In the Carolinas, vinegar based barbecue sauce and pulled pork go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. And this Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe is so easy, cheap, and fast to make, there is NO reason to buy it.
Pork Shoulders on the Green Egg
My husband makes the BEST Pulled Pork.
I am so spoiled and ruined. I have never been at any other restaurant that can even come close to his beautiful hunks of meat. And I am not just saying this because he is incredibly cute and the father of my child… I am saying this because he really makes the BEST Pulled Pork ever… And when he makes his beautiful Pulled Pork; I use my homemade Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe.
I remember the first time as a child being told by my grandmother that we were having Barbecue for dinner at her house. I was so excited. I love Barbecue. So when she plated a sandwich with hamburger meat, I was in complete dismay . I did not want to eat it. I said, “This isn’t Barbecue!”
You see, in the South, Barbecue is generally defined as “Pulled Pork.”
We are very, very proud of our Pulled Pork Barbecue, as we should be; because if cooked correctly, it is AMAZING! In Wisconsin, and I assume other northern states, they define Barbecue as what we call a “Sloppy Joe;” consisting of a very tasty mixture of slowly cooked hamburger meat, a tomato based sauce, an assortment of seasonings, and onions.
Now, my grandmother’s Sloppy Joes are fantastic. And I do love them. But they are NOT BARBECUE! Just saying…
The secret to my husband’s beautiful Pulled Pork is Time, Patience, Babysitting, Salt and Pepper, and a Green Egg.
Perfectly Cooked Pork Shoulder
My husband salts and peppers heavily a Boston Butt Pork Shoulder. He heats his Green Egg Grill to 220 to 250 degrees. Then he cooks the pork shoulder real slow until meat temperature gets to 195 to 200 degrees. The grill’s temperature can go up and down, so this requires his babysitting. When the meat is the temperature he wants, he wraps it in tinfoil and lets it rest. This step is very important to keep the moisture and juice to settle in the meat. If you cut it too quickly, the juice will run out of the meat and the pork will not be as juicy and tender. We know from experience. When you see that beautiful meat, you loose all patience and want to tear into it immediately. But as the saying goes, “The best comes to those who wait!”
Pulled Pork
If done correctly, you can pull the pork apart easily with a fork, hence “Pulled Pork.”
Juicy, Tender, Pulled Pork
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Us Southerners are CRAZY over the sauce.
There is the mustard based sauce, the sweet and tangy sauce, the tomato based sauce, the brown sugar and molasses sauce, the smokey spicy sauce… I could go on and on… Honestly, we are very serious about our sauces and if you can find one in the store that is local, BUY it! Those are the best. Skip the chain, massed produced stuff. Our favorite store bought for the sweet tangy sauce is Old Mule BBQ Sauce
My Southern friend Karrie Holland (She lives in New Hampshire, but is originally from Florida) makes a really good sweet and tangy sauce for the crock-pot. If you want to create your own Sweet & Tangy sauce, check out her Slow Cooker BBQ Sauce recipe.
But just as much as we like the sweet stuff, we also like the vinegar based sauce.
In the Carolinas, vinegar based barbecue sauce and pulled pork go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. And the homemade stuff is so easy, cheap, and fast to make, there is NO reason to buy it. I am sharing my spicy, tangy, vinegar-based recipe with you. I hope you love it as much as we do!
Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe
* I put my sauce in a mason jar. Old salad dressing bottles are also great for storing your sauce.
Bacon Ranch Potato Salad
Southern Baked Beans Quintet
By the way, my Bacon Ranch Potato Salad and Southern Baked Beans Quintet would make awesome side dishes to any pulled pork!!! Both dishes are a favorite at any cookout I have and I never have leftovers. Add in a couple of vegetables or a salad and you have a wicked good spread!!!! Just saying…..
If you like this recipe, check out some of my other favorites: Homemade Hot Pepper Jelly, Southern Hoppin’ John , and Fresh Hot Jalapeño and Garlic Relish.
Pulled Pork Sandwich
- 2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon of ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Place all ingredients in a pan.
- Cook on stove top at Medium heat.
- Bring to a boil.
- Whisk together until sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
- Cool to room temperature.
- Pour sauce into a jar or bottle. For best results, refrigerate one day before serving.
- Shake well before serving.
This recipe looks great. I am a big fan of small batch BBQ sauces. Can you link to that sauce, or was it home made?
I’ve never tried to make homemade barbecue sauce. I want to now. It looks too good. 🙂
Thank you Erin! Hope you love it!
My hubby loves to smoke meat too and I love it because I get to eat BBQ almost every weekend during the summer. Life is good! Totally agree with you on making homemade sauce. Why spend all that time smoking the perfect piece of meat just to put a bunch of flavored corn syrup on top? Hubby’s going to try your sauce recipe next time he does a pork shoulder. Can’t wait! Yummy!! 🙂
I am so flattered ya’ll are going to try my sauce 🙂 Hope it lives up to your expectations!!!!
YES to vinegar-based BBQ sauce and pulled pork! I’m an N.C. girl, so you’re totally talking my language here. This looks so good!
Thank you so much Kathryn! I am a vinegar-based girl myself 🙂
My husband is from Maryland and South Carolina. To him, vinegar based BBQ sauce is KING! I usually just make a sweet and sour salad dressing heavy on the viengar to dress our BBQ. I think I’ll give yours a try.
BTW, I’ve been looking at the BGE (Big Green Egg)…. don’t know if I want to deal with the charcoal when a gas grill is so easy to use. I know there is no flavor comparison, but do you guys find it easy to use?
To be honest Kim, I have one of each. I use my gas grill when I am cooking something fast or trivial. We use the egg when we have a little more spare time or are more particular about the outcome of the dish. We ABSOLUTELY LOVE the EGG!!! But, like any charcoal grill, it does require a little extra work and a bountiful of charcoal on hand. My husband bought the electric fire-starter and that has helped speed and simplify the fire process. Time is the biggest drawback with the egg because you have to wait a little longer for it to reach the correct temperature than the gas grill. But the egg controls the temperature and heat better. You can also cook things like pizza and cookies on it that you can’t cook on the gas grill. I can’t think of anything we have cooked on the egg that hasn’t turned out wonderful. There just isn’t a comparison in taste between the gas grill and the egg; the egg wins every time. If I had to pick just one grill, I would choose the egg because it is so GOOD! But, if you have the option, I would keep a cheap gas grill on hand for conveniance and the egg for all your nice meals. I entertain a lot, so having the extra grill comes in handy when you are cooking for a large amount of people. That is another bonus for having two grills.
I’ve never made homemade bbq before either and this recipe looks pretty easy to make too. I’m pretty sure I have all of the ingredients to make it. Let you know how it goes 🙂
Ever since I read this post I started playing around with making a homemade BBQ sauce. I just made this and it came out fantastic! I used chicken wings and baked them in the BBQ sauce and I’m still licking my lips! I have a ton of mangoes laying around so I puréed one and added it for a sweet sour touch. Win-win! Thanks Katie!
I am so glad you enjoyed it Dorcas! The mangoes sound like a very fabulous addition!
This sauce is going on my to try list. I make a lot of pulled pork.
The Old Fat Guy
This looks perfect! Grew up on the outer banks, now living in Los Cabos Mexico. I miss my Carolina bbq & this will fix that!!
I made this without the ketchup. Excellent! Thank you!
We are from eastern NC, but moved out of state to tomato and beef barbecue country. We sure have missed the REAL stuff! Thanks for the recipe.
I grew up in NC. This was the only bbq sauce, I thought. Then I moved to Lexington, NC (famous for pulled pork and bbq sauce). I’m in,Texas now and it’s real different. Thanks for posting this recipe. Add a bit of mustard and it’s HOME!
Just made this! Can’t wait to try it on our fresh batch of pulled pork!! How long does it last in the fridge?
I can’t give you a real expiration date… but it lasts forever in the fridge. It is primarily vinegar, so it is pretty well preserved.