Homemade BBQ Sauce Shelf-life??

corey24

Made a homemade bbq sauce this wk-end to go on a Butt. I was wondering what you guys think the life of this is in the refrigerator since it doesn't have the preservatives of the store bought stuff. It was so good I hate to throw it out.

RRP

My rule of thumb is if any of the ingredients had already been in the refrig then my homemade sauce goes there as well. I make a favorite that makes 2 quarts at a time. I freeze one and keep the other in the refrig until used up.

jlsm

I just leave in the fridge. Depending on the sauce, either the ingredients already have "preservatives" in them, as in ketchup, or they are primarily vinegar and/or mustard (which has a good deal of vinegar in it), and that should keep forever. I make an Arthur Bryant rip-off that I've kept in the fridge for four months or more with no issues. I also make a Carolina mustard-based sauce that my stepson loves on fries, and that has been in the fridge for six months or more. A pure vinegar Carolina sauce I think I've had for a year. 

We don't use much regular ketchup; I generally toss that after a year because it starts to turn dark, but I'm not sure it presents any danger.  

RLeeper

Most of the sauces I get from cookbooks say up to one year in the fridge...

corey24

Great to know!!

thailandjohn

The two different sauces that I make get better with age. I like to make them and let them sit for two months before using