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.
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.
Katie says
We cook our pork in the Egg. I honestly have never made it in the oven. Tyler Florence looks like he has a good oven pulled pork recipe. This is his link. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/oven-roasted-pulled-pork-sandwiches-recipe-1941398 I would try this recipe if you are cooking it in the oven. Then you can use my Carolina Barbecue sauce for the sauce. I also have a good Carolina Mustard sauce you can make too. Both are really good with pulled pork. This is the mustard bbq recipe: https://www.aforkstale.com/carolina-mustard-bbq-sauce/
Rachel Laycock says
Should I cover the pork while cooking it in the oven ?? I haven’t done this before and don’t want it to dry out
Olga says
Katie, it’s really awesome! This will quickly become a favorite in our house!
Katie says
The vinegar preserves the sauce, similar to pickling. It may loose its taste over time, but it shouldn’t go bad. However, if you are worried, keep it for 2 weeks and then toss it. It is so easy to make a new batch.
gary newport says
Can you give me a best by date? I noted the remarks in the comments above about it lasting “forever” in the fridge, but I am very careful with sauces made at home due to the fact that there are no preservatives in it.
Alexander Cornejo says
In Orlando, have a surplus of extra starfruit and made this sauce adding 2c starfruit purée, and increasing all the ingredients 1.5x and using Aleppo pepper instead of red chili flakes. Came out great! Thanks for the solid recipe.
Katie says
So glad you liked it Thomas!
Thomas Donnelly says
OUTSTANDING – Baby Backs were on special this week so I got 2 cryovaced racks. I used the pressure cooker and tried the 1st rack with a dry rub and the Pressure Cook a 1/2 hour followed by a crisp up in the oven with BBQ sauce. Used a award winning store bought BBQ sauce on the first rack and hated it.
Today, I did everything exactly the same but substituted Katie’s recipe for store bought— WOW! Perfect with Pork. Thank You Katie!
Gneissguy says
I live on eastern NC. She nailed this recipe! Well done!!
Katie says
I am so glad you liked it Sarah.
Sarah says
This recipe is spot on for Eastern NC BBQ sauce. This on a pork shoulder tasted exactly like my favorite place in New Bern, NC, Smithfield’s Chicken & BBQ. You nailed it!
Katie says
Some people prefer a thicker sauce, so I can completely understand that you might like that combination. I am glad you found a winning sauce creation and glad you enjoyed my post. Thanks for sharing and offering an extra spin on the recipe.
Duncan Albright says
Hi, Katie;
Love this recipe! I liked it all by itself, but I really like it when mixed it with a bit of KC Masterpiece. Hope that’s not blasphemous, but the mix of sweet and sour was excellent for me and KC Masterpiece is easy to find and relatively inexpensive.
Many thanks for your well-done post.
Katie says
I am glad you enjoyed it Rhonda! Thanks for sharing.
Rhonda says
Just had this tonight with oven pork butt and it was delicious, thank you for sharing your recipe. So simple to make and took me by surprise how perfect it was with the pork. I will make over and keep on file for future pulled pork dinners.
Katie says
I am so happy you liked it Amanda! Thanks for sharing. You made my day!
Amanda Powers says
Well this was amazing !! I smoked a butt in the oven then smoked it on the grill for a cpl hours. I wanted a vinegar based sauce just like what i grew up eating in North carolina. I havent had a Bbq as good for many years. I first tried another recipe i found. I didnt mix into the pork just in case it wasnt what i was looking for. And it wasnt lol.. So tonight i found this recipe and it was the damn recipe i was looking for. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.
Katie says
When I was younger and a much much more inexperienced home cook, I have made pulled pork in the crockpot and it turned out just okay… Reason being, I cooked it in the sauce. Some people like that way, but to me, this draws out the natural juices and the pork doesn’t stay moist and tender. I found this recipe, and if I were to make it from the crockpot, this is what I would try https://www.southyourmouth.com/2013/05/crock-pot-pulled-pork-with-buzzys-butt.html. I would try this recipe because the dry rub looks fantastic, she doesn’t add liquid at first, and slow cooks it. She adds liquid smoke in the end which will give it a nice “smoked” taste as if you cooked it on the egg. After it is cooked and you pull the pork, you can add a little sauce in to flavor it up. Then put the remaining sauce to the side for those who want more or have a couple other sauces handy for those who don’t like vinegar based sauces. Hope this helps.
Elise Evans says
I unfortunately do not have a green egg. My brother has one and loves it. I however Have only a gas grill and crockpot. I have made pp in a crockpot before with store bought sauce but I am definitely trying this recipe this weekend. My SIL is from NC and his family will be over for an event. Since my pork cooking options are limited which do you suggest? And regardless of which, do I cook in the sauce or not. If not do you use a dry rub on the meat? Thanks!!
Katie says
Awe. That warms my heart. I am so glad you liked it and I am so touched you shared. xoxo