Our Favorite Store-Bought BBQ Sauce Is Straight Out Of Flavortown

There can be deep bias when it comes to favorite American barbecue sauce styles — sweet and thick, thin and vinegary — and it goes beyond just Texas, Kansas City, Memphis, and St. Louis, all the way to Alabama white. When wading through the rows and rows at the grocery store, what's a solid sauce to just grab and go? In Food Republic's ranking of 15 store-bought barbecue sauces, Flavortown Smokin' Hickory BBQ Sauce came in at No. 1.

Flavortown Smokin' Hickory Sauce was definitely sweet, but the flavor wasn't cloying or unnatural. The high sugar content contributes to a nice crust on your barbecued meat, helps hold in moisture, and tenderizes it — while the hickory adds a solid smoky base. A simple glaze on your ribs or grilled chicken will make them taste like they've been on the smoker all afternoon.

We expect a barrage of flavor from Guy Fieri — the self-proclaimed Mayor of Flavortown — but this sauce successfully balances each sequential wave of salt, vinegar, and spice. Some pretty surprising ingredients, like Worcestershire, cocoa, chili blend, and tamarind, blend completely harmoniously. The pineapple juice adds a nice sweet acidity that deepens the flavor and promotes further tenderization. The tamarind, acidic and slightly sweet, adds another layer of flavor — and further tenderizes your protein if you use the Flavortown sauce as a marinade.

It's a sauce that covers all the bases but doesn't stray too far from the basics, equally delicious for dipping fries and chicken strips or basting a rack on the grill. For a solid sauce full of flavor that will please the whole crew, look no further than Flavortown Smokin' Hickory Sauce. Flavortown isn't just a convertible Corvette hottub of Donkey Sauce blasting Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen, it can be layered, delicate, and refined.

Compared to the lowest-ranked sauce, G Hughes Smokehouse Original Barbecue, the sugar — and molasses — in Fieri's offering are only positives. G Hughes sauce uses sucralose to attempt to imitate the sweetness of sugar, honey, or molasses (and make it sugar free), but the flavor just falls flat. Part of that is because sucralose remains stable even when heated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit — meaning it won't help your food caramelize. For solid depth and consistency, natural sweeteners still reign supreme. Another brand found lacking, Primal Kitchen Classic BBQ Sauce Organic & Unsweetened, came in at No. 13 due to its complete lack of sweetness and grainy texture. When it comes to store-bought sauce, a little natural sweetness is pretty important for the end result.

However, for a top-ranked sauce that thinks outside of the box, 4 Rivers Smokehouse Signature BBQ Sauce impressed with its additional citrus notes. It's not really a classic sweet and smoky sauce, but if you're looking for more tang, the lemony pucker is nice on the palate, and still well-balanced for a chicken or rib basting. But where citrus barbecue really sings is on chicken wings. Smother them in sauce, maybe add a little cracked pepper, and you're good to go. And that's not to say that, Flavortown couldn't bring in a little help. Maybe a crossover blend in the kitchen is in order.