These Are the Best BBQ Sauces for Pizza.
BBQ pizza is an amazing example of how flexible pizza can be. Tomato sauce is just one of many sauces you can put on a pie , but the sweet and smoky flavor of barbecue sauce makes it a particularly appealing alternative. The problem is that barbecue sauces vary greatly in taste and consistency, perhaps even more so than tomato-based sauces. I wanted to find BBQ sauce for pizza, so I grabbed eight popular brands from my local supermarket and got to work making the pies.
Competitors
I selected participants based on Reddit, what was available at my supermarket, and what I thought might be available in different regions of the US. This list includes sauces from major brands and some from smaller brands. The brands are: Sweet Baby Ray’s, Stubb’s, Sticky Fingers, Rib Rack, Kraft, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Bachan’s Japan Barbecue and A1. I know A1 isn’t specifically a BBQ sauce (it’s actually just labeled “sauce”), but to me it’s considered a BBQ sauce, so that’s why it’s here. Let me tell you right away, this was not a loser.
What makes a good BBQ pizza sauce?
Each of these brands has an “original” and three to eight different additional flavors—sweet and smoky, hickory and brown sugar, Carolina gold—it’s a little overwhelming in the seasoning aisle at my ShopRite. I decided to keep things simple and chose the “original” flavor of each brand.
Barbecue sauce for barbecue is different from barbecue sauce and pizza sauce. With that in mind, I couldn’t just taste the sauce straight from the bottle and let you taste it. When evaluating each sauce, I considered the flavor and texture of the pizza, as well as how it tasted after cooking. I made two pizza variations: a plain pizza with just shredded mozzarella on top of the sauces, and a pizza with the sauces topped with cheese, grilled chicken and red onion (a classic BBQ pizza topping in my book). I was prepared for the ratings for each sauce to be reflected on both types of pizza, but the toppings actually made a big difference in how the sauce was perceived.
Without further ado, here’s how these sauces rank overall and based on their strengths.
Sweet Baby Ray
Best BBQ sauce overall
I was impressed with Sweet Baby Ray’s. The sauce is sweet, but not cloying. The sweetness is quickly followed by a smoky flavor and ends with a bitterness, but this is not a negative. This is the BBQ sauce you want to use for that classic BBQ pizza taste. It complements other flavors while maintaining its own characteristics.
This was the only sauce that tasted great with both plain cheese and toppings, meaning it could pair well with other ingredients or on its own without being too overpowering. Sweet Baby Ray’s has a thick consistency, so it doesn’t spread anywhere. You can adjust the amount of sauce on the pie to make the layer more or less dense.
Craft
Best Stuffed BBQ Sauce
Kraft surprised me with pizza and I’m not thrilled about it. This BBQ sauce tastes smoky and then sweet. The experience ends with a sharp peppery note that I thought would overshadow the pizza. This was not the case.
The Kraft tasted like classic barbecue sauce on a slice of cheese, but it was even better with toppings. If you know your pizza will be loaded with meat and vegetables, you might want to choose Kraft. Although Kraft and Sweet Baby Ray’s have a thick consistency and start the ingredient list with high fructose corn syrup, my grocery store sells Kraft for almost $1.50 less.
Ribbed stand
Best BBQ Sauce for a Plain Pie
Rib Rack starts with sweet molasses and caramel earthiness, but is balanced with a strong kick. Paired with a simple mozzarella topping, this sauce is really good. The sauce’s tangy profile makes the mozzarella taste creamier, and the dairy doesn’t need anything else. However, I found this sauce to be unsatisfactory with the toppings. All complexity disappeared and only sweetness remained. This sauce is ideal if you are a lover of simple pies and the fillings are not your thing.
Japanese BBQ Sauce Bachan
Best BBQ Sauce for Savory Flavor
Of all the sauces on this list, I will put this Bachan on the door of my refrigerator. While it’s not a classic American-style barbecue sauce (obviously) in either taste or consistency, it is amazing. Most BBQ sauces start out sweet and sour, but not this one. Bachan has a garlicky, spicy, salty and sweet taste.
The only reason this sauce didn’t score better for me was its consistency. Its first ingredient is soy sauce, and this watery pizza dough consistency is difficult to control. I wouldn’t care, but due to the thin texture, you’ll never get a thick layer on the pizza. The flavor is amazing, but it barely creates coverage. However, you can serve it separately and dip the crust in it. I would recommend this to anyone who prefers a savory flavor over a traditional sweet BBQ sauce.
Stubba
Best Tomato BBQ Sauce
Stubb’s offers a tangy tomato sauce with a tangy finish that pairs best with a simple cheese topping. I found that when the pizza was topped with chicken and onions, it gave way to a mild tomato flavor. Stubb’s sauce has a medium consistency so you can spread it in a thick layer, but don’t put it on too thick or it will weigh down the crust. Use this sauce if you want a combination of marinara sauce and BBQ sauce on your pizza.
Sticky fingers
Best Sweet BBQ Sauce
I shouldn’t have been surprised by the sweetness of the sauce called Sticky Fingers Sweet Carolina. This sauce is immediately sweet, with a veil of sourness that lingers far behind. Overall, this sauce was a little too sweet for my taste. Things improved when toppings were added, presumably because the other ingredients diluted the sweetness a bit. I think this sauce would be great for anyone who prefers a sweet BBQ sauce to something more complex.
Sauce A1
Best BBQ sauce if you don’t have a sweet tooth
A1 sauce is a confusing condiment, and that’s because it can be used to accent anything from burgers to stews to pizza. I was asking for a lot when I tossed A1 onto a pizza crust, and surprisingly, I didn’t hate it. Well, I really hated it as a plain pizza, but I liked it when I added toppings. A1 is a thin sauce that’s saturated with vinegar to the point where you’ll need a moment to decide if it’s a bad idea. It’s also earthy, peppery and floral, and I think that’s where it gets its credit – it has a complex flavor profile.
The only thing it’s not: sweet. If BBQ sauce bothers you because it’s always so sweet, try putting a thin (really thin) layer of A1 on your pizza instead.
Dinosaur Bar-B-Ke
Best BBQ sauce for anyone out there
This result surprised me very much. I used to enjoy eating at real Dinosaur Bar-B-Que restaurants, so I thought this would be a good choice for my pizza sauce. Unfortunately, this BBQ sauce is bland. It’s a tomato-based sauce, so it has a slight sourness to it, but it’s hardly spicy. Otherwise there is a slight sweetness and no spice at all. This sauce went well with the simple cheese filling and almost disappeared when the toppings were added. Perhaps if you have a “sensitive” palate, you’ll enjoy this sauce as a pizza sauce. Maybe a kid who has never tried BBQ pizza before? Well, there will probably be someone who can appreciate it.