In the Carolinas, vinegar based barbecue sauce and pulled pork go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other.
This vinegar based Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe is easy, cheap, and fast to make. There is NO reason to buy it.
Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe
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 pork.
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.
How to make vinegar-based bbq sauce:
Here are the steps to make spicy, tangy, vinegar-based bbq sauce. I hope you love it as much as we do!
- Place apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper in a sauce 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.
Tip: * I put my sauce in a mason jar. Old salad dressing bottles are also great for storing your sauce.
Tips for cooking pulled pork
The secret to my husband's beautiful Pulled Pork is Time, Patience, Babysitting, Salt and Pepper, and a Green Egg. Here are tips he gives for cooking juicy pulled pork:
- Salt and pepper heavily a Boston Butt Pork Shoulder. It makes a juicy tender cut!
- Heat your Green Egg Grill to 220 to 250 degrees. Cook 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 babysitting.
- When the meat is the temperature your want, wrap it in tinfoil and lets it rest.
Note: Wrapping the pork in tinfoil 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!"
If done correctly, you can pull the pork apart easily with a fork, hence "Pulled Pork."
*This post contains affiliated links.
Us Southerners are CRAZY over bbq sauce.
Depending what part of the South you are in, you will find a mustard based sauce, sweet and tangy sauce, tomato based sauce, the brown sugar and molasses sauce, the smokey spicy sauce… I could go on and on…
In the Carolinas, you can not have pulled pork without vinegar based barbecue sauce.
However, we also like to have the sweet and tangy sauce on hand!
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.
If you are going to purchase the sweet and tangy sauce, skip the chain, massed produced stuff.
Our favorite store bought for the sweet tangy sauce is Cackalacky Sweet Cheerwine Sauce 33.8 Oz . It is made locally, here in North Carolina and when we put it out at our cookouts, the jar goes empty.
Other Suggestions
You might want to also try my Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce. Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce is vinegar and mustard based. It’s roots come from South Carolina and has trickled into the homes of some North Carolinians.
Unlike North Carolina bbq sauce, which is vinegar based with ketchup, brown sugar or molasses; the Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce is based with mustard, vinegar sugar and/or honey, and spices.
I like to have multiple sauces at my parties so my friends have a variety to choose from. This is another easy recipe that is whipped up in 10 minutes.
Another favorite is my thick, sweet, spicy, smokey blueberry bbq sauce. The chipotle peppers really spice it up!
Top your pulled pork with your favorite sauce, then add my HOMEMADE SOUTHERN COLESLAW! Yum!
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.....
Please leave me a comment below if you make this bbq recipe, and tell me what you thought about it. I would love to hear back, and so would my readers.
Also post your picture of your Carolina bbq sauce on Instagram or Facebook, and tag @aforkstale with #aforkstale hashtags! I will share with my followers! xoxo!
Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
Lee Parker
I'm from Roseboro, NC originally. I make a similar sauce because I live in Alabama. I don't use ketchup and I use red-wine vinegar instead but other than that, the ingredients are the same. I also cook the pepper flakes in the vinegar before adding the other ingredients... Bring it just to a boil for for mild, or boil for 5 minutes for hot... I tend to go with 3 minutes.
Most of my family use white vinegar and Carolina Treat in their sauce. I can't share that recipe. I look forward to it every October when we have our family reunion and cook a couple of whole hogs.
Janet Baxley Hall
Our new all time favorite BBQ sauce.
Thanks for sharing some really good recipes. We needed some new spice.
Jeff
If you are anywhere East of Raleigh North Carolina there is no respectable BBQ hog cooker using ketchup.Ketchup is for the folks West of Raleigh. Otherwise I like your post and pictures.
Note born and raised in New Bern NC.
Djibouti_Dave
I've made this a few times, except this time I'm going to change it up a bit. I call it Eastearn Caralopian sauce. What I am doing today is using my rub as the 2 Tbsp brown sugar base (which includes an Ethiopian spice called Berbere) and then added 1 Tbsp of brown sugar to it, I added a 1/2 tsp of dry mustard because I put French's on the pork before I add my rub. Ethiopians also have a very hot spice similar to Berbere called Mitmita, which includes salt and a lot of chili. I added that instead of the cayenne pepper and add only 1/2 tsp of salt. I keep the same amounts of vinegar, red and black pepper. I boiled it for about 5 min and it is now cooling. I'll come back and update once I try it on my port tomorrow.
Earl
Been looking for a good bbq sauce this looks very good.
Walter
Husband says THIS is the perfect Carolina vinegar sauce. I've stopped looking, perfection is achieved
Deena Motulski
I came across this recipe a few years ago and it is the only Carolina Vinager recipe I use. Everyone who tries it loves it! So simple and delicious!
Greg
This sauce is amazing. I have made it a few times now and have managed to bring several Texans around to the great eastern Carolina way of Doing pulled pork. Even have them putting slaw on top now. Thank You!
Johnston County NC Baby
This is the perfect taste that I have been searching for. About to make more. Thank you Chef! Smithfield NC born.
Katie Crenshaw
This recipe is a true vinegar based sauce. However, some people will add sugar and cook it down for a little thicker consistancy.
Joe
Is there a way to thicken it up a touch? I like my sauce a little both thicker. I’m thinking maybe adding a cornstarch slurry.....
Nancy
so excited to see this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing . Grew up in N. C. Been away since 1955, and every time I go back for a visit I make sure I get that Eastern BBQ. No where in the world can you find BBQ to come close in taste to it. I will for sure try this sauce so I can have that great flavor again. Thanks so much.
Donovan
Ahhh man, this makes me miss NC. Spent 6yrs there off and on at Ft. Bragg.