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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.
Marlene Apson says
This was not good at all. You can only taste vinegar. Won’t make again ??
Kim says
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?
Karly says
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. 🙂
elbert oakley drumheller says
I’d love canning instructions for each of these – they sound fantastic, but want a longer term supply.
Heather Krisko says
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!
Stephanie says
This looks like a fabulous recipe. Do you have instructions for canning it? Thanks!!
Karly says
I don’t, I’m sorry.
Nigel says
Is this American Yellow Mustard (French’s) or Colman’s mustard?
Karly says
American mustard. 🙂
Paul says
Omitted brown sugar added samde amount of molasses
Ashleigh Walker says
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…
Kim says
I would like to know why too
MEM says
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
Karly says
Glad it was a hit!
Steve Gronowski says
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!
Betty Proffer says
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!
Scott says
I
would Love to have IRENE KANDIK’S recipe for PIGGY PARK’S BBQ SAUCE
Nonna says
Irene , thank you for the recipe! I can’t wait to make this sauce. It sounds delicious!
Nonna says
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.
Karly says
Ooh, a yellow slaw sounds amazing!
Irene says
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.
Karly says
Thanks for sharing! It sounds amazing…I’ll be sure to give it a try the next time I make pulled pork!
Pigskin Barbeque says
This sounds tasty!
I can’t wait to try this on some pulled pork!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!!!
Karly says
Enjoy!