This Smoked Pumpkin Bourbon BBQ Sauce combines the smoky pumpkin with a deep bourbon to create a dark, thick and delicious BBQ sauce that can be used on pulled pork, chops, chicken or wings.
Sauté onions in olive oil over medium high heat until golden brown. This should take about 7-9 minutes. Add in the minced garlic and continue stirring for 1-2 minutes.
Add in the remaining ingredients, turn the heat on high, stir and bring it to a boil.
Reduce heat down to low and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes.
Allow the sauce to cool and then blend it to incorporate the onions and garlic and smooth out the sauce.
Place in refrigerator for 24 hours before using to allow the flavors to come together.
Notes
Pumpkin Puree: You can use canned but we decided to use our Smoked Pumpkin recipe. Bourbon Substitute: If you want to leave out the bourbon, replace with water or even a beer or root beer. Refrigeration: Make sure to allow to refrigerate for 24 hours to get the flavors to blend fully. The sauce is thicker and has a much more complex taste after 24-48 hours. It's worth the wait! Blending:Blending the sauce is only a recommendation. You can allow the onions to stay chunky in the sauce and it works great as well.Brown Sugar Substitute: Out of brown sugar, no problem! You can still make this sauce. You could use regular white sugar and add 1/2 teaspoon of molasses to it. Doing this shouldn't really change the way the sauce tastes too much. Another option would be to use maple syrup, but this will change the way it tastes a fair amount.Inspired by Allrecipes Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce here.