Honey Bourbon Sauce
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Buttery sweet Honey Bourbon Sauce, with a touch of vanilla and brown sugar, is perfect for topping just about anything from bread pudding to ice cream, from meats and seafood to veggies. You’ll want to keep a jar of this honey bourbon glaze handy because once you taste it, you will want to put it on everything!
The Best Honey Bourbon Sauce Recipe
I think I found a new favorite sauce. This Honey Bourbon Sauce has been awesome on so many things already — and boy! Do I have plans for it for other things, too! It’s amazing on pancakes, ice cream, and over veggies like beets or carrots. It gives a unique sweetness to veggies that you will love, I just know it!
The first time I posted this recipe was in 2018. It has been super popular ever since! If you are returning to make it again, know that I didn’t change the recipe, just added in some new photos of this sensational sauce!
Does Bourbon Sauce have Alcohol?
Have you ever heard that cooking alcohol removes the alcohol content? Well, turns out that is a myth. Here’s a great article on Cooking Alcohol and Alcohol Evaporation you can do a little light reading. However, there is such a small amount in this bourbon glaze recipe that most needn’t worry. Of course, if you absolutely can’t drink any alcohol, you can sub apple juice or add a little more vanilla.
Reader comment: “This is awesome. I’ve tried it on waffles and also different types of fish. Salmon and catfish. I’m making this a part of my must have food when I grill from now on.” – Don
What Is Bourbon Sauce?
Bourbon sauce classifies as a reduction-style sauce. Essentially, by using high heat, you not only evaporate most of the alcohol out as well as any water. At the same time, the sugars caramelize and help concentrate the flavors. In this way, the sauce also works quite well as a glaze. You can coat anything and everything in bourbon brown sugar glaze. Because it makes everything taste on the right side of amazing!
Of course, it works great on chicken, salmon, steak, and pork, especially when you do any of those on the grill. Want the best wings ever? Glaze them generously with it! But use it on sweets and desserts as well. Trust me on this! Try some on cakes, pancakes, waffles, and even ice cream! Use this bourbon sauce recipe for bread pudding, yes, even bread pudding too.
Use It For A Dipping Sauce Too!
Make a few extra servings to use for a dipping sauce too. Sweet bourbon dipping sauce works for dipping chips or veggies, or you can make some sweet bourbon-glazed meatballs to serve as an appetizer too. I think most people after trying some actually dream about what else they can slather it on. (So it is nothing to feel weird about if that happens to you too…)
What Is Bourbon Sauce Made of?
With just a few ingredients, this honey bourbon sauce is easy as they come. You don’t have to use the high-priced fancy bourbons for this if you want to save those for sipping! Most likely you will have everything here already in your pantry.
- Butter
- Brown sugar
- Bourbon
- Vanilla
- Honey
How to Make Bourbon Honey Sauce
This one comes together super fast, so it’s ready in no time for you to use on whatever your heart desires.
All you need to do is melt some butter in a small saucepan with some brown sugar.
When it’s hot, add in the bourbon. Whatever you have on hand. It doesn’t need to be anything special. You will heat it to evaporate some of the alcohol content. A couple of minutes or so does the trick.
After you add the bourbon, add in the vanilla, it gets sort of foamy while it’s cooking the bourbon and the vanilla. Add in the honey and stir until hot.
Then serve it warm on whatever you like! Let your imagination run wild!
Love it? PIN it!
Don’t forget where you found this sweet bourbon sauce recipe! Pin it to your favorite Pinterest recipe board before you go!
Why Bourbon Honey Sauce Makes The Best Sauce for Barbecuing
When it comes to grilling recipes, bourbon honey sauce always tops the charts of best, and most favorite. That is because of a few factors. First, bourbon already adds smokiness to the flavor without any burnt or unpleasant type of aftertaste. Next, the sweetness of the honey and brown sugar is just enough, not too much, not too little.
If you want, you can always add a bit of spice to it too with a dash or three of Tabasco or some red pepper flakes. I have a delicious bbq sauce recipe to check out as well.
It’s nice to have recipes for a plethora of sauces, Here are some of my favorites:
- Spiced Rum Caramel Sauce
- Crockpot Apple Sauce
- Pineapple Sauce
- Homemade Raspberry Sauce
- The BEST Tartar Sauce
- Beer Cheese Pasta Sauce
- Whiskey Sauce
- Homemade Marinara Sauce
- Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
- Plum BBQ Sauce
- Mustard Cheese Sauce
- Blueberry Bourbon Barbecue Sauce
- White BBQ Sauce
- The Easiest Chimichurri Sauce
- Three Dippings Sauces: Vanilla, Chocolate and Peanut Butter
- Hollandaise Sauce
- My Mom’s Cranberry Sauce
- Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
- Lemon Caper Sauce
- Cherry Butter
Bourbon Lovers Unite!
If you are a fan of bourbon, I have some other recipes to tickle those bourbon-loving taste buds of yours!
- Kentucky Mule (pictured above)
- Bittersweet Chocolate Bourbon Balls
- Bourbon Lemonade
- Honey Bourbon Glazed Beets with Crispy Kale
- Cherry Lime Bourbon Smash
What will you pour it on first??
LIKE THIS RECIPE?
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Honey Bourbon Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon bourbon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup raw honey
Instructions
- Melt butter with brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Pour in bourbon and stir to let the alcohol burn off. About one minute.
- Add vanilla, stir.
- Add in honey, and heat through.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted on June 4, 2018. It had been updated to improve the user experience and re-shared on April 19, 2022.
Oh my! This sauce sounds lovely. I need to try it on veggies but desserts came to my mind first.
This is awesome. I’ve tried it on waffles and also different types of fish. Salmon and catfish. I’m making this a part of my must have food when I grill from now on.
Awesome!! I am thrilled you love it, Don! I actually just re-made it yesterday! 🙂 New photos coming soon!
My favorite thing to use this sauce on is ice cream! The flavor is out of this world!
I made this today to have on hand for those impromptu desserts! It was hard to pack it in a jar for storage! Finger-lickin’ good!
I used this on salmon and it was delicious! A new way to use bourbon!!
Lovely sauce. It’s so marvelous as waffle syrup, and works well with grilled chicken too.
Do you leave the vanilla in for using on chicken? I was gonna try on wings.
I can’t speak for Anita, but I do when I use it on wings!
I love that I can use this sauce with both pancakes and veggies (or just eat it out of the jar with a spoon!)
This was was so easy to make and it is delicious! We enjoyed it on pancakes and we will have more this weekend on top of waffles. Looking forward to putting it on practically everything!
I made this sauce and now I put it on everything! The blend of flavors is out of this world- I especially love it on vanilla ice cream!
This was perfect on the bread pudding I made tonight. Thanks for a delicious topping!
WOW! WHat a flavorful and delicious sauce recipe.Thanks for sharing.
Can you can this to make it last longer?
I am not super proficient in canning – but I feel like it would totally work! IF it works for jelly I don’t know why not?
I made this up to grill on my chicken tonight. Tastes a little too buttery (can’t believe I’m saying that) wondering if it will make the chicken too buttery
Too buttery? That is interesting. I will be curious to know what you think after you use it. Nobody has ever said that before?