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Sharpen your toothpicks. 2-Ingredient Barbecue Little Smokies are the easiest, most festive appetizer you’ll ever make. Two ingredients, zero prep, and 100% addictive, exactly the way all good party food should be.
Game days, birthday parties, movie night, sleepovers, and cocktail gatherings all have one thing in common: people who love little smokies simmered in barbecue sauce.
So instead of toiling in the kitchen for hours on end, I suggest giving them what they want – especially if it makes things easy for you! This recipe is so simple, it’s barely even a recipe. It’s just two ingredients that make one insanely delicious snack.
Table of Contents
Little Smokies ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Little smokies: Famous things usually go by many names. You may know them as cocktail wieners, cocktail weenies, cocktail franks, lil smokies, or as my grandma says “baby wursts.” They’re small smoked sausages sold in 12- to 14-ounce packages at the store, in the deli section. (I’ve even heard that Costco sells them in 3-pound bags, and Trader Joe’s carries them sometimes on a seasonal basis.)
- Barbecue sauce: Sweet Baby Rays is my personal fave, so much so that I even made a copycat Sweet Baby Rays recipe, made with a ketchup base and sweetened with molasses (or honey) and brown sugar. But you can use any tomato-based BBQ sauce for these BBQ little smokies, as long as it isn’t a vinegary, Carolina-style sauce.
How to make Lil Smokies
- To make on the stove: Heat the barbecue sauce and the smokies in a saucepan over medium heat on the stove top, stirring occasionally, until hot throughout, about 10 minutes.
- To make in a slow cooker: Add the barbecue sauce and the smokies and stir them up. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 to 2 hours, until hot. Once hot, they can be turned down for serving.
Tips for Mini Sausages
- Yield: 1 pound of cocktail wieners has about 40 sausages. With 5 sausages per serving, you can get about 8 servings per pound (assuming you are serving this at a party as part of a buffet with other choices).
- Serve with toothpicks: Forks might be too easy; toothpicks slow things down a bit. Everyone can jab what they want, and you don’t have to worry about running low.
- Make it sweeter or spicier: The brand of sauce you choose will determine the flavor profile of the appetizer. You can also try the classic Cocktail Sauce (or Chili Sauce) and Grape Jelly combination that is so popular on Crockpot Meatballs.
- Or use the big ones: You can cook the larger-sized sausages, too. Slice them up into rounds before cooking and heat as directed on the stove top or crock pot.
- Bangers and Mash: Serve these over mashed potatoes and call it dinner!
How to store Cocktail Weenies
Store leftovers covered in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Microwave leftovers, if desired.
Frequently Asked Questions
Typically these little cocktail sausages are made of a combination of beef and pork, although you can also find beef-only, chicken, and turkey smokies sometimes.
Hillshire Farms is the company behind “Lit’l Smokies.”
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2-Ingredient Barbecue Little Smokies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 packages cocktail wieners (see note 1)
- 1 (18-ounce) bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce or any other barbecue sauce (see note 2)
Instructions
To make on the stove:
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add little smokies and barbecue sauce and cook until hot, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
To make in a slow cooker:
- In a slow cooker, add little smokies and barbecue sauce and stir to combine. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 to 2 hours, until sausages are hot.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Little smokies: Famous things usually go by many names. You may know them as cocktail wieners, cocktail franks, lil smokies, or as my grandma says “baby wursts.” They’re small smoked sausages sold in 12- to 14-oz. packages at the store, in the deli section. (I’ve even heard that Costco sells them in 3-pound bags, and Trader Joe’s carries them sometimes on a seasonal basis.)
- Barbecue sauce: Sweet Baby Rays is my personal fave, so much so that I even made a copycat Sweet Baby Rays recipe. But you can use any tomato-based BBQ sauce, as long as it isn’t a vinegary, Carolina-style sauce.
- Yield: 1 pound of cocktail wieners has about 40 sausages. With 5 sausages per serving, you can get about 8 servings per pound (assuming you are serving this at a party as part of a buffet with other choices).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Best party food ever!
Thanks Emily! – Meggan
They are delicious
Thanks Denise! – Meggan
My school teacherl35 years ago used to make these I didn’t have the recipe so I called her and hers were always different than somebody else’s and she never use grape jelly and Hershey used apricot and oh my God does that make a difference thought I would pass it on
AWESOME RECIPES, and the new idea with smokies/bbq sauce/mash potatoes, I gotta try that one!
But this website, I don’t know what’s wrong… when I scroll down, then hover my mouse to the task bar (I was gonna screen shot for a friend), it adds “space” on top, making your screen to the top picture. It’s like it forces you back at the top, but there are added blank spaces if you scroll up after that. I’d suggest fixing that if you want more followers, or they’ll just give up and skip out.
wolfie…
Hi Wolfie, I hope you love it! Thanks for taking the time to let me know, we just pushed out a redesign on the site, and are working through bugs (or features 😅) I tried to duplicate what you described, but I couldn’t. Sorry! What browser are you using, if you don’t mind sharing? I’ll pass it on so we can get that fixed. Thank you again and sorry! – Meggan
Great! Five sausages per serving? 😂
I know, sounds like LIES right? LOL. I took it off the package, I didn’t know what else to do?! 🥴 -Meggan
Everyone at the party loved these! No leftovers though.
A delicious and easy to make smokies recipe i have ever tried so far. Thanks for sharing this recipe with all of us. Also do check out my special smokies recipe as well.
All the talk of Trader Joe’s sausages without any love for their barbeque sauces?
1 bottle of TJ’s Kansas city bbq sauce
+
1 jar of TJ’s grape jelly
=
Kids quietly stuffing their faces with whatever I’ve cooked.
This is especially good on cocktail franks, frozen meatballs, and pulled pork. My adult pallet prefers something a little less sweet, but a dash or two of tabasco/frank’s/sriracha to my individual serving is often enough to cut through the sweetness.
We Love these!! We fix them at most family gathering and they’re always a hit!! You asked to pass on any other BBQ sauces that were good… for Sam’s shoppers there’s a BBQ sauce I buy there called Sonny’s Sweet BBQ Sauce… it’s “very good” on these smokies as well. Not to down play Sweet Baby Rays, but just another choice… give it a try sometime. 😊
Thanks Debbi!
Sonny’s sweet sauce is our go-to! I just put some in a pot with our smokies. If you ever get the chance to eat at a Sonny’s, I recommend the pulled pork and corn nuggets!
If you add about 6-8 oz of plum or grape jelly in while cooking with the Sweet Baby Ray’s it makes them just a touch sweeter. My grandmothers always cooked them that way
Yes! I do this with my crockpot meatballs and it’s so good. So obviously it would be awesome on these little smokies! Thanks Tyler! -Meggan