8 Stubb's BBQ Sauce Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

If you're like me, then once BBQ season arrives, you want to spend your weekends outside, grilling up some of your favorite foods and enjoying time with family and friends. And although you can make your own BBQ sauce from scratch, you might not have time to do so whenever you want to have a cookout. That's when grocery store BBQ sauces can come in handy. They make it way easier to infuse your meats and other proteins with bold, tangy, and sweet flavors in a pinch.

There are plenty of prominent brands to check out, but Stubb's happens to be one of the best. Its sauces come in a wide range of flavors, from the super tangy to the intensely sweet and sticky. I've taste-tested eight different flavors from Stubb's and ranked them to give you a better idea of which one you might want to try out. My taste tends toward the tangier and more complex end of the spectrum, so this ranking reflects that viewpoint. When it comes to this brand, though, there's plenty to love about the sweet varieties, too.

So, fire up your grill, prepare your chicken, beef, tofu, or whatever else you may want to grill, and give these Stubb's sauces a try for yourself. BBQ season just got a lot more delicious.

I know there are a lot of people out there who really love an unabashedly sweet, sticky BBQ sauce, and that's exactly what you'll get when you try Stubb's Sticky Sweet sauce. However, as someone who prefers a much more savory profile for BBQ, I can't get behind this flavor. As soon as I started pouring the sauce out of the bottle, I realized how thick it was. While all of the other Stubb's sauces I tried poured out of the bottle quite easily, this stuff was quite thick and viscous.

Tasting the sauce, that consistency made sense. This is a super sweet BBQ sauce, and it's certainly sticky. Molasses and brown sugar join forces to create a deep, sweet richness that's not unpleasant — but that's also not for me. There wasn't enough brightness here to keep me interested past a bite or two, despite the inclusion of apple cider vinegar in the ingredients list. That said, I don't think this is a bad sauce at all, and if you're the kind of person who likes really sweet BBQ, then this product could really elevate your next cookout.

It shouldn't come as a big surprise that Stubb's Smokey Brown Sugar isn't my favorite of the bunch, considering my aversion to sweeter flavors. But it's not just the sweetness in this variety that doesn't work for me — it's the fact that it's kind of one-note. The brown sugar flavor is quite strong and creates a unique sweetness that I haven't encountered in many other BBQ sauces before. But I find that the smokiness here isn't that prominent at all. If it were, it would offer a nice touch of complexity, but without it, I think that sweet brown sugar note is a bit too overpowering.

Of course, if you're cooking your food on the grill, you're going to pick up plenty of that smoky flavor anyway, so this sauce might taste better in that context. When evaluating the sauce alone, though, this isn't really a flavor I can get too excited about. But, again, sweet BBQ lovers might find this stuff really pleasant.

Is Stubb's Sweet Heat a bit too sweet for my taste? Sure. But it's a big step above the two that come before it. This is because this sauce does, in fact, deliver some level of heat, which is a big win in my book. This spiciness seems to come from chipotle chili puree, which is a nice touch because it provides that bold smokiness that chipotles are known for, along with a unique depth of flavor that doesn't feel too heavy.

Unfortunately, though, the chipotle note is drowned out by quite a lot of sugar. Not only does this variety contain brown sugar and molasses, but plain sugar as well. To me, this recipe could shine with slightly less of that sweetness, so the chipotle flavor could take center stage. With a bold tanginess here, though, I can't really say that this stuff is unbalanced, and I certainly wouldn't turn down a serving of BBQ cooked with it.

For all those who love rich, intense flavors and a lot of boldness in their BBQ, Stubb's Hickory Bourbon sauce is worth checking out. In my experience, in a lot of bourbon BBQ recipes, the bourbon flavor isn't that strong at all. There might be a hint of it, but it tends to be overpowered by sweetness or smoke. In this recipe, though, I actually really taste the bourbon. To me, it's the most prominent tasting note in the sauce, which means it's a great option for anyone who's trying to capture that boozy complexity.

I personally didn't find there to be a lot of smoke flavor in this sauce, which was kind of a bummer since I think that added layer of intensity could make for an even more delicious sauce. Another reason this sauce doesn't rank higher in the lineup is simply that I think it tastes pretty heavy for the summer months, and it's something I'd prefer in the late fall and winter when grilling becomes less of a fun activity and more of a chore. If you love the flavor of bourbon, though (or you're looking for a perfect bourbon pairing), this sauce is worth a taste.

As the name of this product suggests, Stubb's Sweet Honey Spice sauce is, in fact, sweet. I find it to have a different kind of sweetness than most of the other sweet sauce varieties in this lineup, though. The sugar doesn't feel heavy or overpowering. Rather, it has a lightness, almost a freshness, to it that still makes it feel really approachable during the summer months. It actually does contain honey, and that flavor is distinctive in the mix.

But it's not just the honey that adds a sweet flavor profile to this sauce. Allspice and cinnamon also make for a really unique flavor combo that gives the sauce a warmth to it as well. You may think that would make the overall flavor of the sauce sweeter than savory, but that's not the case, considering black pepper, celery seed, and onion help to balance things out nicely. Honestly, this sauce is still slightly on the sweet side for me, but that unique spiced flavor turns it all around and still makes me want to slather this stuff on barbecued meats.

Although it's not my absolute favorite sauce of the lineup, I think I can safely say that Stubb's Whiskey and Peach sauce is the most fun, creative flavor in the entire lineup. It's kind of an unexpected combo, and it reminds me of sipping a sweet whiskey beverage on a hot summer day. Just like with the Hickory Bourbon sauce, this stuff promises a strong whiskey flavor. You're not just getting a whisper of that booziness — it's front and center on your palate when you take that first bite.

But it's the peach that really makes this flavor combo even more interesting. It has some sweetness to it, of course, but it seems really restrained here. The sauce definitely leans more toward the savory end of the spectrum, which is just the way I like it. That peach juice gives the sauce that stone fruit flair that just tastes like summer, and it even has a brightness to it that complements the distilled vinegar in the recipe. When you want to switch up your BBQ routine and try something totally new, you might want to give this sauce a try.

With a brand as beloved as Stubb's, you sometimes have to keep it classic. That's what the brand's Original BBQ sauce delivers. One of the reasons I love this product is the fact that it's so incredibly tangy. Sure, every BBQ sauce is tangy to some extent, but Stubb's takes things to a whole new level. That makes sense, considering the second listed ingredient here is distilled vinegar. Plus, you're getting some acidity from the tomato puree as well, so you know that acidity is going to be pronounced.

But don't think that this stuff is so sour that it's difficult to stomach; that's absolutely not the case. Molasses and sugar make an appearance here as well. But in this case, it doesn't really seem like they're included in the mix to make the sauce sweet. Instead, they just work to balance out all that tang. If you're someone who likes tangy barbecue just as much as I do, this sauce is a must-try. You may become a Stubb's convert for life.

Now, let me start off by saying that I am absolutely biased here, since I love spicy food. I'm generally going to be happy with spice added to any dish or product, so it only makes sense that Stubb's Spicy BBQ sauce would land at the very top of this list. To me, this sauce just tastes like a spicier version of the Original flavor, and since it contains so many of the same ingredients, that might actually be the case.

One thing that sets this sauce apart from the Original, though, is the inclusion of habanero peppers (which tastes strangely good in lasagna). I appreciate that the brand chose to work with habaneros specifically for two reasons. First of all, habaneros are quite hot, and you can taste that heat reflected in this sauce. It's not overwhelmingly spicy, but it delivers enough heat to keep things interesting. For me, that spice really hits on the back of the palate, so take a second after tasting before adding more sauce to your dish. Secondly, habaneros have a specific, almost citrusy note to them that I think brings even more brightness to the sauce.

Spicy BBQ sauce isn't for everyone, but when you want to add more fire to your BBQ dishes, Stubb's delivers. Of course, if you're looking for a way to make spicy homemade BBQ, you can always try out this recipe for spicy raspberry chipotle ribs.

I tasted these BBQ sauces with hot shredded chicken, since it provided a neutral flavor base that allowed me to really focus on all of the sauces. The main criteria I used for this ranking include overall flavor profile, including balance and complexity. I tended to rank more well-balanced, less overtly sweet sauces closer to the top of the list, while sweeter and more overpowering flavors fell to the bottom. Similarly, sauces that I perceived as having a more basic, one-note flavor profile ranked lower than those with more complexity.