Slow Cooker Cornelian Cherry BBQ Sauce
Cornelian Cherry BBQ Sauce made in the slow cooker: smoky, sweet, and tangy. A simple homemade recipe for BBQ lovers.
This BBQ sauce recipe turns tart, jewel-red cornelian cherries into a cornelian cherry BBQ sauce that’s smoky, tangy, and just the right amount of sweet. Best of all, it comes together effortlessly in the slow cooker, where the fruit, spices, and ketchup slowly meld into a glossy, flavour-packed sauce.
Why Cornelian Cherries?
Cornelian cherries may be small, but they pack a punch. When cooked slowly, their tartness softens and gives this cornelian cherry barbecue sauce a fruity depth that balances perfectly with smoke and spice. Think of it a little like a plum BBQ sauce — but tangier, and a lot jamier.
If you have ever cooked with cornelian cherries, you will know how well they hold their own against strong flavours like vinegars and spices. They don’t just add colour, but also a unique character that you won’t be able to find anywhere from a supermarket shelf.
Cooking Method
The secret ingredient to a rich, complex BBQ sauce is time. All too often, they are rapidly boiled on a stove top, leaving a very sweet, very uninteresting brown sugar sauce. Using a slow cooker allows the onions, garlic, and cornelian cherries to completely breakdown and blend into the spices and ketchup without ever coming close to catching or burning. The result is a BBQ sauce that is smokey, jammy, and packed with flavour.
I used an instant pot for this recipe, lightly sauteing the onion, garlic, and smoked paprika before the rest of the ingredients went in. I prefer bringing out the sweetness of the onions before the slow cooking, but you could skip this if you want and just throw everything into the slow cooker.
Ingredients Breakdown
Tomato Ketchup
Ketchup makes the backbone of a BBQ sauce, giving it most of its colour, body, and tang. If possible, use a homemade tomato ketchup, or if you don’t have any or don’t want to make some, make sure to use a high quality one. The cheaper and blander your ketchup is, the worse the final product will be.
Cornelian Cherries
In my opinion, fruit is the difference between an OK BBQ sauce and a great one. I chose cornelian cherries because I love cooking with them, and we can currently harvest kilos and kilos of them. If you don’t have them, plums work well in BBQ sauce, as do sour cherries.
Maple Syrup
Although ketchup already has sugar in it, we will need to add a little more because BBQ is typically sweeter than ketchup, and the cornelian cherries will need to be balanced. I chose maple because I love its caramel taste, but honey or simply brown sugar would work just as well.
Smoked Paprika
A BBQ sauce needs a hint of smoke for it to be allowed to be called BBQ sauce. I chose smoked paprika because it is widely available and packed full of smoke flavour. To get the best of it, bloom it in a little oil with the onions before it goes in the slow cooker.
Many people use liquid smoke in their BBQ sauce, but I recommend against it. It is very easy to accidentally put in a little too much and end up with food smelling and tasting like an ash tray. For making huge quantities of sauce, I think it has its place, but when cooking on a small scale at home, a couple of ml is the difference between a top sauce, and something that belongs in the bin.
Worcestershire Sauce
This is all the seasoning I will add to my BBQ sauce. It just rounds it off in a way that salt alone doesn’t. Soy sauce would work fine too, but you need to be a bit more careful with it to not overdo it.
Just a note for the veggies, traditional Worcestershire sauce contains anchovy, so be sure to check the bottle before buying and using. There are several vegan versions available.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients.
Finely chop the onion, and crush the garlic. Wash and pit the cornelian cherries. You don’t need to bother chopping them up. The slow cooking will cause them to almost melt. - Sweat the aromatics
If using an Instant Pot, set it to Saute and add 1 tbsp oil. When hot, add the onions and saute over a low heat for 8-10 minutes until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for a further minute.
If not using an instant pot, you can do this on the stove top in a frying pan. - Bloom the paprika
Hit cancel on the Instant Pot. Sprinkle in the smoked paprika with the onions and garlic. Keep stirring for 30 seconds.this helps release its full flavour and smokiness before slow cooking.
- Load the slow cooker
Add the cherries, ketchup, vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, Worcestershire, black pepper, salt, and chili flakes if using. Stir well to combine. - Cook low and slow
Cover and cook on LOW for 4–5 hours (or HIGH for 2–3 hours) until the cherries are soft and the sauce has become almost jam like. Keep the valve in a closed position to prevent it from losing too much moisture. Check it every now and then, and give it a good stir.
- Blend until smooth (optional)
I personally skip this step because I like my BBQ sauce rustic, and the long slow cooking means the small bits of onion and cherry in there will simply melt in your mouth.
If you want a smoother sauce, use a stick blender directly in the slow cooker to puree the sauce until glossy and smooth. Strain if you want a very silky finish. - Taste and adjust
Add more honey for sweetness, vinegar for tang, or chili for heat. A final splash of Worcestershire can brighten the flavour just before serving
How to Store Cornelian Cherry BBQ Sauce
If you want to store it longterm, you will need to bring it to the boil and pour it into a steralised bottle or jar, and seal the lid while still hot. This will keep several months in a cool dark place like a kitchen cupboard. If you want to know how to properly steralise a jar, check this page out.
If you don’t want to steralise, it will hold in the fridge for many weeks. To be conservative, I would say better keep it no longer than 6 weeks, but I have had homemade BBQ sauce for months in the fridge without issue. It is packed with sugar and vinegar, which are two ingredients used specifically for preserving food.
Slow Cooker Cornelian Cherry BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 330 g tomato ketchup
- 200 g cornelian cherries pitted
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 60 ml apple vinegar
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp mustard powder or Dijon mustard
- ½ black pepper
- pinch chili flakes optional
Instructions
- Wash and pit the cornelian cherries. Finely chop the onion and crush the garlic.
- Either in a pan or with Instant Pot set to SAUTE, heat 1 tbsp oil. Sweat the onion for 8–10 minutes until translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.
- Stir in smoked paprika and bloom for 30 seconds.
- Transfer onion mixture to the slow cooker. Add cornelian cherries, ketchup, vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, Worcestershire, black pepper, salt, and chili flakes. Stir well.
- Switch Instant Pot to SLOW setting. Cover and cook on LOW for 4–5 hours (or HIGH for 2–3 hours), until cherries soften and flavours meld. Keep valve closed to avoid losing moisture.
- Optional Step* Blend smooth with a stick blender. Strain if you want a silky finish.
- Taste and adjust seasoning — add more maple for sweetness, vinegar for tang, or chili for heat. If it is too thick, add a little water to get desired consistency.
- Cool and pour into a sterilised jar.
