Who doesn’t love a mouthwatering homemade barbecue sauce, especially when it is a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce dripping over our grilled chicken wings. With a great taste and a 30 minute marinade, this recipe goes down as the bomb for us!
This recipe mixes the sweet sauce with just a hint of spice to deliver a surprisingly complex taste. The sauce only takes a few minutes to put together, so unless you are up against a huge time crunch, go ahead and make your own. It beats opening a jar filled with preservatives!
Jason and I love to spend our weekends grilling, not just for ourselves but for friends and family as well. We love gauging their expressions and reactions to recipes to see if they should go on the blog or not. Thanks to those faithful friends that step up to the plate and allow us to try out our creations on you!
When I think of BBQ Chicken, I think of our nation celebrating on the Fourth of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day. I think of yummy potato salad, dripping watermelon juices running down my hand, sun shining bright in the sky, the smell of a grilled meats. You get the picture. I think that is why we can’t seem to have enough grilled chicken recipes – BBQ chicken, in particular.
How to Make Homemade BBQ Sauce?
Grab a few homemade BBQ sauce recipes and they usually all start with vinegar, brown sugar and ketchup. Yep, those are your staples right there. Pretty simple. Creating the magic is in the additional ingredients. For us, it is adding lemon juice and just a smidge of ground red pepper to add the zing.
What are other Barbecue Sauce Ingredients?
If you want to customize your own sauce, think out of the box…add a finger of bourbon for some sweetness, your favorite craft brew for some earthy undertones or maybe even add bacon – Everything goes with bacon, right?
My mom always added molasses, I have a friend who swears by Worcestershire Sauce. Sautéed onions will take a few extra minutes but we all know how delicious they are!!!
Start the BBQ Sauce Marinade for the Chicken
Add the ingredients for the Sweet and Spicy BBQ Marinade in a ziplock bag, but keep ½ cup reserved for later use.
Add the chicken breasts to the ziplock bag and work the marinade over the chicken.
This recipe only requires a 30 minute marinade!
Let’s Grill using the Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce
As with most of our BBQ chicken recipes, set up the grill for direct heat. Set the temperature to 375 degrees, remove the chicken breasts from the BBQ sauce marinade and add them to the grill.
It only takes about 7 minutes per side for the chicken to be fully cooked, but check the temperature to make sure it reaches 165 degrees.
Brush on the reserved BBQ sauce before you remove the chicken from the grill.
What goes great with Grilled Sweet and Spicy BBQ Chicken?
I think potatoes go with just about anything! That could be my upbringing but potatoes are always a hit! Add a green vegetable with the Grilled Brussel Sprouts and you have a full meal right there to please the entire family!
Ingredients
- 4-6 chicken breasts
Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce
- 1 c vinegar
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 1/2 c ketchup
- 1/4 c lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground red pepper
Instructions
- Bring all the ingredients except for the chicken together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes. Allow it to completely cool.
- Use 1/2 of the sauce to marinade the chicken in a zip lock bag for one hour prior to grilling.
- Using direct heat, bring grill up to temperature of 375 degrees and cook each side 5-7 minutes, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- During the last couple minutes, brush on the sauce a couple of times and keep flipping to create a thick coating.
