Recipes
Homemade brown sauce
Forget the bottle. This homemade brown sauce is rich, tangy, slightly sweet and surprisingly simple to make. Packed with apples, dates, warming spices and a splash of sherry vinegar, it delivers all the depth you’d expect from a classic brown sauce while letting you control exactly what goes into it.
Perfect alongside a full English breakfast, crispy hash browns, smashed English muffins or even as an accompaniment to roasted meats, this is one of those humble recipes that proves homemade is often best.
Makes
Approximately 750ml sauce
Ingredients
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2 Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and diced (around 300g). You can use any red apples if you can’t find Pink Lady.
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2 medium red onions, finely diced (around 250g)
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150g pitted dates
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100g dark brown soft sugar
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1 tbsp English mustard
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2 tbsp tomato purée
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2 tbsp black treacle
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500ml apple juice
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250ml orange juice
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125ml sherry vinegar
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2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (such as Lea & Perrins)
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1 tsp fine sea salt
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1 tsp smoked paprika
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½ tsp mixed spice
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½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
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¼ tsp cayenne pepper
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2 tbsp kuzu starch, arrowroot or cornflour
Method
Add the apples, red onions, dates, dark brown sugar, English mustard, tomato purée, black treacle, apple juice, orange juice, sherry vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt and spices to a large saucepan.
Place over a medium heat and stir well until everything is combined.
Bring to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 35–45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fruit and onions have softened completely.
Stir in the kuzu starch, arrowroot or cornflour. Continue cooking for a few minutes until the mixture begins to thicken.
Remove from the heat and blend until completely smooth using a stick blender or high-powered blender.
Pass the sauce through a fine sieve for an extra smooth finish.
Allow to cool completely before transferring to sterilised jars or bottles.
Chef's tip
Brown sauce might be best known as a breakfast staple, but it’s far more versatile than that. Try serving it alongside crispy hash browns, sausage rolls, bacon sandwiches or glazed roasted meats. Its balance of sweetness, acidity and spice also makes it an excellent addition to burgers and barbecue dishes.
Why make your own?
Making your own brown sauce is surprisingly cost-effective, easy to do and means you know exactly what’s inside. The dates and apples provide natural sweetness and body, while the combination of treacle, spices and vinegar creates the deep, complex flavour that makes brown sauce such a British classic.
Humble? Absolutely. But this rich, tangy sauce is proof that simple ingredients can deliver something special.
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