In Memphis, BBQ is the panacea for any social event. Going to a corporate retreat? There’s gonna be pulled pork there. Toddler’s birthday party? For sure, there will be foil trays of dried pulled pork sandwiched between drippy cole slaw and white bread buns to fill you up. 5k?Bring a bib, ’cause there’s gonna be BBQ sandwiches next to the beer tent at the finish line. Somebody died? Good thing you’re wearing black, ’cause, yeah, BBQ again. But I’m not really from Memphis, even though I say I am. I missed the BBQ training of most Memphian childhoods, opting for tacos or whatever we ate in Phoenix before we moved back home to where our family was. I missed the instillation of preference for sweet, smoky, and saucy over bright, spicy, and fresh. But there is one type of BBQ I always, always inhale… Ribs. Ribs, y’all. A big ass rack of ribs dredged in a spicy, savory spice blend, served up with a roll of paper towels, a clinical Wet-Nap, and a couple bottles of house-made BBQ sauce. One’s spicy, one’s not. And guess which one I always choose to end up dabbed across my cheeks, a spot on my chin, a speckle on my white top (Dammit! Why didn’t I wear black/borrow the baby’s bib?). Always, always the spicy. That smoky, spicy, rich, heady, almost decongestant sauce makes up for the time lost in my youth, bonding with other kids at field day and are we best friends now cool. Those extracurricular-sponsored banquets with drippy sandwiches, daring you to pile coleslaw on top of the delicate mess. Those family reunions at the park with one uncle walking up looking proud, holding 4 giant foil tins stacked high, filled with all the fixin’s for a familial feast. Being on a Whole30, it can be challenging finding rich dishes that don’t feel like Whole30 versions of anything: no sweet potatoes, no avocados, no eggs to be found. BBQ sauce is one of those weirdos: you can either hunt down Tessemae’s BBQ Sauce locally or pay top dollar to ship it home. Even then, I feel a bit iffy on the ingredients, dates clocking in a bit high for my liking. I’m surprising a date-based BBQ sauce is compliant at all, considering just how candy-sweet they are. My Whole30 BBQ sauce with chipotle? It’s simple and easy to throw together, sweetened very lightly with coconut aminos and turned smoky with chipotle chili powder. It goes perfectly with grilled Whole30 ribs, which I’ll be sharing with you so very soon! This Whole30 BBQ sauce makes a perfect easy summer Whole30 dinner: stir it into some shredded chicken and stuff the mixture inside steamed sweet potatoes. Brush it onto pork chops after frying them in a cast-iron skillet. Drizzle it over carnitas and place on a bed of lettuce for a BBQ sandwich-inspired salad (Serve with ranch dressing, obviously). To make this Whole30 BBQ sauce, I used…
