Tangy Carolina Barbecue Sauce
This North Carolina BBQ Sauce recipe is tangy and full of flavor! We love slathering it on pulled pork or grilled chicken. You won’t be able to get enough of this barbecue sauce recipe.
People. I have a problem.
I want to dip all the things in all the things.
By which I mean, I want to dip every single food in every single type of condiment available.
If I have chicken strips, I must also have country gravy, ranch dressing, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, and buffalo sauce.
If I eat french fries, I want a plate with little squirts of ketchup, dollops of mayo, blobs of spicy mustard, and a good amount of fry sauce.
I have condiment commitment issues, you guys. I should probably go to therapy for this.
Anyway, barbecue sauce is a condiment which means that I love it and want to have it’s babies.
So, I made up a batch of my favorite barbecue sauce recipe this week and thought I’d share the recipe.
I snagged it off the back of a bag of Lay’s barbecue chips a long time ago, doctored it up a bit, and it’s been a favorite ever since! I love the tangy flavor from all of the vinegar!
This vinegar based bbq sauce is absolutely perfection, my friends.
This North Carolina bbq sauce recipe is full of tangy flavor!
Tangy Carolina Barbecue Sauce
This North Carolina BBQ Sauce recipe is tangy and full of flavor! We love slathering it on pulled pork or grilled chicken. You won't be able to get enough of this barbecue sauce recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
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Dump everything into a medium saucepan set to low heat. Whisk together to combine. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
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Boil, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by 1/3.
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Remove from the heat and store in a one pint mason jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition Disclaimer: All information presented on this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information shared on bunsinmyoven.com should only be used as a general guideline.
This sounds amazing! Being a Carolina girl I love the tangy kind of barbecue sauce!
Oh my gosh!! Loving this sauce! I think I will me slathering this all over everything this summer!
I’m not a HUGE fan of Barbecue sauce, but my dad loves grilling so I think I’ll make his for father’s day!
I am the same way Karly, I dip everything! Maybe we should start a support group 🙂 Have an awesome Mother’s Day!!!
I love BBQ! My husband and I want to take a road trip and hit up the best BBQ in the US. Def have to go to Kansas City, Texas and the Carolinas. This sauce will keep us happy in the mean time
We are a dip loving family too!!! Something about dipping food into a delicious sauce is just the way to go!!! I am loving the sound of this tangy BBQ sauce.
I’ve got to try this! Go BBQ!
I seriously went ‘oooooh’ when I saw this in my reader because I’m pretty sure you know (or hopefully know) how much I love bbq. Yeah… I want this.
I don’t eat meat but I do love bbq sauce! I could put this on anything!
This bbq sauce looks wonderful! I love any recipe that calls for me to “dump” ingredients together – that’s what I am talking about!! I am pinning this and making it very soon, thank you for sharing. 🙂
This makes me want Austin. BAD!!! I love this recipe, can’t wait to make it!
I totally have a condiment problem too! We should start an intervention group.
This looks delicious. I love barbeque sauce, especially the sweet, tangy kind. I’ve been looking for recipes with fewer processed ingredients.
This sounds wonderful! I have never tried making my own BBQ Sauce. I’ll have to give this a try.
I’m into condiments also…but none of the traditional ones…only the sort-of-weird made-at-home ones lol. I don’t think i’ve ever had carolina bbq sauce before so that qualifies!
I’m a condiment lover, too. I’m embarrassed when people look in my fridge!! I actually am trying a new bbq sauce recipe this next week, but now I want to try this one!
mmmm I love a good Carolina sauce
Carolina sauce is my fave for pulled pork. I always have it in the fridge!! Love it.
Carolina style is my faaaaaave, which I believe is the style they use at Salt Lick, the ‘Q joint we’ll all be trying at BlogHer Food in JUUUNE! I’ve GOT to make this!! YUMMM. I also have a too many condiment decision problem 🙂
I’m such a condiments person too! I craved ketchup, mayo, mustard, Polynesian sauce, grape jelly, and sweet and sour sauce when I was pregnant. I never quite got over those cravings 😉
I am a barbecue lovin Carolina girl so I will definitely try this! I love condiments too, although not to the extent you do it sounds like! I would say if I had to pick one barbecue sauce is my favorite condiment definitely. I remember the Lay’s chips I think you’re talking about and it’s so hard for me to believe, but I actually didn’t really like that flavor too much. I’m sure this sauce is a different story though!
Just made this Carolina sauce to go with my first effort to smoke a pork Boston Butt. Oh my, love it! And I’m from NC.
I just made a batch today. I’m using my husband and his friend as guinea pigs. My 1/3 measuring cup was in the washer so I had to improvise. So far it tastes great but we’ll see when we’re done grilling tonight. Thank you!
I made this tonight and used it with drumsticks. It was pretty good! I doubled the amount of brown sugar, I could only taste the apple cider vinegar. I think if I had marinated the meat in it, it would have been more flavorful <— not the sauces fault. In the end, the kids all went up for seconds! Will make again.
I am about to make this and can it for my son’s teachers. I don’t have onion powder. Could I use fresh minced onion?
Thanks!!
Megan
@Megan,
This is probably too late for you, but yes, minced onion would work great here!
Don’t know what part of South Carolina you are from, but we eat mustard based sauce here. No ketchup in my BBQ sauce!!!
@Brenda Hudson,
I have a yellow sauce recipe on here too! Love the mustard based sauce!
On the Carolina BBQ Sauce, I am too from Carolina, Charleston that is. You are probably too young to remember Piggy Park, it is now called Bessingers,
(not the same anymore) Anyway, the best BBQ sauce was Piggy Park’s. I will give you the recipe if you like.
I wont eat any other BBQ sauce
I
would Love to have IRENE KANDIK’S recipe for PIGGY PARK’S BBQ SAUCE
Piggy Park BBQ Sauce
From the kitchen of Kevin Taylor
½ cup yellow mustard
½ cup honey
¼ cup brown sugar, light
¼ cup white vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste
Whisk together and simmer for 5 minutes
Thanks Irene. I’m also from Charleston and have moved to NC with my husband. Although I’ve grown to like the tangy NC BBQ sauces, mustard BBQ will always be my favorite. My favorite is Melvin’s or Bessingers. Now I can make this as well and keep my husband happy and me happy as well!
I
would Love to have IRENE KANDIK’S recipe for PIGGY PARK’S BBQ SAUCE
Piggy Park BBQ Sauce
From the kitchen of Kevin Taylor
½ cup yellow mustard
½ cup honey
¼ cup brown sugar, light
¼ cup white vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste
Whisk together and simmer for 5 minutes
I am on a low-carb diet and obviously the brown sugar is a no-go. Is there enough flavor in this recipe so I can not use brown sugar?
Ooh, I’ve never tried making a bbq sauce without sugar. You’ll probably want to add in a bit of whatever sweetener you normally use to make up for it. Start small and add more as needed to get it tasting how you’d like.
Looks like honey. It appears the Carolinas know their barbecue. Always trying to find new ways to use apple cider vinegar (cause I love the stuff) and this looks like an extremely appealing way to do just that.
Made this tonight as a side for veggie burgers. Anyway. Super yummy and easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This sounds tasty!
I can’t wait to try this on some pulled pork!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!!!
Enjoy!
Irene Kandik posted that she would share her recipe for Piggy Park’s BBQ sauce. I would love to have this recipe. I have fond memories of the Charleston area. I am going to make the Carolina Sauce in the next few days and your wonderful sounding slaw. I would also like to have a recipe for the yellow slaw like they serve with Eastern NC BBQ.
Ooh, a yellow slaw sounds amazing!
This recipe is actually from Kevin Taylor.
Piggy Park BBQ Sauce: (Piggy Park used to be on Hwy17 in Charleston S.C and is now Bessinger’s. The sauce is not the same though)
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
whisk all ingredients, heat to slow simmer and simmer for 5 minutes.
It is so good
and taste just like Piggy Parks did.
Thanks for sharing! It sounds amazing…I’ll be sure to give it a try the next time I make pulled pork!
Irene , thank you for the recipe! I can’t wait to make this sauce. It sounds delicious!
I
would Love to have IRENE KANDIK’S recipe for PIGGY PARK’S BBQ SAUCE
I just made this and i is wom
nderful! We like or Carolina sauce with a little heat, so I upped the chili powder (hot Mexican style) to a tsp and added crushed ed pepper an a little cayenne. So very good! Will definitely make again!
I’ve made this twice now. First time as recipie was given, second time I added 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper, and 1 tbs each of basil, honey, oregano. For my wife and I both, this gave some extra flavor that we were missing. However, all 5 kids loved the original better. Either way, was a great recipie for my first BBQ sauce, thank you for sharing!
This sauce almost out shined my husbands smoked pulled pork!! Plenty of compliments on the sauce. Definitely a keeper……exactly what we were looking for ! thanks
Glad it was a hit!
Just curious – why do you say you can only store it for two weeks? Looking at the ingredients, it doesn’t seem like any of them would go bad that quickly…
I would like to know why too
Omitted brown sugar added samde amount of molasses
Is this American Yellow Mustard (French’s) or Colman’s mustard?
American mustard. 🙂
This looks like a fabulous recipe. Do you have instructions for canning it? Thanks!!
I don’t, I’m sorry.
This was the perfect Carolina bbq sauce recipe! The balance of all the flavors was spot on! I am putting this in a recipe book I’m making for my kids for when they move out. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
I’d love canning instructions for each of these – they sound fantastic, but want a longer term supply.
just wondering why you say it will only keep for two weeks. will it start to lose its flavor? bbq sauce seems to last for a while in the fridge. doesnt vinegar preserve everything?
I just like to err on the side of caution when it comes to food safety. When products are opened and added with other ingredients there shelf life changes. You’re welcome to keep it as long as you feel is safe. 🙂