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elmer's bar-b-que sauce & char-grilled chicken

(7 ratings)
jamie4cakes avatar
Blue Ribbon Recipe by
jamie Beecham
@jamie4cakes
Nashville, NC

My daddy was the best outdoor bar-b-que cook I knew. When it came to chicken or ribs on the grill, he was the king. He often cooked out on a job site and invite the people he did business with to eat. This is his recipe I learned by his side to make. He was a cook in the Army during WWII and he learned how Texas barbecue was better than ours. Down here the vinegar-based sauce is more commonly used but he made his with the ketchup base. I would have July 4th gatherings at my house and he would make the sauce. The last year I did this he came and said I needed to learn how. So glad I did.

Blue Ribbon Recipe

Jamie's dad would be proud. She has perfected his BBQ sauce and chicken. This homemade BBQ sauce is slightly sweet, tangy, and has a slight kick. After grilling, it has fantastic caramelization. The skin is crispy and tasty. Have a batch of his barbecue sauce handy this summer during grilling season.

— The Test Kitchen @kitchencrew
(7 ratings)
prep time 30 Min
cook time 30 Min
method Grill

Ingredients For elmer's bar-b-que sauce & char-grilled chicken

  • 1 stick
    butter
  • 1 lg
    sweet onion
  • 1 Tbsp
    salt
  • 1 tsp
    black peper
  • 1 tsp
    red pepper
  • 3 clove
    pressed garlic
  • 1/2 c
    Texas Pete hot sauce
  • 1 bottle
    Worcestershire sauce (15 oz)
  • 1/2 c
    apple cider vinegar
  • 5 Tbsp
    brown sugar
  • 1/3 c
    yellow mustard
  • 64 oz
    ketchup
  • 1/2 of the ketchup bottle filled with water
  • GRILLING
  • chicken cut up, half or quartered your choice
  • 1
    bag of Kingsford charcoal
  • 1
    can of gulf lighter fluid and matches
  • charcoal grill

How To Make elmer's bar-b-que sauce & char-grilled chicken

Test Kitchen Tips
We simmered the sauce for about 30 minutes. We also basted a little extra sauce at the end to make sure the chicken was nicely coated.
  • Butter, onion, garlic, salt, red pepper, and black pepper in a pot.
    1
    In a large stockpot melt one stick of butter. Slice the onion thin and add to the hot butter. Slowly cook until tender with the garlic, salt, red pepper, and black pepper.
  • Adding mustard to the onions.
    2
    When onions are tender add the mustard and stir till dissolved.
  • Vinegar, Worchestershire, Texas Pete, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar added to the pot.
    3
    Add the vinegar, bottle of Worchestershire, Texas Pete, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar. Stir until well-blended. Cover the pot and allow to cook about 5 minutes not burning.
  • Ketchup and water added to the pot.
    4
    Add the ketchup and stir until blended well. Add water to the ketchup bottle about halfway. Shake well to mix leftover ketchup in it. Stir well and bring to a simmer.
  • Letting the sauce simmer.
    5
    Let sauce simmer stirring often.
  • Cooking chicken on the grill.
    6
    Prepare the grill with the charcoal and let embers have a little white ash top before placing clean chicken over the coals. Grill about 30 min on skin side down first flip and grill 30 min on the other side.
  • Brushing sauce on the chicken.
    7
    Once the chicken is done, submerge in the pot of barbeque sauce and lay back on the grill. Let cook a few minutes on both sides to set in the chargrilled sauce flavor. Watch carefully as not to let burn at this stage.
  • Chicken grilled with Elmer's Bar-B-Que sauce.
    8
    We cover our grill all the way when cooking the chickens. After the chicken starts cooking, the coals will want to flame up. This is when we close the open vented grill. You should know how to adjust the airflow if you are an outdoor griller.
  • 9
    It is important to know this sauce is best used over chicken cooked on charcoal. It just achieves its best flavor that way. Once the chicken is done daddy would submerge the chicken into the sauce and cook a little longer on each side not to burn just to set the flavor. If you are grilling ribs and want to use this sauce, add celery seed about a tablespoon to the recipe and I don't know why daddy said so and I do it.
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
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