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 so easy, cheap, and fast to make, there is NO reason to buy it.
Pork Shoulders on the Green Egg
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 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 bbq sauce.
Us Southerners are CRAZY over the bbq sauce.
Our favorite store bought for the sweet tangy sauce is Cackalacky Sweet Cheerwine Sauce 33.8 Oz
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 bbq 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
Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe
This is an amazing Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe is a Southern vinegar based barbecue sauce made for Pulled Pork Barbecue.
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.
Recipe Notes
I put my sauce in a mason jar. Old salad dressing bottles are also great for storing your sauce.
You can serve immediately, but this sauce is best made 24 hours or more in advance.
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!
Did you replace it with something or just leave it out?
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!
Would you add dry mustard or liquid kind?if liquid just plain yellow mustard?
I use the regular yellow mustard, not the dry mustard. I am sure the stone ground mustards would give it a nice flavor if you wanted an extra kick.
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.
This sauce sounds amazing. I live in NC and I wanted a NC sauce to use on my pulled pork did relatives visiting in Jan from Texas. I chose yours, wish me luck!
This sauce is the definitive Carolina BBQ sauce! I was born in North Carolina but now live in Maine. During the summer (July) I am a compulsive smoker, but during the other seasons (almost winter, winter, and still winter) I have to make my pork shoulder in the pressure cooker. While very good it is not the same, but this sauce makes it 99%! Thanks for the great recipe!
I am so glad you like it Christopher!! Thank you so much for sharing! xoxo
I’m a Maryland girl myself but have lots of relatives raised in the South (Carolina) . Every 4th of July since I can remember, my family would bring up BBQ, as in real BBQ, pulled pork. That was made by a family, born & raised in SC, who ONLY make it 4times a year for holidays. That is(was) our tradition for years. But as time goes by, ppl get older or pass, the less we would see each other on the 4th, which also meant, no Carolina bbq, It just didn’t seem right. So I started to make my own pork barbecue to taste similar to their family recipe. I could never master it but I came very close and was so proud to know vinegar is the key nothing taste better so you can imagine how happy I was to find your homemade recipe I will give it a try this weekend sounds very close to what I’m used to thank you so much for letting me share my story. And will think of you(& relatives past) with every little bite!!! God bless the south!
This warms my heart. Thank you for your lovely story. I hope you like the sauce. xoxo!
How long will the sauce last refrigerated?
Practically forever because it is vinegar based.
Are you supposed to cook the pulled pork in the sauce or do you put the sauce in after you shred the pork. I’m uskng a crock pot for my pulled pork. Thanks
I would put it in after you shred it. What we usually do is shred the meat and put the sauce on the side. That way people can add as much sauce as they want.
I have never cook d Boston butt in the crock pot so I may not be the best one to answer, but…. I put it on my butts after I take them off the smoker. Put a good dosing of the bbq sauce and wrap it in foil.
Then I am always squirting it on as I am pulling the meat.
Awesome sauce
How about a cup apple juice and a cup vinegar
That would change the ratio. It would not be the same at all. Sorry.
Is this sauce very spicy? I love spice but my husband can’t handle the heat like I can!!! Looks delicious and I will be making it tomorrow. Thanks!
I don’t think it is. It has a tiny kick, but very understated. By the time you pour it on your meat, the spice is mellowed out.