The UP rundown of the best barbecue in the Midwest
Words by Molly Lamoureux
Video by Lauren Baker, Hannah Bigot, and Brooke Haesemeyer
The American Royal World Series of Barbecue hosts a sauce contest every fall to determine the best and most baste-worthy barbecue sauce recipe in the U.S. Unfortunately, you can’t bring their panel of judges to the grocery store with you when you need to pick up a bottle for dinner. That’s why Urban Plains set out to find a retail sauce worthy of being dubbed the Midwest’s barbecue boss. We judged quality on these three factors:
Taste
The flavor should be balanced—it shouldn’t be overly sweet, tangy, spicy or smoky. And it definitely shouldn’t taste like it was doused in vinegar.
Texture
Consistency matters. Thick sauces are used for dipping, while thinner recipes come in handy for marinating and grilling.
Time
The flavor should linger in your mouth after you’ve eaten it. You should feel it tingle on your taste buds.
With these criteria in mind, we picked ten sauces from around the Midwest, from regional stalwarts like Cookies to start-ups like Deadeye. Then we started dipping. Here’s our rundown of the best barbecue sauces in the Midwest.
Maull’s
St. Louis, MO
$2
KC Masterpiece
Kansas City, MO
$2
JB’s Fat Boy
Lincoln, NE
$5
Countryside Barbeque Sauce
Algona, IA
$3
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Cookies
Wall Lake, IA
$3
Sweet Baby Ray’s
Chicago, IL
$2
Heinz
Fremont, OH
$2
Deadeye BBQ
Des Moines, IA
$6
Famous Dave’s
Minnetonka, MN
$2
Knackies Bear-B-Cue
McPherson, KS
$5
