It’s cherry season where I live in Northern Utah and I love it so much. Dark Bing cherries are the most common variety and they are everywhere! Grocery stores, farmers markets, fruit stands and even in my own yard we have a huge tree. I’m always looking for unique ways to use these delicious little fruits and my Jalapeno Cherry BBQ Sauce is one of our favorites.
Fruity BBQ sauces are so unexpectedly tasty and I love the contrast of sweet and spicy in this one. The cherries have a deep sweet flavor, the jalapeno adds a hint of spice, and the rest of the ingredients are tangy and smoky. Jalapeno Cherry BBQ Sauce is great on chicken, pork and beef. We love it on grilled chicken, pork tenderloin and on grilled burgers. It freezes well too!
The natural sugars in the cherries with the brown sugar caramelize so perfectly on the meat. It gets so sticky and thick! That’s a good thing with BBQ sauce – ha! If you don’t have fresh Bing cherries available, you can use frozen ones as well. Honestly they are easier because you don’t have to go through the trouble of pitting them.
Your Grocery List
- Fresh or frozen dark sweet cherries
- Butter
- Yellow or white onion
- Fresh jalapeno
- Fresh garlic
- Ketchup
- Apple cider vinegar
- Brown sugar
- Worcestershire sauce
- Liquid smoke
- Ground mustard
How to Make Jalapeno Cherry BBQ Sauce
Let’s start with the star of the show! Cherries and jalapeno are the BEST combo. Who knew? I sure didn’t before experimenting with this!
The rest of the ingredients – brown sugar, ground mustard, liquid smoke, Worcestershire, ketchup and apple cider vinegar are pretty basic for homemade BBQ sauce and you probably already have most on hand.
This recipe is so easy! Just a little chopping and measuring is required. Add everything to a saucepan and cook for about 15-20 minutes.
Once the veggies and cherries are nice and soft, pour the mixture into a blender or food processor then blend until completely smooth. There’s no need to strain.
That’s it! At this point the Jalapeno Cherry BBQ Sauce is ready to slather on your favorite protein. It will keep refrigerated for 5-7 days. It makes a lot so I like to vacuum seal and freeze it for up to 3 months.
Featured Lee’s Marketplace Recipe
This yummy recipe will be the featured display at all Lee’s Marketplace locations in Utah. If you’re local, watch for the poster of this and grab a paper copy of the recipe. I love working with Lee’s Marketplace!
Jalapeno Cherry BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 oz (1 1/2 cups) fresh or frozen dark sweet cherries, pitted
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped
- 1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
- 1 1/2 cups ketchup
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 2 teaspoons ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
- ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large saucepan to medium-high then add butter. Add onions and jalapeño then cook until soft and browned.
- Turn heat down to medium then add garlic. Cook about 1 minute then add remaining ingredients.
- Simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes. Carefully transfer to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
- Makes about 3 cups. Freezes well if needed.
Oooooohhh, sweet, tangy, smoky, all in the same bite! I am not a fancy cook, but I do love all the recipes I have tried.
The Cherry Jalapeño BBQ Sauce is a new tradition for Cherry season. My crazy Traeger using son was also excited about this delicious sauce. Thank you!
So happy you loved it! Thanks for the rave review!