Ketchup and Barbecue Sauces: Tomato, Fruit, and Smoke

Ketchup is a reduced, thick condiment made from tomato paste, sugar, vinegar, salt, and spices; it is sweet and tangy, ranging from mild to hot depending on the recipe. Barbecue sauces are often built on the same foundation, with added notes of smoke, fruit, mustard, or chili. Here, you will find both: ketchup in five varieties, barbecue and curry sauces, fruit sauces, and creamy sauces for burgers and fries.

What Makes a Good Ketchup

The base is tomato paste—essentially concentrated tomatoes. The higher the content, the more pronounced the tomato flavor. Some ketchups are thickened with starch or stabilizers; however, when made with plenty of tomato paste and reduced for a long time, it becomes thick enough to stand on a spoon on its own. The sweetness comes from sugar, cane sugar, or maple syrup, while the acidity comes from vinegar. Regarding heat, producers usually distinguish between mild, spicy (or medium-hot), and hot; cayenne pepper or chili provides the warmth.

Barbecue, Curry, Fruit: The Barbecue Sauces

Barbecue Sauce as a Glaze

A BBQ sauce combines tomato with deep sweetness from beet syrup or brown sugar, vinegar, and often smoke, for instance from hickory wood. Because it contains a high amount of sugar, you should only brush it onto grilled food in the last five to ten minutes. This allows it to caramelize into a glossy glaze rather than turning black. Cold, it works as a dip for baked potatoes and burgers.

Curry Sauce for Currywurst

The curry sauce has been a staple of Berlin's currywurst since the post-war years: tomato, curry powder, and often a bit of fruit to round it out. It tastes best when briefly warmed and poured over sliced sausage.

Fruit Sauces and Creamy Sauces

Fruit sauces rely on peach, mango, or plum, paired with chili; they go well with chicken, pork, and duck. In addition, we offer creamy sauces based on rapeseed oil and egg yolk for burgers and fries—these should be kept cold, as the emulsion will break if heated.

Our Producers of Ketchup and Barbecue Sauces

Our top sellers come from Ketchup zum heiligen Stein in Lich near Gießen. Their Spicy Ketchup is medium-hot, the Mild Ketchup has no heat at all, and the hot variety provides warmth with cayenne pepper. All three are made with 43% double-concentrated tomato paste, cane sugar, and vinegar with raspberry juice. The Ketchup Variety 3-Pack contains all three in small jars, while the Smoky Ketchup adds hickory smoke and cranberries.

At Sossen Eckart, Thomas Eckart and his team prepare everything by hand in Berlin. The vegan Berlin Curry Sauce, made from tomato and orange juice, is perfect for currywurst, while the Mango Sauce with habaneros is the hottest on Eckart's scale with three chilis. They also offer a mild grill sauce and a tomato ketchup with maple syrup.

Wajos from the Mosel region contributes the Barbecue Sauce with Hickory Smoked Salt and beet syrup. Gruber's Fruchtzauberei from Reigersberg in Styria makes family-friendly products like the Mild Tomato Dip and fruit-based barbecue sauces like the Sweet & Sour Grill Sauce. Königskind from Wiehl crafts grill sauces using rye whiskey from the Sauerland or, in the case of the Barbecue Sauce with Country Beer, using Bergisches Land beer and rhubarb syrup. Wajos also provides the Patatas Bravas sauce, Mango Paprika Sauce with jalapeño, and Peach Sauce with whiskey.

Ketchup and Barbecue Sauces at the Grill and Table

For children and anyone who likes it mild, keep Mild Ketchup on the table; mix it with a little mayonnaise and lemon juice to create a cocktail sauce for shrimp. Spicy ketchup goes well with bratwurst, while hot or smoky ketchup is ideal for steak and spare ribs. Use barbecue sauce as a glaze for spare ribs and pulled pork, sweet & sour grill sauce for chicken skewers, and Eckart's plum sauce for pork neck. Warm up the Berlin Curry Sauce or Tomato Dip Curry for currywurst at home. And our truffle ketchup makes fries with parmesan or Sunday morning scrambled eggs into something special.

What to Look for When Buying

• Heat: Mild options include Mild Ketchup, Mild Tomato Dip, and Eckart's Grill Sauce; significantly hotter options are Hot Ketchup, Mango Sauce, and the hot & painful grill sauce.
• Jar or Bottle: You scoop ketchup from a jar with a spoon, whereas sauces in bottles can be precisely portioned.
• Vegan: The ketchups from Lich and many of Eckart's sauces are vegan; sauces containing honey or egg yolk are not.
• Alcohol: The barbecue sauces from Königskind contain alcohol, and Wajos's Peach Sauce contains 6% whiskey. According to the manufacturer, the bourbon in Eckart's tomato ketchup evaporates during cooking.
• Storage: Keep unopened bottles in a cool, dark place; once opened, store in the refrigerator and use a clean spoon to serve.

More Sauces and Mustard

Ketchup & Barbecue Sauces is part of our Sauces, Ketchup & Co. collection. To complete your bratwurst, all you need is the right mustard, ranging from mild organic mustard from Leipzig to fig mustard. You can find soy sauce, fish sauce, teriyaki, and Benz gravy under Condiment Sauces.

Order Ketchup and Barbecue Sauces Online

Whether stocking up for barbecue season or buying a set to sample, you can order your ketchup, BBQ sauce, and curry sauce online at Leni & Hans, and your package will arrive in 1–3 days.