This apple butter barbecue sauce is a quick, homemade substitute for store bought versions. Try it on meatloaf or use it to braise meat in the slow cooker.
Back in the Fall, I did a little project with the folks at All-Clad, in which they sent me the NS1 Chef’s Pan from their their new line of NS1 Nonstick Induction cookware and I used it to make a batch of really delicious batch of Kabocha Squash, Coconut, and Wild Rice Stew.
In March, I did it again. That time, they sent me an NS1 Stock Pot and I make a pot of roasted tomato and basil soup to brighten up a cold winter day.
I always enjoy these cookware challenges because they give me opportunities to play with a really fabulous pans and push myself outside my regular culinary patterns. So, when they got in touch again back in April and asked if I might want to do it again, this time with their d5 Stainless Steel All-In-One Pan, I said yes.
The particular challenge with this piece of cookware was to design a recipe that only used five ingredients, to mimic the five layers of metal that makes up the pan. I decided on building a five ingredient barbecue sauce, using a jar of apple butter as the base.
The result was a tasty, tangy, spicy sauce that is perfect for summer cookouts and slow cooker pulled pork. And it’s always useful to be able to make a sauce like this from scratch with pantry ingredients for those times when you don’t have any ready made in the pantry.
To make the sauce, you combine a pint of apple butter with apple cider vinegar, finely chopped onion, honey, and a couple heaping spoonfuls of gochugang in the pan and cook until it is thick and the onion is tender (also, add some salt and pepper to taste).
I like to scrape the finished sauce into a large measuring cup and zap it with an immersion blender to smooth it out, but that’s totally optional.
As you can see, I also used the pan to roast off some chicken legs that I then painted with my tangy sauce. I’d also use this sauce on top of turkey meatloaf, on grilled burgers, and will happily combine it with some chicken thighs in the slow cooker for pulled chicken sandwiches.
Disclosure: All-Clad sent me the pan you see pictured above and they’re provided a giveaway unit, both at no cost to me. No additional compensation was provided.
Apple Butter Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pint apple butter
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 small onion finely chopped (I use a mini food processor)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2-3 heaping tablespoons gochugaru it’s a fermented Korean chili paste
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine the apple butter, vinegar, chopped onion, honey, and gochugaru in a low, wide pan.
- Set the heat to medium and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring regularly, until onions are soft.
- Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Scrape sauce into a deep measuring cup or bowl and puree it with an immersion blender until smooth.
- Funnel into a jar and refrigerate.
I would love a pan like this for making sauces to slather on chicken thighs and then use the rest of the sauce to sauté some summer vegetables for a quick week day meal! I’d probably start with a bbq sauce like this to use up some of the apple butter I canned in the fall. What a lovely giveaway!
Great recipe to use up some of the apple butter I made last fall. I love All Clad and would use the pan to make berry jams and roast some meats!
I would use the apple butter bbq sauce on grilled chicken breast, The pan i would use to braise chicken on a cold winter day
There are so many things I would cook in this All-Clad pot! Homemade spaghetti sauce, jam, apple butter, BBQ sauce, ketchup, noodles, rice, the list could go on forever. I would love to win this ?
We just moved into a new house (our retirement home) and I am looking forward to cooking many amazing meals and that pan would really help. Thank you.
Since the bbq sauce is tangy and fruity and spicy, I bet it would be really good on grilled fish.
On my husband’s smoked pork! Yum!
Kale sweet potato hash.
Yum! I’d use the sauce on chicken thighs or wings. The pan looks super versatile, I could use it to braise in, or I could cook chicken breast in the sauce, shred it in the pan and have shreddded bbq chicken.
This pan would be wonderful for my jams…The BBQ sauce is going to be my next “go to” for my turkey burgers.
I would totally use this sauce on BBQ shrimp! Yum!
I’d try the BBQ sauce on some grilled chicken thighs, or on my turkey meatloaf.
This is awesome and so simple! I can’t wait to try it out for bbq chicken but am especially excited about throwing it in with thighs in the slow-cooker for pulled chicken sandwiches and salads!
I would love to try this BBQ sauce on chicken or ribs. BBQ chicken is the best…
That versatile sauce pan with its handsome lid would be great for braising lamb shanks. As for your sauce (pinned!), I too would use it on salmon as others have suggested.
This pan looks so versitile! I’d probably use it for almost everything.
I would make this BBQ sauce to slather on all the delicious smoked meats my husband will be perfecting on his new backyard smoker!
I’d use it to braise thick cut pork chops with onions, apple cider, and a little bit of mustard. I love All-Clad pan! My family grew up in Pittsburgh and after I went to college my mom faithfully went to the yearly scratch/dent sale to buy me All-Clad pans. Hubs and I have one medium pot that we’ve used so much over 20 years that the outside aluminum is pitted and worn. Still love it!
I have two All-Clad pans and they are my absolute favorite pans! If I were lucky enough to get this pan, I would use it for stovetop to oven recipes as it looks like it would be great for that! Lemon chicken with green olives.
This pan reminds me of a “chicken frying pan” I bought from QVC ages ago. I used it for almost everything – scalding soy milk to make yogurt, cooking down jams, tofu scrambles with tempeh. This was the pan I found myself reaching for over and over. This All-Clad pan would replace that old pan very nicely (and I like that it doesn’t have one long handle, like my old one).
This year I’ve been making my way through, “Food in Jars.” Next up: sour cherry jam. I might make it before this give-away is over, but would definitely use this cooking pan for more of my canning adventures.
I have this chicken thigh/barley bake thing this would be perfect for; it also seems a handy size now that we are empty nesters. I love All-Clad!
I would definitely cook up some chicken thighs in that pan…and I LOVE BBQ sauce. What a great way to use up some apple butter too. Always looking for fun ways to use my canned goods!
My current calphelon frying pan just died, so I would use this too cook literally everything. I’m desperate to get a replacement pan that will actually work!
I would definitely use this for making some chicken croquettes! My husband called me this morning saying he had a craving for them, so they’re in my head. 🙂 This pan looks like a dream to cook with and I love a pan that can go from stove top to the oven.
The All-Clad pan looks like the perfect size for making Dutch Babies that start on the stove and finish in the oven. I love pans that can go from the stove-top to the oven.
This sauce would be incredible on pulled pork!
I would use the pan to make my braised short ribs or chicken marbella. Love the pan!
All of the things that would require a lid… My current “all-purpose” pan is less all-purpose because it lacks a lid. 😉 So, probably a one-pan saute of chicken and whatever veggies show up in my CSA!
Marisa,
I think I would use this pan to throw away my long handled frying pan. This pan could be used for anything fried and even for braising in the oven. It is very attractive as well and could be used at the table for direct serving. The two loop handles work better at the table than my long handled chef pan cause the handle is always in somebody’s way. Hope I win!
That pan looks like it is just the right size for making a batch of quick pasta sauce then tossing the noodles in the sauce for the perfect finish.
What an awesome BBQ sauce. I think it needs to be used with pork — so I’m going to try it on a pork tenderloin that I’m going to pull out of the freezer and grill.
My favorite way to use bbq sauce like this is just as a nice sauce on pork or beef ribs in the crock pot. So simple and delicious!
Seared chicken with my sriracha/peach glaze, fresh, sliced peaches, Gorgonzola all brought together with crisp white wine.
I made your orange rhubarb butter last weekend, and if I’d had this pan it would have been the perfect vessel to really reduce the butter down! (And now I’m wondering how rhubarb butter would do in this sauce)
I’ve been experimenting with garlic bread french toast/french onion soup. Sauteing the onions and the garlic bread in the same pan seems like a good idea, but my current “large” pan doesn’t cut it, so I have to do them one at a time.
I think I would use that BBQ sauce on grilled chicken that I would then put on a pizza! There are so many things I would do to that pot I can’t even begin to choose! 🙂
This looks like a perfect oven to table size pan an I love the two handles. I’m dreaming of Aroz con Pollo. Or an y small batch preparation. Thanks Marisa
I would use this sauce on grilled pork tenderloin. The apple butter would be a perfect complement. I would use this pan for everything.
This pan would be great for cooking simple fruit preserves!
I would use this pan for everything! It’s a perfect, gorgeous size. The apple butter barbecue sauce would be fantastic on pork tenderloin, cooked on the grill with applewood chips.
I would use it to make small batches of jam. I’ve got small harvests from our backyard garden or neighbor’s yards and the stockpot is too big.
CLEARLY, that sauce belongs on my grilled chicken wings!!!
Season the wings with salt and pepper and maybe a bit of paprika and cumin.
Grill them over indirect moderate heat about 1.5 hours. Most of the fat will render off and the skin will be nice and crisp.
Pull ’em and immediately toss in a big bowl with sauce of choice.
Great giveaway. Always looking for recipes where I can use my homemade apple butter. Never thought to add it to BBQ sauce. I would use the pan, with the sauce, on chicken.
I’d make some strawberry jam in that pan!
I am an induction cook top fan and an All Clad fan. The combination sounds delicious! I would love to use my canned “Yakima” summer tomatoes to make my all purpose pasta sauces. Thank you.
Such a beautiful pan and what a great give a way. Would be honored to own. I am trying to reduce the number of pots and pans I have to just a few. This would fit the bill quite nicely as a multi use pot.
First I’d try this recipe! Then a small batch of ricotta and something from stovetop to oven…
I would cook Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote! 🙂
I’d like to try this sauce on salmon, chicken, and pork. I’m always looking for recipes that include my home-canned apple butter. I’d love to win this pan. I’d use it to make my favorite weeknight pasta sauce with turkey Italian sausage and zucchini.