SAY NO TO SHOP-BOUGHT

How to make your own healthy guilt-free BBQ sauce this summer

Shop-bought sauces are high in salt and fat - so we show you how to make your own that the kids will love too

Amanda Ursell
Clare O’Reilly

Published: 2:58, 16 Aug 2016

WE all love a summertime barbie – but marinating your grub in shop-bought sauces can be a real baste of time.

Often high in salt and sugar, the marinades do little for your health or waistline.

Clare O'Reilly has a go at making her own BBQ marinades, with picky kids to taste test themCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

So why not have a go at making your own?

Sun nutritionist Amanda Ursell has devised four fabulous recipes to suit everything from steak to sweet potato.

Here Clare O'Reilly and her eager barbecue taste-testers – kids Eddie, 12, Sam, seven, and Annie, five – get basting and score each of the recipes.

BBQ Sauce

Per 50g serving: 25 calories, 0.1g fat, 4.8g sugars, 0.3g salt.

YOU NEED:

1 small onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Olive oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
Juice of half a lime
15g dark brown sugar
20ml Worcestershire sauce
30ml red wine vinegar
150ml reduced sugar & salt ketchup
150ml crushed canned tomatoes

METHOD: Fry the onion gently in a teaspoon of olive oil with the chilli, sugar and lime juice. Add the Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and ketchup then season with freshly ground black pepper.

CLARE’S VERDICT: This may not look like a traditional barbecue sauce but it is quickly dispatched by the children, with Annie, five, proclaiming it to be her favourite after the very first bite. It makes tonnes, too, so plenty left for another day – and it froze well. If there was a way to make it look darker and more like barbecue sauce it’d look as perfect as it tastes.

7/10

Pepper and chilli sauce

Per 50g serving: 20 calories, 0.7g fat, 1.7g sugars, 0.1g salt.

YOU NEED:

1 large onion, peeled, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
4 sundried tomatoes
500g red peppers, peeled and seeded
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tspn ground coriander
300ml vegetable stock
Pinch of chilli flakes
300ml red wine
425g canned tomatoes, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper and salt
Juice of a lime

METHOD: Cook all the ingredients – except tinned tomatoes, pepper and lime – together. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until onions are nicely softened. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for a further 10 minutes and then blend.

CLARE’S VERDICT: Everyone wolfs it down and says that while it might not be the most exciting, sweet or spicy of the marinades, it’s by far the most versatile. It tastes great as a dipping sauce.

8/10

The kids thought the homemade sauces were delicious and Clare will soon be making moreCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

Piri Piri sauce

Per 50g: 143 calories, 14.7g fat, 1.2g sugars, 0.1g salt.

YOU NEED:

6 fresh red chillies
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
½ tsp oregano
½ tbsp ground paprika
100ml olive oil
50ml red wine vinegar

METHOD: Heat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and roast the chillies for 10 minutes. Cool and roughly chop them. In a saucepan, cook the chillies, garlic, oregano, paprika, olive oil and vinegar for 2-3 minutes.
Cool the mix and then blend and enjoy.

CLARE’S VERDICT: Eddie has been taking his first foray into spices and is instantly in love with the heat and herby nature of the sauce. He prefers it on the pork to the chicken and is devastated when the sauce runs out.

The little ones nervously try it and, once their mouths cool, and after lots of water, they agree the herbs are really tasty. I’m a chilli fiend and love this sauce but plan to experiment with the chilli and heat to make it more family-friendly.

9/10

Jerk sauce

Per 50g: 82 calories, 0.5g fat, 6g sugars, 1.3g salt.

YOU NEED:

2 tbsp mild jerk seasoning
1 tbsp reduced-salt soy sauce
3 tbsp reduced salt & sugar tomato ketchup
17g, or a heaped tsp, honey

METHOD: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until they form a paste, then spread on to chicken or red meat.

CLARE’S VERDICT: With his sweet tooth and fondness for ketchup, the jerk marinade is seven-year-old Sam’s favourite. He asked what else it could go on and got me to promise I’d make more next week.

9/10