The Secret Ingredient For the Best Sweet & Spicy BBQ Sauce, According to Bobby Flay

Bobby Flay + bbq sauce

Since the mid 90s, Bobby Flay has been helping us grill—and chill—with his leveled-up recipes. We're forever fans of his classic burger and his simple lime-spiked coleslaw is a summer cookout staple.

With Memorial Day quickly approaching, Flay is once again heating up the grill, but this time he firing things up in a different way. As a part of the "Grills Night Out" campaign, Flay is partnering with Pepsi to remind people that there's nothing quite like a hot grill and a cold beverage.

We recently chatted with Flay about helping to announce the soda brand's two new flavors, Pepsi Lime and Pepsi Peach, and the new Pepsi commercial he stars in that shows off his killer dance moves (check out his original choreo in the video below) and some ice-cold Pepsi Zero.

After Flay confirmed that the moves were all his, we moved on to the meat of the matter: all things grilling. During our chat, the topic of barbecue sauce came up and he made a suggestion that we're definitely trying out this summer.

Related: 100 Best Memorial Day BBQ Ideas That Will Impress All Of Your Guests

Why You Should Add Pepsi to Your BBQ Sauce

Pepsi is usually for drinking, but the soda can also be a fun ingredient to work into your grilling repertoire. Generations of cooks have used various sodas for marinating meats and adding loft (and sweetness) to shortcut cakes, but Flay's Pepsi-spiked BBQ sauce had us taking notes.

"Pepsi has that caramel flavor, so it makes a great base for a barbecue sauce or even more so as a glaze," he says. Flay's top Pepsi choice to add to the sauce would be the newly launched peach flavor. "I put grilled peaches in my barbecue sauce all the time, he says.

How to Make Pepsi BBQ Sauce

You could play around with adding some Pepsi to your favorite bottled bbq sauce, but Flay had a more DIY approach in mind, of course.

To make Flay's Peach Pepsi bbq sauce, add some Pepsi, honey, Dijon mustard, fresh peaches and fresh mint to a blender and blend until the sauce is smooth. If you like things on the spicy side, you can also add in some chiles. "Red chilies would work really well with the peaches and the Pepsi," he says.

The type of red chile you use is totally up to you. "You could do something like ancho chili, which is almost like a spicy raisin," says Flay. "Or you can use chipotles. To me, that's the move because it's a smoked jalapeño. So it's got heat, it's got fire and it's got smoke."

How to Cook With Pepsi BBQ Sauce

You can serve your sauce alongside whatever you're or stir it into pulled pork, but Flay also had some advice about cooking with the sauce.

Start by seasoning your protein with a spice rub and some salt and pepper so it gets a nice crust on the grill. Flay suggested using chicken thighs or pork chops with the sauce, which both sound delicious to us. Get the meat mostly cooked, then toward the end of the cooking time, brush some sauce on the meat. You don't want to brush it with the sauce too soon because all of the sugar in the sauce will burn on the grill. "Just let it kind of warm on top of the pork chop or chicken on top of the grill," says Flay. "And then you're good to go. Tons of flavor."

We'll be right back—running out now to fire up the grill.

Up next: Dolly Parton’s Secret Ingredient for the Best-Ever Coleslaw