Aldi Kansas City BBQ Sauce Review
Author’s Note: Not a paid review. I have no affiliation with Aldi. Or any of the other brands mentioned here. Natch.
It’s better than Kinder’s. Fight me.
I’ve generally had good success with Aldi purchases, minus a few disasters. But every so often, there’s a stellar product that truly blows me away. And this Burman’s Kansas City BBQ Sauce is one of those products.
First, let me get something off my chest: I don’t love ketchup. If given a choice, I would probably never eat ketchup. I like mustard. And I like BBQ sauce. But no ketchup. I hope we can still be friends.
How sweet is it?
I’ve had my share of BBQ sauces that are mostly sugary syrup, with little flavor. What I love about this Aldi version is that sugar takes a backseat to the flavor. In fact, tomato puree is the first ingredient. It’s made with cane sugar and molasses, instead of high fructose corn syrup. This is a deeply flavorful sauce that just happens to be sweet. Not the other way around.
(If you’re looking for an even “less sweet” BBQ sauce, you might like this other Aldi rendition: Burman’s Gold.)
What’s the texture?
I appreciate the thickness of this sauce. There are beautiful fragments of natural texture that reminds me of tamarind paste. Indeed, tamarind is one of the ingredients here. There are also be bits of blended tomato, and black pepper fragments. It’s definitely more enjoyable than just slippery, syrupy, sweet stuff!
Is it spicy?
This isn’t what I’d consider a spicy sauce. It’s got a pleasant tanginess from apple cider vinegar, and spiced flavor of ginger, clove, black pepper, and nutmeg. There’s the multifaceted savory taste of Worcestershire sauce. And the primal satisfaction of hickory smoke flavor. But no “heat.”
What did I do with my Kansas City BBQ Sauce?
I ate my Burman’s BBQ sauce with these Extra Crispy French Fries from Costco. I also enjoyed it on a Columbus Craft Meats Turkey Burger. And on my Trident Ultimate Fish Sticks. And on these Foster Farms mini corn dogs. And on my Bare Chicken Nuggets (No review of that, sorry! The entire world already knows how good they are. Ha.). I ate it on everything. And it never got old.
Ingredients in Burman’s Kansas City BBQ Sauce from Aldi
Here is my best attempt at typing out the ingredients, from the (annoyingly curved) label:
- Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste)
- Cane Sugar
- Molasses
- White Vinegar
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Salt
- Corn Starch
- Worcestershire Sauce (Water, Molasses, White Vinegar, Salt, Cane Sugar, Tamarind Syrup, Garlic Powder, Caramel Color, Black Pepper, Xanthan Gum, Celery Seed Powder, Ginger Powder, Ground Nutmeg, Clove Powder)
- Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor
- Onion Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Black Pepper
- Caramel Color
Nutrition Facts
A serving is 2 tablespoons (35 grams) and contains 60 calories. You get 0 grams fat and 0 grams protein. There are 13 grams total carbohydrates, of which less than 1 gram is fiber, and 11 grams are sugars (10 grams “added sugar”). You get 11% your daily value of sodium. And, there’s a surprising 4% your daily value of iron per serving. Maybe from the molasses?
Price and Servings
The 19 ounce bottle cost $3.89 at my local Aldi. Since there are 16 servings per bottle, each serving would cost approximately 24 cents.
Side note: this sauce comes in a big, thick, glass bottle, which makes it immediately seem more expensive than it is. I like this much better than Aldi’s other lines of BBQ sauces, which are packaged in plastic squeeze bottles.
Shelf Life
The “best by” date on my bottle allowed approximately 1.5 years to consume, unopened. According to Southern Living, store-bought sauces like BBQ can last 4-6 months in the refrigerator after opening.
Dramatic Conclusion
This is probably the best BBQ sauce I’ve ever had. Yes, I like it better than Kinder’s. Fight me. I’m impressed by the ingredients, too. While it is substantially more expensive than other Aldi sauces, it’s worth it. I’ve recently tried 3 other Aldi BBQ sauces, and this is still my favorite flavor.
On my extremely scientific “Awesome-o-Meter,” this Kansas City BBQ Sauce scores a rare “Speechless.”
The End.
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