When Natural Delights sent me an email with their new “naturally sweet” summer recipes, I knew I had to give their Medjool Date & Citrus BBQ Sauce a try! My kitchen is always stocked with medjool dates for raw vegan dessert recipes and my crazy sweet tooth. Although I do throw medjool dates in an occasional salad, I never really thought about using them in savory recipes. I was excited to see a naturally sweet barbecue sauce recipe since I’m always looking for ways to lower my refined sugar intake. This recipe does call for half a cup of brown sugar, but I actually omitted it, using only the dates as sweetener and LOVED how it turned out!

Homemade barbecue sauce= gluten free, vegan, and naturally sweet with no refined sugars!
Just in time for the 4th of July!!!

Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ SauceMy friend Behnaz brought me a huge bag of fresh picked grapefruit from her backyard! Perfect timing!

Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce

Medjool Date & Citrus BBQ Sauce
Adapted from Natural Delights

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup grapefruit juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup low-sodium tomato paste
12 Natural Delights Medjool Dates, pitted & coarsely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Chop onions and mince garlic. Heat oil in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (grapefruit juice, red wine vinegar, tomato paste, chopped medjool dates, and spices) and let simmer for 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender or immersion blender and purée the mixture. Transfer the completely blended mixture back to a saucepan and let simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.
Note: Great for basting tofu, or tempeh for a mock BBQ chicken salad!

Visit NaturalDelights.com for the original recipe (using brown sugar) and nutrition information!

If you’re a visual learner, Natural Delights has an excellent YouTube video showing step by step insructions on how to make the BBQ Sauce!
Natural Delights Medjool Dates

5 Comments on Medjool Date BBQ Sauce

  1. Whitney @ True Whit
    June 27, 2013 at 5:29 pm (11 years ago)

    A-mazing!! I hate giving up BBQ sauce but the sugar kills me. Can’t wait to try this!

    http://truewhit.wordpress.com

    Reply
  2. Kim
    June 27, 2013 at 11:59 pm (11 years ago)

    This looks awesome! How long will it keep in the fridge for?

    Reply
  3. Kelly @ hidden fruits and veggies
    June 28, 2013 at 8:37 am (11 years ago)

    I’m so obsessed with barbeque sauce, but it’s hard to find ones that don’t have high fructose corn syrup (or at least a whooole lot of sugar). Cant wait to try it out.

    Reply
  4. rebecca
    February 27, 2014 at 1:47 pm (10 years ago)

    could u substitute something for the grapefruit juice?

    Reply
  5. rebecca
    February 27, 2014 at 1:47 pm (10 years ago)

    could you substitute another citrus juice for the grapefruit juice?

    Reply

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