Sweet Baby Ray's Gets Part Of Its Iconic Flavor From Another Store-Bought Sauce

America loves sugary barbecue sauce, and Sweet Baby Ray's is one of the most popular brands on the market. It offers many varieties, but the original recipe — smoky, tangy sweetness with a kiss of heat — won second place among 700 competitors in a 1986 sauce competition. That win prompted brothers Dave and Larry Raymond, who had been making the sauce as a side hobby, to start the business later that year.

Sweet Baby Ray's exact recipe for the original, award-winning sauce is a closely guarded secret, but we do know where it gets its subtle heat. The original recipe contains a small amount of Tabasco, a popular hot sauce made by the family-owned McIlhenny Company since 1868 on Avery Island, Louisiana.

The same spicy flavors that make Tabasco a great part of any summer barbecue also make it a terrific element of Sweet Baby Ray's. The powerful flavor of the hot sauce is brought to heel by the sweetness of brown sugar, resulting in the versatile condiment loved by so many.

Sweet Baby Ray's wouldn't be the same without Tabasco, a simple hot sauce containing just aged red peppers, salt, and distilled vinegar. Barbecue sauces are not typically spicy, but they do often contain a small amount of heat in their overall balance of flavors. 

Dave Raymond, the namesake of Sweet Baby Ray's — related to a nickname from his basketball days — told the Chicago Tribune in a 1990 interview that even though Tabasco is more expensive than alternative ingredients, the sauce just wouldn't be the same without it. "Other sauces use bell peppers, curry powder, or cayenne red pepper, which are cheaper ingredients without the same bite," he said, revealing that the sauce is spicier straight from the fridge, but milder once it's heated. That's when the sweetness really shines through.

America fell in love with sweet barbecue sauce thanks to the explosive post-World War II popularity of ketchup, which is a common ingredient in Kansas City-style barbecue. Sweet Baby Ray's is originally from Chicago, but it has a lot in common with Kansas City-style sauces, which also tend to be thick and sweet with a bit of heat. It's no wonder, then, with such a palatable balance of spicy Tabasco and sweet brown sugar, that Sweet Baby Ray's was the favorite barbecue brand of connoisseurs polled by Daily Meal.