Homemade BBQ Sauce

Who knew that making homemade barbecue sauce was so easy? Now, there are a zillion different recipes for barbecue sauce and each BBQ place seems to have their own signature sauce. After playing around a bit, this is what I came up with for my own homemade barbecue sauce.
It is quick, simple and the best part-extremely cost effective. Most of the ingredients are pantry staples (I always keep a few bottles of ketchup in my cupboards) so you can always make it in a pinch.

Ingredients

1 bottle/pouch of ketchup 

1/4 cup brown sugar(If you don't like your sauce too sweet-cut down to 2 tbsp)

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp apple cider vinegar (again- you can omit if you don't like it too tangy- the ketchup already has vinegar in it and some people might think this is overkill- you decide)

1 tsp garlic powder

fresh ground pepper to taste

dash of paprika

few dashes of liquid smoke (available at City Shop)
salt to taste

Add all ingredients together. Heat over medium heat until all ingredients have dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes. Taste. Add salt or extra seasonings if desired. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

This barbecue sauce makes an excellent base for shredded barbecue chicken. Or you can saute 2 slices of bacon and 1/2 onion first. Then add the remaining ingredients to make a great sauce and add to cooked beans to make your own barbecue beans. Or my personal favorite- homemade barbecue chicken pizza. Yummy!