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Delicious Smoked Pork Ribs with Low Sugar BBQ Sauce. Find out how to create a spicy and naturally sweet no sugar added BBQ sauce without using ketchup or loads of added sugar. 

For this recipe we’re using baby back ribs, smoking them in the 3-2-1 method, and finishing them with a low sugar spicy mango BBQ sauce. The sweetness of the sauce comes from the natural flavors of the mango fruit.

Every January my family endures a 10-day sugar detox. The first year it was hard, especially for my husband. He’s accustomed to eating lots of deli sandwiches, which were off limits (since most sandwich breads have added sugar, not to mention sugar added into the brines of deli turkey meat).

One of the other challenges comes in the form of things like dry rubs and BBQ sauces for the foods we like to cook. This means zero brown sugar in any dry rubs (gasp!). And most BBQ sauces were also off limits because they are full of sugar. Don’t even get me started on store bought sauces.

So we’ve come up with some great ways to add natural sweetness, without the processed sugar in many BBQ sauces and rubs, that doesn’t sacrifice flavor.

The Cut — Baby Back Ribs

We used baby backs ribs for this BBQ sauce recipe. You can use any rib cut you prefer or even pork butt or shoulder.

Sauce Ingredients

Full portions are in the recipe card. To get the right texture we will blend at the end so don’t stress too much on the chopping skills.

• Unsalted butter and extra virgin olive oil – This will be the base to caramelize the onions.
• Yellow onion – Sliced since we will caramelize and then blend it.
• Garlic – Minced
• Jalapeño – Stems and seeds removed to keep the heat level lower
• Tomato paste
• Spices – Cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, dry mustard, kosher salt, black pepper
• Liquids –  Apple cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce and lime juice
• Mango – We use the frozen cubes but you can use a fresh mango as well.

Seasoning – No Sugar Dry Rub

We coat our ribs with a slather of mustard so the dry rub will stick (we use Dijon as a binder), then apply our no-sugar seasoning. In our case we are using our poultry or chicken seasoning. Alternatively if you can’t find a store bought version you can try one of our other no-sugar added seasonings:

• SPG Rub – This is equal parts kosher salt, coarse black pepper, and granulated garlic.
• Beef Seasoning – This is a combination of herbs, heat, and savory flavors.

For our rub, we go heavy savory flavors like onion powder, dry mustard and paprika to offset the typical mix of sugar. 

How to Make a Low Sugar BBQ Sauce

How do we get the sweetness if we are trying to minimize added sugar? Naturally, from mango and caramelized onions.

1. Start by caramelizing some onions for the sauce, which really brings out the natural sweetness in the onions. Caramelized onions are insanely delicious and they add richness and sweetness to the sauce.
2. Instead of ketchup (which usually has lots of added sugar) use tomato sauce and tomato paste to get richness and consistency (just make sure the tomato sauce contains no added sugar).
3. Add seasonings for heat and flavor (chili flakes, cayenne, paprika).
4. Add fruit: add a cup of frozen mango cubes to achieve that natural sweetness I was looking for. One cup of mango provides a great balance of sweetness. But if you prefer more sweetness feel free to add more mango cubes (I suggest adding it by ¼ cup increments at a time so you don’t overdo it).

Now that you have your sauce, next up smoke your ribs.

Cooking Method For Ribs

For BBQ ribs the best method we like to follow is one where we smoke, then wrap, then unwrap and glaze the ribs. You can find more details at our full guide on the 3-2-1 method of smoking ribs.

1. Preheat Smoker: Set your smoker temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit using a fruit wood like apple or cherry. Prep and season the ribs.
2. During The First 3 Hours, you’ll want to spritz your meat occasionally to keep it moist. We use apple cider vinegar. It adds a touch of sweet due to the apple, so a nice way to offset a savory rub.

2. Wrap: When comes time to wrap the ribs, place your meat on some foil or butcher paper, generously apply your BBQ sauce, then wrap completely.
3. The Final Hour: remove ribs and carefully open the foil. Gently coat both sides of the ribs with your low sugar BBQ sauce and place back on smoker with bone side facing down. This will tack up the sauce. Remove after 30 minutes to 1 hour or until the sauce looks like it has set.

Tools Used

For the sauce we use a 3-quart Dutch oven and a good hand immersion blender. You can also use a good traditional blender as well. The important part is that it needs to be strong enough to liquify the BBQ sauce.

For the cooking process of smoking we use the Thermoworks Smoke Unit to monitor the temperature of the cooking chamber and the ribs.

Variations and Adaptations

After testing this recipe with no sugar added several times, we took the same sauce recipe and added some molasses and ¼ cup of turbanado sugar for comparison. There is definitely some depth of flavor and smokiness that the molasses and sugar adds to the sauce. But contrast that with tomato paste which has concentrated flavor and the mango with the natural sugars, and we definitely didn’t miss it that much.

(If you are sugar-free right now then just cut out the molasses and sugar. It’s a very small amount to begin with. The tomato paste and sauce combined with the caramelized onions and mango add plenty of natural sweetness and richness. )

If you’re sugar free (or low sugar) this recipe will definitely please your guests for a backyard party if you’re looking to get that sweet and smoky BBQ sauce flavor without the excess sugar.

More Low to No Sugar BBQ Recipes

• Spicy Mango Jalapeño BBQ Sauce
• Keto and Paleo Friendly Smoked Ribs
• Easy Chicken Seasoning Recipe (Sugar Free)

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About Vindulge

Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.

If you like this recipe we’d truly appreciate it if you would give this recipe a star review! And if you share any of your pics on Instagram use the hashtag #vindulge. We LOVE to see it when you cook our recipes.

*This post contains an affiliate link for the ThermoWorks Smoke digital read thermometer. We only recommend products we use and love! And you can’t smoke meat to the perfect temperature without a good thermometer, and this one is awesome.