Three New BBQ Sauces for Chileheads

Buy Dave's Badlands BBQ Sauce

Do you love barbecue sauce and enjoy hot & spicy foods, or need a Father's Day gift for someone who does? Then the Carolina Sauce Company is the place for you! We've recently added the following three fiery and flavor-packed BBQ sauces to our Carolina Sauces online store, and they span the heat spectrum from pleasantly peppery to pretty darn hot to fiercely flaming.

Dave's Gourmet Badlands Barbeque Sauce is the tamest of this trio--but don't get me wrong, this sauce is neither wimpy nor bland. After all, Dave's Gourmet is known both for its delightfully delicious gourmet sauces, condiments and seasonings as well as for its "Insanity" line of seriously spicy hot sauces. Dave's Badlands BBQ Sauce is a thick, rich and tangy blend of mustard, tomato and brown sugar with just the right amount of jalapenos, green chiles and spices to add a piquant kick that will wake up your taste buds without destroying them or overwhelming your food. Whether you slather it on ribs, chicken, fish, shrimp, or grilled vegetables, you cannot go wrong with this sauce. It's also a tasty substitute for ketchup or regular BBQ sauce in meatloaf and other ground meat recipes, and you can also use it for oven-baked or slow-cooker meats and poultry. Made in California using all-natural ingredients, this BBQ sauce lives up to the "Gourmet" in it name, while sneaking into "Badlands" territory with its feisty peppery finish.

Melinda's Mesquite Habanero BBQ Sauce

In the middle of heat scale (at least to me--please keep in mind that perceived heat is subjective and personal) is Melinda's Spicy Mesquite Habanero Barbecue Sauce, a gem of a hot and spicy BBQ sauce. What I really like about the Melinda's line of products is that they never use any artificial ingredients, and they manage to crank up the heat while still allowing you to savor the layers of other flavors in the sauces AND in your food. This spicy-hot, smoky barbecue sauce is different from most in its flavor niche in that it relies on mesquite rather than chipotle (dried, smoked jalapenos) for its smokiness and habanero peppers for the heat. The result is a deeper, earthier flavor that is reminiscent of Southwestern fare, plus greater heat with brighter, almost fruit-like notes from the habanero peppers (but don't get me wrong, this is not a fruity barbecue sauce--I'm simply referring to the natural fruity flavor of habaneros in contrast to the "grassy" or vegetal flavor of jalapenos). The texture and body are thick and rich, and the sweet-tangy base of tomato and mustard complements anything you grill, especially red meats like beef, pork, venison and other game; or dark poultry including chicken or turkey thighs and legs, duck, goose and game birds.

Buy Habanero BBQ Sauce from Hell

Finally, for people who prefer seriously HOT barbecue sauces but still want to be able to taste what they're eating, we now have Habanero BBQ Sauce from Hell, a classic fiery-hot barbecue sauce that's been popular for years. Although the label continues to claim that this is the "world's hottest BBQ sauce," I disagree in light of the new ghost-pepper sauces that have entered the market recently. Instead, I think one could fairly state that this is the "world's hottest BBQ sauce that actually tastes like a BBQ sauce." This sauce features a traditional thick, sweet tomato base with a touch of smoke and savory spices. The burn comes from a hefty handful (or three) of habanero peppers and a generous amount of green chiles. As with any very hot barbecue sauce, Habanero BBQ Sauce from Hell is best used on heartier grilled or roasted fare that can stand up to heavy firepower. You can also use it in your crock pot or slow cooker--in fact, we have a crock pot recipe from the manufacturer for Hellishly Good BBQ Beef Sandwiches posted on our product page for this habanero barbeque sauce.

If you're partial towards milder barbecue sauces, don't despair: We have plenty of milder barbecue flavors in a variety of styles (Carolina vinegar or mustard sauces, sweet Memphis, Kentucky bourbon, etc.) on our Barbecue Sauce page.

Zestfully yours,
Gloria