Tastefully Simple Barbecue Dip Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce

Barbecue Grilled Country Ribs with Tastefully Simple Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce

I've been a fan of Tastefully Simple for quite a while now. I made some really terrific white barbecue chicken with their luau dip mix (which was also a great chip and veggie dip as well).

Tastefully Simple checked to see if I'd like to try out some of their new products for this grilling season. I'm usually game to do so and give an honest opinion.

I've always loved raspberries. When we visited the relatives when I was a kid, they would take me picking berries (mostly eating for me) and would keep getting me to say what they were. I called them RAUS-berries. So, the relatives all thought I sounded very city-fied, and I cracked them up with my mini foodie self.

Of course, I had to break open the Tastefully Simple Raspberry Sauce which does have jalapenos but not enough to run off many. You get just a hint of heat but not really any hot which works for me on this flavor combo.

Raspberry Jalapeno sauce is billed as a barbecue sauce or a table dipping sauce. I'd have to agree that it works both ways, so even if you don't barbecue grill, you can still get some great flavor here.

Grilling Country Ribs

Of course, I was going to grill with the Raspberry barbecue sauce, because . . . hey . . . that's what I do. And, that's really the only way I know how to tell you how a barbecue sauce really tastes. Fire up the grill and use it.

I had some country ribs which are an odd cut and inexpensive but with a lot of meat for the money. The flavor is close to pork chops. Also, these are not true ribs, so they don't have to grill or smoke for near as long. These were on maybe 45 minutes to an hour on low heat.

First I smoked the ribs until close done. This can be done with charcoal or gas (just low on the temperature). The last fifteen minutes or so I added the Tastefully Simple Raspberry BBQ sauce.  Sauces with sugar will burn if you put them on for the entire grilling time.

Having smelled and taken a little bite of the barbecue sauce beforehand, I sauced only one side of the country ribs. This is a sweet sauce, and one side was just perfect for us. If you have a real sweet tooth, you could go heavier and sauce up both sides. I'll stick with one side as the balance was just right here.

What Did We Think of the Raspberry Barbecue Sauce?

First, I must say that this is a beautiful barbecue sauce. I rarely go there on the blog. But, if you look at the photo at the top, you'll see what I mean. Wow. That's just a point and shoot camera on my front porch and no PhotoShop. The ribs looked just like that (or better).

The flavor was as good as how the country ribs look. Although I do suggest going light on the amount with the sweetness, the overall flavor was something to write home (or on FaceBook) about. The rich raspberry flavor with the hint of heat was spot on. 

I love a lot of grilling seasoning, spices, rubs, oils and sauces. There are just a very few that I count top picks. This is one, so you know I loved it. Then again, I do go way back as a raspberry fan, but I do think it would be hard not to love this special barbecue or dipping sauce.



Here is the bottle for those looking for Tastefully Simple Raspberry. I know it helps me when I know what to look for on the shelf.

Chopped Pork BBQ Sandwich with Sam Dog Mustard Barbecue Sauce

I heated up some North Carolina pork barbecue today for lunch and then took a look at my sauces. Since I had our traditional NC vinegar based sauce yesterday, I thought I'd do something different today and change it up.

Greg of Sam Dog BBQ had sent me some of his mustard based sauce or also called yellow barbecue sauce. If you know much about east coast barbecue, you'll know that's a South Carolina sauce (or pretty much so).

Folks get really touchy about their styles of smoking pork and the sauces here in the Carolinas and that can be just from one county to the next. You want to get folks heated up around here, then talk about religion, politics, or barbecue.

Anyway, I moved here at age 4 which means I am not a REAL North Carolinian. I think that takes 3 or 4 generations minimum, so I'm all over the map on barbecue and love a lot of it. Not all. Now, some of that stuff is just plain bad. But, that's another story for another day.

Anyway, I've tried Sam Dog mustard based barbecue sauce on chicken and pork chops and loved it. So, I had it on our local signature barbecue sandwich, and it was a hit again. Sam Dog is my top pick for mustard based barbecue - really fabulous.

I hate to tell you though that it is not on the market just yet. I've just had some of the home canned. But, I will ya'll know when it goes up to buy, because it is sure a taste treat. And, that's coming from a Carolina girl (if still a transplant 43 years).



If you're a little confused on our sauces and what is done where, then don't feel bad. It is complicated. My brother made this map. It gives you a general idea of how the states break down as far as the types of barbecue sauces.

Update - Great news! Sam Dog Mustard sauce in now on the market - October 2010. Congrats!

Holen One Farms Dipping and Glazing Sauce - Yum!

I love to try out new barbecue sauces and was excited to get the products I ordered from Holen One Farms. In addition to the Holen One barbecue sauce (dipping and glazing), they also have a marinade which I hope to try out tomorrow with steaks and a rub I want to check out on a smoked Boston butt.


First I fired up with the Portable Kitchen (PK grill) and got out my new Cusinart silicone basting brush which is so much nicer than the bristle brushes which always manage to end up stuck somewhere not so special. The Cuisinart grill brush is a tad large for the boneless, skinless chicken breasts or looks so, but it worked out fine. I just didn't dip as deep. It's great, also, for bigger barbecue saucing jobs too, of course.

Often I marinate my chicken to ensure moisture and to add some flavor, but I wanted to get the full flavor of Holen One Farms barbecue sauce. So, I just sprayed the grates with a little Pam grilling spray and put the chicken on.

This is a tomato based sauce, so I didn't sauce the chicken beforehand like a marinade. A lot of folks make that mistake, and they have chicken that's no cooked in the middle and burned on the outside as that sugar in the sauce can scorch in a heartbeat.

With these smaller pieces of chicken, I grilled one side until I could see a white color coming up the sides nice and then sauced the up or raw side. The chicken in thin slices like this is close done when you see the cooked part coming up the sides.

I flipped all the chicken with the raw and sauced side down and grilled for a couple of minutes while saucing the grilled top sides with grill marks. Then, I made one last flip for under a minute just to set the sauce on the first grilled side. That was over on a low heat part of the grill as I usually offset coals to do these kinds of tricks that make the grilled foods both taste better and look prettier.


Here's the grilled chicken lathered with Holen One Farm barbecue sauce right ready to come off the grill.

The sauce smelled so good (along with the charcoal) that the dad-person wandered over to see what we were griling up, and he stuck around to try the new bbq sauce as well. I forever grill up more than we can eat, so visitors are always welcome.

My teen son was the first to check in, "Hey, this is good sauce." His Dad then took a couple of bites and said, "Yep. It's a winner."

Holen One Barbecue Dipping and Glazing Sauce is a very nice all-purpose and company barbecue sauce. The flavor is clearly a bump up from mass marketed barbecue sauces at the grocery store, but Holen One did not go over the top and add too much heat or other strange ingredients that put it in a niche category. It appealed to my son who likes mild, his dad who goes medium, and I'm a hot sauce lover but thought this was one fine barbecue sauce.

That's another for the barbecue sauce favorites list which is slowly growing. There are loads of barbecue sauces out there, but I find few that rock the whole house. Holen One is a score!