Serves 4
Total time: 30 minutes || Active time: 20 minutes
I find most storebought barbeque to be cloyingly sweet, so when I want BBQ I head for my pantry. The great thing about this sauce is that you can customize to your heart’s content. Want more spice, add extra Sriracha. More sweetness, add more mapley goodness. More tang, well, there’s the mustard, have at it! It’s really as easy as can be.
I used to call it 2×2 BBQ Sauce because it took two minutes and everything was two tablespoons (‘cept for the liquid smoke) so it was easy to memorize, but I kind of refined it down to these measurements. Still, I never have to actually measure anything, I just eyeball it. The peanut butter is my secret ingredient – it doesn’t make the sauce very peanutty, but gives an excellent texture and a flavor that will keep people guessing. In a good way. Unless they are allergic.
Since there’s no onion or garlic in the sauce recipe, I always throw some in with whatever I’m cooking. In this case, seitan and broccoli. I also love to use it with baked beans, baked tofu, or veggie burgers – all the usual BBQ suspects. Use cast iron for the smokiest flavor possible. I served it with rice this time, but of course cornbread or mashed sweet potatoes would be a great accompaniment, too.
For the BBQ Sauce:
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon prepared mustard (I use Dijon)
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce
For the rest:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
Big pinch salt
1 lb seitan, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh black pepper
3 to 4 cups broccoli florettes and peeled and sliced stems
Mix all of the BBQ Sauce ingredients together in a bowl.
Preheat a large pan over medium high heat. Saute the onions in oil with a big pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the seitan and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until seitan is browned. Add garlic and black pepper and saute for about a minute, until fragrant. Add a tiny bit more oil if needed.
Mix in the broccoli and cover the pan to cook, lifting intermittently to stir, until softened (about 5 minutes.)
Add the sauce, toss to coat, and cook for about 5 more minutes. Sauce should become thick and bubbly. Taste for salt and seasoning and serve!
I’m gonna make this tonight to take to my dad as a gift! thanks 🙂
ohmyfaceyum. That looks delicious and dead easy, a bad combination for my late night cooked food cravings. At least there’s always breakfast tomorrow, right?! Thanks for the recipe.
Wow, I really do have all those things in my pantry. Except for liquid smoke. Maybe smoked paprika would give the requisite smokiness? Looks awesome.
Yep, smoked paprika or chipotle powder would be great! Just be careful with the heat.
Droooool! I’m absolutely making this tonight. BBQ seitan sammiches with broccoli on the side…also smothered in this. Might have to add some chipotles. As a Texan, I’m so down with this recipe. Thank you, Isa, and happy early birthday! xo
This would also be good with tempeh! Now I am dead set on making some BBQ sauce. Thanks!
i just made the sauce to use as BBq tempeh, and it is really good. next time, I’ll decrease the PB. to 1 T. thanks for the recipe!
Oh totally, I always make it with tempeh. I’m surprised I didn’t say so in the recipe.
sounds so yummy, pizza tonight – BBQ tomorrow – thanks!
This looks amazing – can’t wait to try it this weekend with some superbowl apps!
I’ve just recently decided to go vegan and found your website – and may i say, you are truly a master! 🙂 This recipe was SO Yummy!!!! (I have to admit that I was apprehensive about eating Seitan…but I’ve been convinced that it is good! Thank you for this recipe!
Wow, a daring recipe to start out your vegan adventure. Thank you!
Oh heck yeah! Every Saturday the hubs & I hang out with our friend. I’m the only veg among us and I make them eat vegan food every Saturday. Realized the other day that I always end up making pasta/pizza… so I’m totally making this. There’s nothing like getting two hardcore carnivores to go back for thirds of tofu or tempeh 😀
Thanks for the recipe!
This was soooo yummy! And, simple to boot! I have a 3 year old so I just left off the sauce since it was a little spicy and she was super stoked with ketchup instead.
the sauce was yummy on some fried scallions and seitan then baked right in the cast iron skillet. i do think i eye-balled more than 2 tablespoons of pb though.
This was great. I made it super spicy and it was excellent. Thanks, Isa!
This was AMAZING. THANK YOU! I wish I’d doubled it.
Your sauce sounds so good! I love the addition of peanut butter….. !
Oh my goodness. This was sooooooooo good! Definitely going on the list of things to make when meat-loving friends come over for dinner.
Thank you for yet another lovely recipe Isa!
Thank you for this recipe, I loved it. I also added some tofu. My non vegan Husband ate a big bowl with me. Will be making this often.
Thanks, this rocked! Omnivore boyfriend asked if I can make a bigger batch next time, he loved…
This looks delicious! Im going to try it with tempeh. I absolutely love bbq sauce, but have never made my own. I’ll try your recipe, and use almond butter instead of peanut butter (I’m allergic). It’s cool that you use the nut butter for texture, I’m interested to discover the texture it gives the sauce.
This looks great. How long do you think the BBQ sauce would keep in the fridge? Thinking about making a double batch…
This was soooo good. Bummed there were no leftovers.
Tried this with tempeh. Thought the peanut butter was too pronounced with 2 Tbsp. but I understand it is custom-izable.
I loved this! I had it with spagetti and it was so good! I will make it again and again, the BBQ sauce is the best I’ve ever had.
What can I sub for peanut butter? Tahini maybe?
Tahini may be a tad too bitter. I’ve had good results with cashew or almond butter.
I made this tonight and it f-ing ruled. I made extra sauce to use here and there for the rest of the week, but I kinda want to take it out of my fridge and drink it right now. I will never buy crappy, store-bought, HFCS BBQ garbage ever again.
THIS sauce looks AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!!!
Smokey, and with attitude. Is there anything better?!?!?! 🙂
Thanks!
xo
Thanks, Isa! This was extremely delicious and so easy!
I’m gonna make this tonight to take to my dad as a gift! thanks
This is among the greatest things I have ever cooked/consumed. How often do you think I can serve this before my wife gets utterly sick of it??
Ima make this later 🙂 well the sauce, the UK seems to be afraid of gluten flour…………
and you make me LOL a lot 😀
I paired the BBQ seitan with a Cold sesame noodles recipe from Martha Stewart. It was yummy, but next time I’ll double the BBQ sauce so I have leftovers.
Another hit!
Mine came out soupier than yours, but paired with some baked sweet potato, it made a perfect dinner… and with stuff I actually did really have on hand! I normally hate “pantry” recipes, because I never have the stuff. Thanks for making me feel like a winner!
Love it! Served this up with a baked sweet potato on the side. I went the easy route and used my favorite BBQ sauce (about a cup, plus 2-3 T. water) but either way, easy, filling, tasty. Thanks!!
And I should also mention that I used some of the seitan from your recipe I had leftover and frozen about a month or so ago. It was PPK all the way.
This is our new favorite BBQ sauce. My tiny plastic co-writers and I made it for the first time the other night and served it over mashed sweet potatoes. It turned out great!
That is too awesome!
I made this for my (carnivorous) boyfriend and myself. Two words: crazy delicious. Thank you!
I made this recipe and loved it, the best BBQ sauce ever.
This bbq sauce is awesomesauce. Instead of the broccoli dish, I used the sauce for bbq seitan sandwiches! Thinly sliced seitan, pan-fried for a few minutes in the sauce, served on buns. I’m never buying BBQ sauce again.
I’ve only been attempting veganism for about a month so this is all just so new and amazing to me. I was just floored by the Seitan when I made it this morning, and I couldn’t wait to come home and try this recipe. Wow, just WOW!
This bbq sauce was beyond amazing. I had made seitan and was wondering what type of a dish to make with it. This is exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t have liquid smoke so I added some sauce from a can of chipotles and an extra hit of sriracha. Extra spicey and soooooooooooo good. This is a keeper.
What a great recipe. I’m making it again tonight. Thanks, Isa.
Yum! Made seitan for the first time yesterday, and had this for lunch today (with some mushrooms too!). It was awesome. I shall be making that bbq sauce again, except tripling it!