How To: Sweet and Spicy Paleo BBQ Sauce

I told Pres that the only present I wanted for my birthday was a homemade meal done entirely by him.

He stared and swallowed. He knows I am very picky about the foods I eat, so he was immediately intimidated. I loved every minute of this! Poor guy.

He had only cooked for me once before, and that was way back when we were in college (after one of my late night classes.) He made me Asian food, and to be super honest, he completely nailed it. It was restaurant quality, super tasty!

Of course, the kitchen where he cooked looked like a battlefield once he was done preparing the meal, but hey, who cares? The food tasted fabulous! I remember that even the recipe printout was covered in sauce and was super wrinkly. Haha, too cute.

After I told Pres about my birthday wish this year, he thought about it for a little while, and late he said: “Okay, I’ll do it! What do you want me to make?”

One word came out of my mouth. And that was: ribs.

If you’re a cook, you know this is sort of a tricky dish to make, as it takes a lot of planning and preparation. Good ribs basically require a three-step process: overnight rub, slow cook, and grill. And to make matters worse for him, I told him I wanted these ribs to be 100% homemade – that he was not allowed to buy an already made BBQ sauce – he had to make it all from scratch.

Now, I understand a meal like this is extremely rough for a beginner, but I had been craving ribs for such a long time that I did not hesitate to ask for them as my only birthday present. I knew he’d figure it out. He solves problems at work that are way more complicated than figuring out how to cook ribs, so I knew he’d be totally fine.

To give him a little boost and set him up for success, I decided to surprise him by making a homemade BBQ sauce (his birthday was three days after mine – yup, he’s a Leo too – so why not give him an early-birthday surprise?) I made this sauce a day before he had to start preparing for the ribs, so I think he felt a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. This BBQ sauce was deliciousness but he still had his work cut out for him.

After he prepared the rub, added it to the ribs, let them sit over night in the fridge, slow-cooked them, barbequed them, and plated them, we added the delicious sauce. Both my husband and I were licking our fingers after consuming those ribs. I think we finished the entire rack by ourselves that night. It was AMAZE! Preston did an incredible job for his 2^nd time cooking. Sheesh, I might just have him create my Amazing Paleo recipes from now on. 😉

This Sweet and Spicy Paleo BBQ sauce doesn’t need to be for ribs alone, it can be used on your favorite animal protein! I know you will love it.

I will post the recipe to the ribs my honey made me sometime this week too, so stay tuned for that!

Get the full recipe here!