower in sugar – at “only” 12 grams a two-tablespoon serving, it has the same amount of sugar as three mini Butterfinger bars.
For years, I refrained from adding barbecue sauce when grilling, wanting to avoid carbs. I’ve relaxed a bit, however, and on the Fourth of July, I craved real, old-fashioned barbecue chicken slathered in spicy red sauce.
Turns out, it’s easy to find a sauce that is reasonable in sugar and yet still has a classic taste – Stubbs Original Legendary Bar-B-Q Sauce.
When I say “classic” taste – I mean it literally. I am a native of Texas, and the sauce was created by a fellow Texan, the late C.B. “Stubbs” Stubblefield, born and raised in Lubbock. After many years in the BBQ restaurant business, Stubblefield started bottling his sauces, with great success.
Stubbs original sauce has considerably fewer grams of sugar than typical barbecue sauces, with 5 grams of sugar for a two tablespoon serving.
Importantly, it does not taste “diet-ish.” (Note: Some of the Stubbs sauces contain more sugar, I’m referring to the Original Legendary version.)
At our holiday cookout, it was fun to once again serve barbecue chicken; no one complained the sauce wasn’t sweet enough. Stubbs original contains molasses as a sweetener, which gives it a deep flavor. It has no high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners.
While I’m not going to go overboard on the Stubbs – it does add sugar to a main dish – I’m looking forward to having barbecue chicken again this summer.
In cooler weather, I am going to put boneless chicken breasts in a crockpot, pour over Stubbs Original and cook until the chicken is tender enough to shred. I’ll serve it on whole wheat buns, rice or cauliflower “rice.”
There are still plenty of good grilling days ahead.
Enjoy some barbecue!
Stubbs Original Legendary Bar-B-Que Sauce retails for $3.99 at Target, and is also available at supermarkets.
I received no freebies or financial compensation for this article.