This Victorian Barbecue sauce made with rhubarb is a delicious, fresh tasting sauce made with the earliest spring crop- rhubarb! Adding this fruity sauce to grilled meat is a sure staple on your dinner table! It’s the perfect condiment to freeze or can to enjoy when the rhubarb season is over.

Rhubarb is well-loved in a rhubarb pie, but it can also be used for savory meat dishes with this barbeque sauce recipe! If you find yourself with an abundance of rhubarb, this rhubarb sauce is a must! All you need is rhubarb and a few additional ingredients for this perfect combination. The best part is that it can be canned with water bath canning with a processing time of just 15 minutes. Not sure if you want to can this sauce? This recipe can easily be frozen, or take our canning course to learn all of the ins and outs of canning! Canning can seem intimidating at first, but once you learn how you’ll want to fill your pantry with all kinds of homemade canning recipes! (See more canning recipes and resources here!)

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Essential Items to can or freeze this homemade barbecue sauce

We find these kitchen items to be essential in addition to canning jars, lids and a stainless steel pot! If you are on a budget, any pot can easily become a canning pot with a towel or rack added to the bottom.

Water Bath Canner or Steam Canner
Freezer containers

Ingredients for 8 pints

16 cups chopped rhubarb (roughly 1 cup per stalk) Frozen rhubarb works well, too!
7 cups brown sugar
3 cups raisins
1 cup chopped onion OR 4 Tablespoon dried minced onion
1 cup white vinegar
2 teaspoon allspice (ground)
2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon ginger (ground)
2 teaspoon salt

The combination of the rhubarb with brown sugar and raisins gives this sauce a sweet and tangy flavor. With the additional spices, the flavor is so delicious! Azure Standard’s spices will set this sauce apart! Their spices are always so delicious and fresh, plus you can get them at a bulk discount is you choose to!

How to make the sauce

Combine rhubarb and all other ingredients in a stainless steel pan.
Bring to a boil, stirring often until the mixture has thickened to look like a store-bought BBQ sauce. It should take about 30 minutes.
You can choose to leave the sauce as is, or use an immersion blender or food processor to blend sauce for a smooth consistency (see recommended kitchen tools here!)
Choose to freeze or can!

Freeze or canning the sauce

To can: This sauce can be preserved by water-bath canning if prepared as written. This recipe will yield 8 pints. Fill hot jars with the rhubarb barbecue sauce and leave a half inch headspace. In a water bath canner, cover with water and process for 15 minutes. (make sure to account for altitude adjustment, learn more here.) If you made adjustments to the ingredients, make sure to freeze instead as this changes the safety of preserving through canning, although keep in mind that canning will give you longer storage time– and save freezer space!

To freeze: Ladle into 8 oz containers and allow to cool before freezing.

Ideas for using rhubarb BBQ sauce

We love to smother our pork or chicken with this sauce! It’s especially great with pork tenderloin, pork chops, or bone-in chicken legs.

Special Notes:

No time to make this now? Freeze your abundance of fresh rhubarb chopped in freezer bags and make this in winter! Rhubarb needs nothing special to be frozen!