I Tried And Ranked 18 Grocery Brand BBQ Sauces. This Was The Best

I don't know about you, but I never need to wait for warm weather to dig into a smoky, tangy, meaty barbecue fest. Heck, I made barbecue ribs one year for Thanksgiving! There's no wrong time or place to enjoy the Southern staple, and if you're particularly passionate about your barbecue, you probably already have a favorite name-brand sauce stashed away in your pantry. But I'm here to shake things up a bit — as it turns out, store-brand barbecue sauces may deserve more attention than they've historically been given. 

Before you ask, I've tried a lot of barbecue sauces. From a stunning lineup of bourbon barbecue sauces to the best barbecue sauces for pork, I've probably tried more barbecue sauces than the average consumer. Yet I wouldn't say I have ultra-high standards. My ideal barbecue sauce has plenty of tang and smoke, with sweetness coming in behind and a lot of depth to boot. I tasted 18 store-brand barbecue sauces and ranked them based on my personal preference, as well as how balanced and nuanced their flavor profile was in general. 

If there's one thing I don't want from my barbecue sauce, it's a ton of sweetness right off the bat. Unfortunately, that's exactly what I got from Signature Select's Honey BBQ Sauce. The honey was way too front-and-center for my liking, and ultimately, this sauce was relegated to last place. 

To be fair, you will taste a little smoke and subtle spice behind the honey, but they're nowhere near prominent enough to bump this up a spot or two. And there wasn't much depth in this sauce to speak of, either. On the whole, it was just a pretty underwhelming offering, and though I wouldn't call it awful, it definitely wasn't my thing. 

My issues with Kroger's Honey Sweet BBQ Sauce were very similar to the problems I had with the previous sauce — namely, it was too sweet to inspire awe from my taste buds. I can't rag on the company too much for this (after all, the bottle is literally called "Honey Sweet"), but I can give it 17th place because it's not quite my thing.

Despite its sweetness, I was able to rank this bottle higher than the last because it does have some smoke coming through at the back end of the bite. That gave it a bit more depth than the previous sauce. Still, I'd prefer my sauce to emphasize savory, tangy notes over sweetness. 

I've had Trader Joe's Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce before, so I already knew I wasn't its biggest fan — though I adore Trader Joe's, its condiments often don't hit the spot for me. However, it's been a while since I tasted the sauce, so I walked into this tasting with an open mind. My previous opinion prevailed. 

This sauce is pretty one-note, and that one note is sweet. You will taste a tiny bit of tang and smoke lingering behind the sweetness, but they don't do nearly enough to lift the sauce out of mediocre territory. I was only able to rank this above the previous two because it had some more depth to it; however, there are far better barbecue sauces on this list. 

In my opinion, an "Original" barbecue sauce should not have sweetness as its predominant note, which is the fatal flaw that relegated Signature Select's Original BBQ Sauce to 15th place on this list. This feels like a good time to point out that I don't hate sweet sauces as a rule (in fact, you'll find some in pretty high positions in this ranking), but a sweet sauce needs to be balanced by enough smoke and tang to be multidimensional. 

There are indeed tangy notes and even a little bit of spice in this sauce, but for a sauce that claims to be a standard go-to (or at least, that's what I think of when I see the word "Original"), it's just too sweet to fit the bill. It did have enough dimension to make it to spot 15, though. 

I did give Private Selection's Applewood Smoke Honey Maple BBQ Sauce a few extra brownie points for being spot-on with its flavor claims — the maple flavor comes through in droves, and made this one of the more unique sauces on this list. However, it was unique in a way that I didn't love.

I've never loved maple bacon, or maple combined with anything savory, so I'll call this out as being a particularly hot take — if you're a fan of maple and meat, you definitely won't be disappointed by this sauce. But, again, it's just too heavy on the maple. There's a hint of smoke and heat at the end, and while they try to balance the sauce, it just tastes like a slightly smoky maple syrup to me. 

Kroger's This Is The Original Barbecue Sauce suffered a similar fate to many in the bottom half of this list, but on the whole, I didn't dislike it. Yes, it was indeed a little sweeter than I'd expect from a standard barbecue sauce, but that wasn't a huge offense here.

Rather, the sauce suffered from being pretty boring. It had some tang, and the molasses was definitely present, but beyond that, it didn't really do anything to capture my attention. If you're feeding a crowd with a wide range of sauce preferences, this could be the right sauce to have on hand — but if you're looking to impress, I'd grab a different bottle. 

I can certainly give some praise to Private Selection's Memphis Inspired BBQ Sauce for delivering the sweet, tangy profile the bottle promises. And, at the end of the day, I wouldn't call this a bad sauce. My only problem is that it didn't go beyond the sweet and tangy to bring forward anything particularly noteworthy. 

I'll also say, the tanginess of this sauce was a little too mouth-puckering for me. That could be both a good thing and a bad thing. On the plus side, it means the sauce won't fade in the presence of meat; on the other hand, I don't see it being the most palatable to a wide audience (especially if you have picky kids at your cookout). It gets points for being flavorful, but the balance wasn't all there.  

At last, a sauce that doesn't suffer from having too much unexpected sweetness! I didn't mind 365's Original Barbecue Sauce and would be fine using it when in a pinch. It had a decent balance of sweet, tangy, and smoky notes, but they were all pretty subtle, and that made this sauce gentler than I'd have liked. 

So, ultimately, this sauce's biggest fault is that it doesn't give me anything to write home about. Sure, it'll bring a barbecue feel to whatever you put it on, but nobody will be thinking about it after they've eaten. It's definitely not bad, but with so many barbecue sauces to choose from, you could do way better. 

Kroger's Hickory Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce was actually pretty similar to 365's Original Barbecue Sauce, so they got side-by-side places here. With this sauce, though, I got a tiny bit more of a hickory smoke flavor, which made it just edge out the previous selection. 

Other than that, there was nothing to hate about this sauce, but there wasn't much to rave about, either. Its flavors are gentle. You'll taste the sweetness and the smoke, but not in droves. I'd call this a solid sauce for being versatile and not at all polarizing, but it doesn't really lend itself to high praise, unfortunately. I can, however, see it being a good intro to barbecue for picky kids. 

Unsurprisingly, Signature Select's Hickory & Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce is also very similar to the previous. It's well-balanced, with tang, smoke, and sweetness sitting in pretty equal measure. Honestly, to some, it may be pretty indistinguishable from the former. 

I gave it just one spot higher because there was a little more to brag about here. I got more spice and more smoke, and gave off some of the "swicy" vibes that are all the rage nowadays. I certainly wouldn't be mad if I were served some ribs slathered in this sauce, but I wouldn't call it the best sauce in the world, either. Had it leaned more into a smoky profile, I may have been able to rank it a few spots higher. 

Now we're getting into the punchier flavors, and I can definitely say that Signature Select's Sweet & Spicy BBQ Sauce delivered on its name. Though it wasn't my favorite sauce on this list (which is certainly part of the reason I couldn't rank it higher), I can't say it's lacking in the flavor department, and "boring" or "uninspired" would never make an adjective list when describing this sauce.

Still, though I got lots of sweet and lots of spice, that's where the sauce ended. It failed to go any further and didn't really lean into any smoky profiles at all. I did like the journey the sauce took me on — ample sweet notes at the beginning, with spice rounding out the end of the bite — but I still found myself wishing for more when the taste was over. 

Kroger's Original Sweet & Tangy BBQ sauce will have much of the same commentary as the previous sauce, except the flavor profile here leans into tangy rather than spicy notes. The sweetness just felt like a balancing element, which I really appreciated, and there was a little smoke to be found as well.

The only reason I ranked this higher than the last is that I prefer tangy notes over spiciness in my barbecue sauces. If you're the opposite, you likely would prefer the previous bottle over this one. I can give it praise for being flavorful enough not to be boring, but at the end of the day, I got more out of the following six offerings.

This is my moment to prove to you that I don't hate sweet barbecue sauces. Private Selection's Kansas City Inspired BBQ Sauce was among the sweeter selections that I tried, but there was enough else going on here that I didn't feel like I was only getting sweetness — the sauce was full of flavor. 

I got a decent amount of smoke in this sauce, alongside rich, dark notes of molasses. If you want a sweeter sauce without sacrificing the smoky appeal that, to me, is central to a good barbecue sauce, this would be a good bottle to keep on hand. It wouldn't necessarily be my first choice, as it was pretty lacking in the tangy department; however, I'd grab it if I were ever in a sweet barbecue mood. 

Great Value surprised me in this taste test. I'm not generally the biggest fan of Walmart's in-store brand, but two of its sauces made it to the top five on this list, which I never could have predicted. Moreover, they were the two sauces I'd least expect to enjoy.

Starting with Great Value's Original Barbecue Sauce, I really loved the balance here. I docked a few points because the sauce doesn't burst with flavor the way I hoped, but it still had all the right components of a good, standard barbecue sauce — they were just dialed up to six rather than 10. Smoky and tangy notes were dominant, while sweetness came in from behind to keep everything in balance. I wouldn't hesitate to grab this one again. 

Yes, you read that right — a honey barbecue sauce made the number four spot on my list. I may be a little biased here, because on the bottle of Great Value's Honey Barbecue Sauce, it claims that the sauce would be "perfect on chicken," so that's what I had in my head while tasting it. Honestly, I couldn't agree more. This would catapult a boring chicken dish into crave-worthy territory.

Yes, the sauce is definitely sweet, but it didn't taste overly saccharine. The sweetness felt intentional and gentle enough here not to overwhelm. Smoke and tang sat in the background, but still balanced out the sweet notes very well, making for a well-rounded sauce that I'll absolutely be slathering on my chicken thighs tonight. Still, this sauce didn't quite reach the high bar set by my top three. 

Maybe I just discovered that I'm a fan of Carolina-style barbecue — after all, the third and second spots here go to Carolina-inspired sauces. Each sauce was actually very different from the other, but I still liked both of them quite a bit. Private Selection's Carolina Inspired BBQ Sauce is certainly flavorful enough to be memorable.

In this sauce, you'll find plentiful smoke, tang, and hints of cider vinegar. I can't call it very sweet at all — there's enough sweetness to keep the savory and tangy notes from being overwhelming, but other than that, it's not really perceptible, which is one reason I liked this sauce so much. The following is more Carolina-forward (which I'll explain when we get there), so I'd say that Private Selection's Carolina sauce would be a good entry point for those who aren't sure if they want to dive head-first into the Carolina profile. 

Unlike Trader Joe's other, aforementioned barbecue sauce, I'd never tried its Carolina Gold Barbeque Sauce before. Honestly, I expected his would leave a similar impression on me that its shelf brother did. I couldn't have been more wrong, and thanks to this taste test, I now have a new favorite barbecue sauce in my mental roster. 

I absolutely loved how mustard-forward this sauce was, without being so vinegar-y as to overwhelm the taste buds. It was bursting with tangy flavor and a subtle sweetness, and though I didn't get too much smoky appeal, I honestly didn't mind that with this sauce — it still felt like a complete sauce. It stands distinctly apart from most of the other sauces on this list. I occasionally don't appreciate outliers (I like my expectations of a product to be met or exceeded), but this sauce was a really fun surprise. It was only surpassed by my top choice. 

Texas Smokehouse? Notes of burnt brisket ends? Sign me the heck up! Though this sauce definitely suited my own flavor preferences better than any others on this list, I don't think it's a stretch to say that this would be the favorite of many consumers who read this. It delivered on all the promises of a good barbecue sauce, and it had, by far, the deepest flavor of any sauce I tried. 

There's a lot going on in this bottle. It's sweet, smoky, tangy, spicy, and I absolutely tasted the sumptuous burnt brisket notes that the bottle claims to have. Many of the sauces on this list were well-balanced; this one was too, and super punchy, with no lack of flavor to speak of. I had a feeling when I tried it that it would be one of my top choices, and I wasn't wrong. It's simply outstanding. 

I tested all these store-brand barbecue sauces at room temperature, and I tried them on their own, to keep any other flavors from altering my perception of the sauce. I didn't take texture or viscosity into the equation here, because I was envisioning the sauces being brushed onto various meats, where their texture probably wouldn't play a central role in the sauce's overall appeal.

I ranked each sauce based solely on its flavor profile. In order to get a high spot on this list, a sauce had to be well-balanced with a lot of depth — in other words, it needed to be something I'd continue to think about after leaving a barbecue. The bottom-ranking sauces were unbalanced in one aspect or another, while those in the middle were generally well-balanced but lacked enough depth or interest to claim a higher spot on this list.