Are you probably thinking as to How to Thicken BBQ Sauce? The thin sauce runs away from the plate, and in most cases, you need a spoon to catch it. A thick sauce is a big push to your dish whatever it is in meat or veggies.
Sometimes a homemade or store purchased soup is thin that you want to thick it according to your taste. Everyone likes a thick sauce. To thicken the art makes you praise a lot among your guests.
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How to Thicken BBQ Sauce
A thin sauce can entirely spoil your dish. So, you can thicken your sauce following the below steps.
Evaporation
Evaporation is the natural method to thicken your sauce. This technique requires no extra ingredients and your extra sources to thicken it. It is the easiest method and takes your 25 to 30 minutes to get it thick.
During this procedure, water dries out due to heat, the taste becomes stronger, and the liquid becomes thicker.
This method goes as;
- Take a shallow pan and pour the sauce in it.
- Keep it as uncovered and pour the sauce in it.
- Shake it gradually at moderate heat. (You can maximize the heat level but in this case, we don’t recommend you leave your place because the quantity of the sauce can decrease immediately at the high temperature.)
Continue this process as long as you attain the desired results. Gradually you will see that extra water mixes itself in the air. The sauce gets thick.
It demands no hard work on your part, maintaining its delicious taste as well.
How to Thicken Your Sauce Using Starch?
The basic purpose of starch is to strengthen our body. From a texture point of view, starches are powdery and tasteless serve to thicken sauces. The runny liquid form of your sauce gets changed with the addition of starches. Their usage absorbs liquid and expands molecules, resulting in your sauce thicken.
Furthermore, talking about grain wheat flour, corn starch, and rice starch comes as first in the list. The grains are the powerhouse of proteins and fats, add somewhat cereal taste to your sauce.
Wheat Flour;
Wheat flours’ mixture with sauce makes it thicker and denser. You cannot add wheat grains directly as it does not seem appealing.
The flour contains fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Great from an energetic point of view.
Moreover, the use of too much flour will make your sauce gummy, and it can ruin your sauce. Conscious use will great results.
Corn Starch
Cornstarch has more capacity to denser thin sauce as compared with wheat flour. But on the dark side, it does not produce good results in acidic foods. Besides, absorbs liquids expands and gelatinizes. Coldwater prevents it from getting gummy. Cornstarch is the best option to make your ribs shine.
Rice Starch
Rice starch has a great resemblance with wheat flour when added to thin sauce. It is obtained from white rice.
Moreover, from a digestive point of view, it is a good addition. Produces incredible results making your sauce digestible.
How to Add Starch
Bear one thing in mind does not use starch directly in your sauce, whether it is corn, rice or wheat flour. Their uneven mixture will leave your sauce with lumps.
So, to avoid lumps,
- Put a tablespoon in an extra bowl.
- Mix it well in half a cup of cold water, mix it to make even.
- Add the smooth mixture in hot sauce and occasionally shake, to attain magical results.
In addition to this, the evaporation and starch methods are too easy and result oriented that a beginner can create a hell out of it. These are quite easy to practice and bring superb results.
The Use of Food Gums to Thicken your sauce
In most of the kitchens, gums are used to thicken your sauce. These are obtained from seaweed and plants. The gums yield spices and liquid molecules together, and their mixture with sauce produces incredible results.
The addition of gums maintains its appearance and form add flavor, reducing fats and used oils. Generally, guar gums, xanthan and pectin gums are used in the sauce to thicken it.
Guar Gum
To gain health benefits, guar gum is widely used. It lessens your cholesterol level. Strengthen your body as it is high in fibers.
To add this, it comes from plants and has a sticky paste. The best part is it comes from a tree, thickens your sauce without getting gummy.
Xanthan Gum
Contrary to guar, it comes from bacteria. It is dissolvable in both hot and cold water. Elastic in nature produces marvelous outcomes as compared them with guar.
How to Use Gums?
The use of both gums is efficient to use. Use a teaspoon of gums with a quarter of liquid. Quite contrary to starch gums absorb moisture immediately. As you stir sauce after adding them up, you will see your sauce’s thickness within no time.
Pectin Gum
Pectin gum comes from apple cores and is available at grocery stores. There are two types of gums.
- Low methyl pectin
- High methoxyl pectin
Low methoxyl pectin thickens the creamy sauce.
High methoxyl pectin thickens a sauce or soup having sugar. Use almost 1/8 teaspoon in a cup of liquid.
How to add creams
There are many options to thicken your sauce adding tasty ingredients creams. They maintain the overall base as same but can bring a little bit change in flavor.
These other options are the use of creamy materials, making it tastier. On dark sides, the excessive use of creamy things is not good for heart patients.
Butter
The use of butter with flour makes sauce thick, adding a huge taste into it. Margarine is not a good choice as compared to the butter. It is the best option to add thickness along with improving taste.
Coconut Oil and heavy Cream
Asia is famous for using heavy creams for centuries. The Cream is sourced from cow and goats’ milk. It freezes on a low temperature and melts itself on slow heat. The addition of it makes the sauce thicker and tastier and denser in form.
Coconut oil is attainable from the nut. It is not as oily as butter or creams. Great from a health point of view.
How to Use Fibers to Thicken Sauce?
It seems appealing to add fiber to thicken your sauce. Fibers are natural components of food, add extra nutrients to your food. Some fiber options to thicken your sauce are as below.
Red Potatoes
The use of red potatoes denser your sauce. You can add it in both forms as pureed or mash them up. Their addition will thicken the sauce.
Fresh Tomatoes
Use pureed tomatoes as they are the best agent to denser your sauce along with adding extra flavor.
Eggplant and Pepper
Eggplant and pepper give good results. To avoid bitter taste a little bit of both of them should be used after you puree it.
Vegetables
Almost all of the veggies can be used to thicken the sauce. Roast or grill them up. Puree them and stir into sauce. Be careful about their quantity.
The little bit of use will show good results. The excessive use will ruin your sauce. Use water to thin it in case of necessity. The bitterness can be overcome by adding heavy, tasty creams.
Bottom Line
Jumping toward the conclusion, the whole article is about how to thicken BBQ sauce that needs a spoon to taste it.
Moreover, the steps maintained in this article does not mean to cover inadequacies. It is to add extra flavor to your sauce. The use of the ingredients, as mentioned above, will surely enhance the taste.
Now we hope you to experience these tricks to thicken the sauce. Following all steps will bring incredible result with mastering the art of thickening BBQ sauce.
You can also practice whatever is in your mind from veggies and starch and cream category to denser sauce and let us know about your experience leaving a comment below. Also, Don’t forget to check our reviews on the Best Meat to Smoke At Home.
