The UK’s Favourite BBQ Sauces Revealed

Award-winning Smoke & Fire Festival is celebrating its tenth year this year at Promenade Park in Maldon, Essex from 15th-16th August. To mark the occasion, the team at Smoke & Fire have taken a closer look at Britons’ search habits from the past year to create the Smoke & Fire Festival BBQ Sauce Report 2026. 

Top searches from June 2025 to May 2025 have highlighted the British BBQ scene’s interest in diverse and exciting flavours, with Korean BBQ coming in at number one with over 24,000 monthly searches. Flavours such as gochujang, doenjang and sesame are the ones grillers are seeking out the most, and lend themselves well to the smoky flavour of meats cooked over fire such as pork, chicken and ribs. Japanese BBQ and Char Siu have also proven to be popular within the UK BBQ community, with over 13,000 monthly searches.

The report also found that Brits’ favourite BBQ sauce was Jack Daniel’s, taking first place with at least 1,300 monthly searches. The classic staple Heinz closely followed with around 1,000 searches each month. Levi Roots, Bullseye, Guinness BBQ Sauce and HP were also well-liked and made it into the top five.

BBQ sauce searches that have increased year-on-year show that as the interest in BBQ continues to grow in the UK, pitmasters are beginning to experiment with new, and sometimes surprising flavours. American BBQ sauce Frank’s RedHot has seen the largest year-on-year increase at 2,300% while unusual flavour combinations like Peach BBQ had a three-month spike in searches at 1,500% – a potential link to this year’s ‘fricy’ (fruity and spicy) popular food trend. Classics are also making a comeback, with Smokey BBQ appearing in the top five search terms and rising with a 23% year-on-year increase – proof that if it ain’t broke, you don’t always need to fix it.

Visitors to this year’s Smoke & Fire Festival at Maldon will be able to taste and experience exciting BBQ flavours through award-winning street food and live fire demos from legendary chefs and pitmasters, as well as workshops and extreme eating challenges for those who are brave enough. Tickets and camping packages can be purchased now through https://www.smokeandfirefestival.com/tickets/.

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