When using barbecue sauce on meats you should add the barbecue sauce to the meats towards the end of the cooking process, which is usually the last 5 minutes to 30 minutes of cooking the meat.
Waiting to add the barbecue sauce to the meats towards the end of the cooking process, prevents burning as a result of the sugar in the barbecue sauce.
You can also eat or serve extra barbecue sauce on the side for dipping or after cooking the meat if you prefer more sauce.
Barbecue sauce should be served warm or at least room temperature and not cold.
Warming the barbecue sauce before serving it or adding it to foods is often best for better flavor and for easier spreading on warm meats.
Heating the barbecue sauce up also helps the flavors in the barbecue sauce to meld together and improve the barbecue sauces consistency without lowering the temperature of the meat itself drastically.
Cold barbecue sauce can cool the meat down and might not spread as easily as warm or heated barbecue sauce.
Warming the barbecue sauce is best as it allows the complex flavors in the barbecue sauce such as sweetness, acidity as well as umami to become more pronounced and harmonious.
The heat also loosens the barbecue sauce and makes it easier to pour, spread or baste onto meats.
And basting meats with warm barbecue sauce won't lower the temperature of the hot, cooked meat drastically, like cold barbecue sauce can.
You can warm the barbecue sauce in the microwave for a few seconds or even heat the barbecue sauce on the stove, but avoid boiling the barbecue sauce.
And for best results with the barbecue sauce you should pour your desired amount of barbecue sauce into a separate dish to warm, then warm it and use a brush to apply the barbecue sauce evenly.
Cold barbecue sauce can mute the flavors of the barbecue and cold barbecue sauce is also thicker and harder to pour and spread, which makes it more difficult to get good enough coverage.