Get ready for our favourite time of the year with trending barbecue sauce ideas

Canada’s love affair with barbecue is rock steady, and with summer fast approaching, there’s no better time to start developing crowd-pleasing recipes starring the craveable flavours of barbecue sauce. Smoky, sweet, savoury, fruity, spicy or tangy—with its layers of flavour and steadfast popularity with diners, finding ways to incorporate barbecue sauce onto your menu makes good business sense. Read on for trending flavour combinations—we’ve made it easy. Simply start with one of your favourite barbecue sauces from Kraft Heinz Foodservice and with just a few add-ins, you get signature results.

get saucy

Explore the versatile, broadly appealing world of barbecue. Start with a strong-performing brand from Kraft Heinz Foodservice: Kraft Barbecue Sauce, Bull’s-Eye Barbecue Sauce, Richardson Ultimate Barbecue Sauce or Diana Sauce Spicy Barbecue. Then add a few well-placed ingredients for an on-trend barbecue experience.

Kraft Barbecue Sauce

Deep smokehouse char through
long low-heat cooking dot Natural appearance with
homemade quality dot Withstands high heat grilling
and baking dot Use as a base or straight from the bottle

Diana sauce Spicy Barbecue

Moderately viscous dot Spicy red tomato based containing
unique sweet and sour
characteristics dot Complemented by select capsicums dot Use as a base or straight from
the bottle

Bull’s-eye Barbecue Sauce

Real molasses, tomato purée and natural
smoke flavour dot Real sugar, no high fructose corn syrup dot Authentic appearance after
caramelization dot Withstands high heat grilling & baking dot Use as a base or straight from the bottle

Richardson Ultimate Barbecue Sauce

Mild smoky flavour dot Deep red-brown flowing sauce
with spice flecks and chili seeds dot Use as a base or straight from the
bottle dot Blends well with other ingredients dot Caramelizes at a lower rate for
deeper flavour development dot Made with no artificial colours
or flavours

light

Start with a Kraft Heinz Barbecue Sauce,

then take it in one of these trending directions:

SWEET HEAT

maple syrup + black pepper

dot

pineapple + jerk seasoning

Smoky & Savoury

root beer + butter + garlic

dot

molasses + dark soy sauce

barbecue

FUNKY & SPICY

miso + harissa

dot

gochujang + gochugaru

moky & Sour

chipotle + tamarind

dot

mezcal + sour orange

dishes

Looking for that perfect summer special? These five are popular pairings with barbecue sauce.

1

Barbecue/
buffalo
chicken pizza

2

Chicken Wings

3

Poutine

4

Pork
Ribs

5

Specialty
Burgers

Barbecue sauce
has seen a
19% growth
on Canadian menus
over the last 5 years,
according to
Technomic.2

Inception

Less Familiar/ Starting to Find Traction

Eggs
Pork Belly
Ground Beef
Fish
Pork Tenderloin
Hot Dog
Salmon
Tuna

 
 
 
 

Adoption

Emerging & Taking Root

Back Rib
Angus
Plant-Based Protein
Veggie Protein
Imitation Meat
Maple Bacon
Smoked Bacon
Shrimp
Sirloin
Brisket

Proliferation

Moving into Mainstream

Chicken
Bacon
Chicken Wing
Beef
Fried Chicken
Proteins
Steak
Pepperoni
Chicken Breast
Sausage

 
 

Fastest
Growing Proteins

Paired with Barbecue 3

  • Chorizo300%
  • Pork Tenderloin300%
  • Jerk Chicken150%
  • Plant-Based Meats150%
  • Tofu100%
  • Halibut100%
  • Shrimp62%

For more information

on the high-quality, consistent line of barbecue sauces in the Kraft Heinz portfolio, visit our product page.

Explore range

1 Base: 1,045 menu items across 262 operators (full sample) in Q4 2021-Q4 2022, Source: Technomic Ignite Menu national food trends data

2 Base: 515 CA operators (full sample) in Q4 2017-Q4 2022, Source: Technomic

3 Base: 1,045 menu items across 262 operators (full sample) in Q4 2021-Q4 2022, Source: Technomic Ignite Menu national food trends data

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