What You Should Know About Sweet Baby Ray's Keto-Friendly Sauces

When it comes to finding barbecue (or other) sauces that fit within certain diets or avoid certain allergens, the task is not an easy one. You can pay for a high-priced, diet-specific sauce in the store, or you can make your own barbecue sauce at home (which, if you've ever done before, you'll know is not exactly as easy as it sounds — striking that perfect balance of sweet, savory, and tangy takes a bit of trial and error). 

When it comes to finding keto-specific barbecue sauces, though, your task is even harder, as one of the primary ingredients in most barbecue sauces is sugar. According to an Insider article, the average barbecue sauce contains about four to six grams of sugar per serving, and Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce is one of the worst offenders, with high fructose corn syrup listed as the first ingredient and two tablespoons of the sauce containing 16 grams of sugar. Since four grams of sugar is equal to one teaspoon of sugar, that means for every two tablespoons of Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce, you're basically eating four teaspoons of sugar.

So, what's anyone following the keto diet to do? If you follow the keto diet, you already know to avoid refined sugar as much as possible and any sugar you do consume is included in your carb limit of approximately 50 grams per day (which means you don't have a lot of wiggle room). Luckily, Sweet Baby Ray's has you covered.

Even though Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce is laden with sugar, the brand offers more than 20 different sauces and sauce flavors — from buffalo wing sauce to Korean barbecue, Nashville hot sauce to honey barbecue (though the original is the best-seller), and among them is a selection of no-sugar-added, keto-friendly barbecue sauces. In 2020, the brand released its no-sugar-added barbecue sauce, which includes only one gram of sugar per serving and one gram of net carbs per serving. It's even gluten-free (though you'll find gluten-free options across 14 of Sweet Baby Ray's various sauces).

Described by one customer on Instagram as similar to the Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce, though more smokey and somewhat sweet (though not nearly as sweet as the original sauce), the no-sugar-added barbecue sauce comes in two variants: an original and hickory. The sweetness comes from allulose — a low-calorie, wheat-derived sweetener — and Splenda. 

Just don't get your hopes up if you're also watching your sodium intake; the no-sugar-added original barbecue sauce contains 360 milligrams of sodium per a two-tablespoon serving, or 16% of your daily value.