If there is one food I have to admit to missing from my former life when I was still consuming sugar, it has to be BBQ. Whether cooked at home, or in a pit style smoker in a restaurant, I have considered myself quite the connoisseur. And of course, having been raised in Kansas City, you can bet my favorite “Q” is KC style. Smoked meats cooked to perfection and then slathered up with a sweet sauce to compliment the savory seasonings of the rub. There is an art to smoking meats, and in Kansas City, we have perfected that art .

For a good store bought BBQ sauce, I always enjoyed Sweet Baby Ray’s sauces. However, I quit using their sauces when I quit consuming sugar. When it comes to BBQ ribs, for me it is akin to eating meat candy on a bone. I can gorge until the point of bursting when it comes to good BBQ ribs.

I also like to mix a little Sweet Baby Ray’s into my baked beans, especially when I cook them in the smoker with the meat. After mixing up my bean sauce, I cover them with bacon strips and then place them into the smoker until the bacon has crisped and the sauce has begun to caramelize a little bit. Sometimes, I also stir in bits of whatever meat I have smoked into the beans for added sweet and savory meat flavor. I could write a book on this subject, but I think you might now be able to make a good educated guess that I really enjoy BBQ. I have to say, I am looking forward to smoking some meat now that I have found a truly worthy sauce that is also free of added sugars.

I admit, I kind of expected a fairly weak sauce being as most sugar free sauces I have tried in the past have been somewhat weak. What I found with both the original and hickory flavors was that Ray’s advertisement is spot on with their claims. If I had not known better,  I would have sworn that I had just sampled their sauces that do contain sugar. These sauces are indeed sweet, smoky, and tangy. And best of all, they are also thick as a good BBQ sauce should be.

This delectable sauce is sweetened with allulose which is  a naturally occurring low-calorie sweetener found in certain foods such as dates, figs, raisins and corn. Allulose is not metabolized into glucose when consumed which is why it does not contribute to blood glucose or insulin levels and is almost calorie free, containing only 0.4 calories per gram. If you are concerned about gastro-intestinal upset from sugar alcohol, this sweetener is not one.

I am in no way connected to good people at Sweet Baby Ray’s. I have always enjoyed their sauces and love the fact they have produced a truly good sauce that is also sugar free.