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This North Carolina BBQ Sauce recipe is tangy and full of flavor! We love slathering it on pulled pork or grilled chicken. This vinegar based BBQ sauce is the perfect mixture of sweet and tangy.
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 make our oven fried chicken tenders, I must also have country gravy, ranch dressing, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, and our copycat Chick-Fil-A sauce.
If I eat french fries, I want a plate with little squirts of ketchup, dollops of mayo, blobs of spicy mustard, cheese sauce, 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 .
So, I made up a batch of my favorite Carolina 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 (embarrassing? maybe. also true.), 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 absolute perfection, my friends.
What is Carolina Style BBQ Sauce:
Carolina BBQ sauce is a vinegar based BBQ sauce that often contains no tomato products at all. It’s a very thin sauce.
Our version of Carolina BBQ sauce contains both apple cider vinegar and ketchup, making for a sauce that’s thicker than just a straight vinegar based sauce. The tanginess of the vinegar shines through nicely and is paired perfeclty with the sweetness of the ketchup and brown sugar. We think this is the best of both worlds – thinner and tangier than something like our Bourbon BBQ sauce or Sweet Baby Ray’s, but still with a bit of body that will cling nicely to your pulled pork or grilled chicken.
Ingredient Notes:
Wet Ingredients: This easy vinegar based BBQ sauce recipe starts with a mix of ingredients you probably already have at home. The wet ingredients include apple cider vinegar, ketchup, yellow mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.
Dry Ingredients: Along with the tangy flavor from the vinegar every good BBQ sauce recipe needs a little bit of sweet and a little bit of heat! That’ll come from brown sugar and chili powder. Some onion and garlic powder along with salt will also help balance out the flavors in this tangy North Carolina BBQ sauce recipe!
What Readers are Saying!
“We smoke our own meats and this sauce is amazing! Exactly what I’ve been looking for! Followed the recipe and I couldn’t be happier with it. Thank you!” – April
How to Make Carolina Barbecue Sauce:
Combine: This is one of those really simple one pot recipes where you can just dump everything in and go. Add all the wet ingredients to a medium saucepan with the dry ingredients and whisk it all together over low heat until it begins to form into the tangy BBQ sauce.
Boil: Bring the sauce to a boil, being careful to stir often so that the bottom doesn’t burn.
Thicken (Or Don’t): We like to let our sauce boil and reduce down by about a third. This makes for a thicker sauce with a bit more body. You can boil it for as long as you like – the longer you boil it, the thicker it will be. The less you boil it, the thinner it will be!
Store: When the sauce is ready you’ll need something to store it in. I recommend mason jars! Let it cool for about 20 minutes before transferring to the jars or another airtight container.
I wouldn’t recommend using this sauce right away though. It’ll thicken up a bit and take on even more flavor if you let it set it in the refrigerator first for at least a couple of hours or even a day or two!
Serving Suggestions:
Pretzel Crusted Chicken – The perfect dip for this juicy, crunchy chicken is our barbecue sauce!
Air Fryer Boneless Pork Chops – Just 10 minutes in the air fryer. Baste these with our tangy barbecue sauce or serve on the side.
Pulled Pork Sandwiches – We drizzle these with sauce and top them with dill pickle slaw. A must!
BBQ Chicken Burgers – Dry burgers? No, sir. We add BBQ sauce and cracker crumbs to the mix and they turn out fab.
FAQs:
We prefer apple cider vinegar in this Carolina BBQ sauce.
This tangy Carolina BBQ sauce is best stored in a mason jar in the refrigerator. It won’t last as long as the bottled stuff from the store but it will last for a couple of weeks in the fridge. It can also be frozen in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. We do not have experience canning this sauce.
Tangy Carolina Barbecue Sauce
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
- Dump everything into a medium saucepan set to low heat. Whisk together to combine. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
- Boil, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the sauce has reduced to your liking, keeping in mind sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.
- Remove from the heat and store in a one pint mason jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in May of 2013. It was updated with new photos in October 2023.
Lori says
Made this tonight as a side for veggie burgers. Anyway. Super yummy and easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
Karly says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Victor says
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.
Brandon says
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?
Karly says
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.
Irene Kandik says
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
robin wofford says
I
would Love to have IRENE KANDIK’S recipe for PIGGY PARK’S BBQ SAUCE
Irene says
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
Sara anders says
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!
Svott says
I
would Love to have IRENE KANDIK’S recipe for PIGGY PARK’S BBQ SAUCE
Irene says
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
Brenda Hudson says
Don’t know what part of South Carolina you are from, but we eat mustard based sauce here. No ketchup in my BBQ sauce!!!
Karly says
@Brenda Hudson,
I have a yellow sauce recipe on here too! Love the mustard based sauce!
Megan says
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
Karly says
@Megan,
This is probably too late for you, but yes, minced onion would work great here!
Laurie says
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.
Alexis Smith says
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!
Ceil G says
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.
Justin says
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!
Ashton says
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 😉
Katie | The Hill Country Cook says
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 🙂
Cathy Pollak ~ Noble Pig says
Carolina sauce is my fave for pulled pork. I always have it in the fridge!! Love it.
carrian says
mmmm I love a good Carolina sauce
Deborah says
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!