Barbecue Sauce

Food · Pantry & Condiment · Food, Typed Supps

Thirty-eight grams of sugar per hundred. More than most confectionery.

Stage by stage

Sweetness (Taste): 38.4 g of sugar per 100 g — more than a lot of confectionery, by weight.
Real serve size (Stomach): Used in 30–50 g quantities, unlike the teaspoon serves of most condiments.
Free sugar (Circulation): A 50 g serve is around 19 g of free sugar, close to a day’s conditional limit.
Fructose (Liver): Much of the added sugar arrives as fructose, handled hepatically.

Timing

Last few minutes of cooking only. At 38% sugar it caramelises and then burns long before the meat inside is done.

Time to effect

15–30 min: Glycaemic peak, from a serve that can rival a soft drink.
Per 50 g: Around 19 g of free sugar — the number worth knowing.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. May contain: Celery, Gluten, Mustard, Soya, Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP, Gluten-free.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Cost band

Mid — roughly £5 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Sugar
Sodium

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 173
Protein: 0.8g
Carbohydrate: 42.2g
of which sugars: 38.4g
Fat: 0.1g
Fibre: 0.9g
Sodium: 710mg

Food vs. supplement

Condiment sugar is the most commonly missed item in a free-sugar audit, because the mental category is "seasoning" rather than "sweet". Barbecue sauce is where that mistake costs the most.

Kitchen tip

On the side, not brushed over. When it is on the plate rather than on the food, people use about half as much without noticing.

Common myth

“It’s a condiment, so the amount is too small to matter.” In reality: True of mustard and Worcestershire, not of this. Barbecue sauce is 38.4 g of sugar per 100 g and it is used by the generous spoonful rather than the teaspoon — a 50 g serve delivers around 19 g of free sugar, which is most of a day’s conditional limit. It is the one item on the condiment shelf where the concentration figure and the real intake actually line up.