Roasted Cherry Barbecue Sauce

Turn fresh cherries into a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce for using on all of your favorite grilled proteins. Make this rich cherry barbecue sauce recipe by roasting the cherries first to deepen their flavor before simmering them with plenty of tomato sauce, aromatics, vinegar, and molasses.

I love sweet cherries and get so excited during the few weeks each summer when they are at their peak—and thus, also at their most affordable. I’ll buy up as many pounds as I can and snack on them for days.

And on the occasion when I have extras, or when there are a few that are a bit bruised or past their prime, I’ll set aside a pound to make into this roasted cherry barbecue sauce.

I’m married to a man with a deep, abiding love for a good condiment. He also loves to grill and smoke meats and we make a lot of pulled pork and pulled chicken, so barbecue sauce is pretty important around here.

He doesn’t usually love fruity barbecue sauces, but this cherry barbecue sauce recipe is the exception. Roasting the cherries before simmering them into sauce deepens their flavor, giving them almost a jammy sweetness. This is enhanced by the brown sugar and molasses in the sauce and is balanced by the acid in the tomatoes, orange juice, and vinegar.

The result is a sauce that is super luscious and rich with the perfect balance of sweetness and tanginess. Add some crushed red pepper flakes for a bit of heat (if you want).

The best part? It’s very easy to make. Most of the cooking is hands-off. If you can pit cherries and blend stuff, you can make this homemade barbecue sauce. I promise!

Ingredient notes

• Sweet cherries: Pitted and halved. Since they’re getting cooked down and pureed, this is a great use for any that are bruised to starting to get a little too ripe. I use a cherry pitter to pit mine, but you can also use a metal straw for this.
• Butter: If you need to make a dairy-free sauce, I recommend using a vegan butter substitute instead of just olive oil. Even though it’s only a couple of tablespoons, we want the flavor of the butter in here for added richness.
• Aromatics: Half of an onion and minced garlic. I like white onion in my barbecue sauce, but yellow or red onion will also work just fine.
• Tomato sauce: This serves as the base of the sauce.
• Sugar: A mix of light brown sugar and molasses. You can reduce these if you want a sauce that isn’t as sweet, but I’d still use a mix of both.
• Acid: A mix of orange juice and cider vinegar. Bottled orange juice is just fine here. Apple juice would also work but would make for a less tangy sauce. If you don’t have cider vinegar, red wine vinegar would be the next best option (but cider vinegar is preferred!).
• Extras: Plenty of Worcestershire sauce and a big spoonful of stone-ground mustard. Don’t forget salt and black pepper and some crushed red pepper flakes for a bit of heat. (The heat is optional! The salt and black pepper are not.)

How to make my cherry barbecue sauce recipe

This recipe is as simple as roasting the cherries, simmering the sauce, then pureeing everything down.

Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper and spread the cherries out, cut-side up. Make sure they’re not too crowded—we want them to roast, not steam.

Let them roast for about 45 minutes. They’ll get a bit wrinkled on the cut side and the juices that pool in the hole where the pit was will get sticky and a bit jammy.

Set the cherries aside while you sauté the onion and garlic in the butter. Cook the onion until soft, translucent, and brown in spots before adding the garlic. We don’t want the garlic to burn, so cook it for only about a minute before adding the roasted cherries and the remaining ingredients.

Let everything come to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 20-30 minutes. Give it a stir occasionally so the bottom doesn’t burn.

Once the sauce has thickened a bit, remove it from the heat and puree it with an immersion blender. At this point, determine if you like the texture of the sauce; you can always put it back on the stove to simmer for a few more minutes if it’s not as thick as you’d like.

If you only have a standard blender and not an immersion blender, let the sauce cool a bit before pureeing it. Whenever you are blending hot liquids, be sure to vent the lid and place a kitchen towel over the vented area. I also recommend starting slow so that you don’t splatter hot liquid all over the kitchen (or yourself!).

Be sure to give it a taste for seasoning. Add more salt, pepper, or crushed red pepper flakes as needed before using or cooling and storing for later.

Storage options

• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. To keep it fresh for as long as possible, only stick clean utensils in the jar (and never your fingers!).
• Freeze in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. You can also freeze it in small portions in Souper Cubes first, then store those in a zip-top freezer bag.
• You can process this sauce in a water-bath canner (20 minutes for pint jars). If you can it, you may want to double the recipe to really make the whole process more worth your time. My friend Megan walks through the process of water-bath canning in her peach jalapeño jam recipe.

FAQs

Roasted Cherry Barbecue Sauce

Sweet cherries are slow roasted before being turned into a rich barbecue sauce that is at once sweet and tangy. Slather it on grilled chicken or pork chops, toss it with pulled pork, or spread it onto burgers!

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Servings32

Equipment

• Cherry pitter
• Half sheet pans
• 4.5-quart Dutch oven
• Immersion blender

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 pound fresh sweet cherries pitted and halved
• ▢ 2 tablespoons salted butter
• ▢ 1/2 large white onion diced
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 2 (8-ounce cans) tomato sauce
• ▢ 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1/3 cup molasses
• ▢ 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• ▢ 1/4 cup orange juice
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
• ▢ 1 teaspoon fine sea salt plus more to taste
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon black pepper plus more to taste
• ▢ Pinch crushed red pepper flakes optional

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Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the halved cherries in a single layer on the baking sheet, cut sides up.
  1 pound fresh sweet cherries
• Roast the cherries for about 45 minutes. You want the cherries to be a bit wrinkled and the juices should be jammy. Set aside.
• In a medium Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 7-10 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent and browned in spots. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
  2 tablespoons salted butter, 1/2 large white onion, 2 cloves garlic
• Add the roasted cherries and the remaining ingredients to the pot. Stir to combine, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened slightly.
  2 (8-ounce cans) tomato sauce, 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/3 cup molasses, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• Remove from the heat. Puree until smooth using an immersion blender.
• If the sauce is thinner than you’d like, you can return it to the heat and simmer uncovered for another 10-20 minutes, until it reaches your desired consistency. Keep in mind that the sauce will thicken as it cools.
• Taste and adjust seasoning, adding additional salt, pepper, or red pepper flakes as needed.
• Cool, then transfer to sterile airtight jars and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.

Notes

Ingredients

• If you would like to use frozen cherries, be sure to let them thaw before roasting them.
• Yellow or red onion can be substituted for the white onion.

Blending

• If using a standard blender, let the sauce cool slightly first and keep the lid vented, with a kitchen towel over it, while blending the hot mixture.

Storage

• If you would like to can the barbecue sauce for longer-term storage, process pint jars in a water-bath canner for 20 minutes.

Yield

• Makes about 1 quart of sauce. 
• If doubling, be sure to spread the cherries onto two sheet pans and rotate the pans in the oven halfway through roasting.

Nutrition

Serving: 2tablespoons | Calories: 45kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 0.4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 196mg | Potassium: 143mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 97IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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