Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
On November 01, 2022 (Updated May 10, 2024)
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My Carolina mustard BBQ sauce is a sweet and tangy sauce that is delicious drizzled on your favorite smoked pork or chicken. It has a deep golden color and a sharp mustard flavor. It’s so good I guarantee you’ll be making batch after batch of this amazing sauce.
What is Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce?
Carolina mustard BBQ sauce is a sauce made with mustard, vinegar, sweetener, and spices. It originated in South Carolina (hence the name), and it is a golden sauce perfect for all your grilled and smoked meats. Carolina style indicates it’s made with vinegar instead of the ketchup and molasses-based sauces popular in the mid and southwest.
Both North Carolina and South Carolina have their own BBQ sauce specific to their region, and South Carolina’s sauce is known for its use of mustard and vinegar which gives it its sharp taste and rich golden color.
The combo of the ingredients makes this sauce the perfect BBQ sauce for pork, chicken, beef, and more. It’s sweet, tangy, and sour, and can be adjusted to have just a bit of heat as well.
Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
All BBQ sauces have a base that gives them their distinct flavor. The most popular type of modern BBQ sauce is ketchup based. Most BBQ sauces you’ll find in the grocery store are a combination of ketchup, vinegar, herbs, and spices. Alabama White Sauce is mayonnaise based, instead of tomato-based, which gives it a great creamy flavor profile.
But in South Carolina, their sauce is mustard based. Mustard-based BBQ sauces add an extra element to BBQ sauce that you don’t always get from the more “traditional” sauces. BBQ sauce needs to have that tangy, sweet, occasionally hot flavor to compliment the richness of the meat, and Carolina mustard sauce has all this and more.
If you haven’t yet tried Carolina mustard BBQ sauce, now is the time to give it a go. If you don’t have time to make this sauce from scratch, you can purchase a bottle of my Zesty Gold BBQ Sauce from the Hey Grill Hey Store instead!
Ingredients for Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
Most of the ingredients for this mustard BBQ sauce are ones you’ll already have in your pantry. Here’s what you’ll need to make this Carolina mustard sauce:
- 1 cup yellow mustard
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons ketchup
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce (I used Cholula, but you can use your favorite)
How to Make Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
Making your own Carolina mustard BBQ sauce doesn’t need to be a chore! Carolina style BBQ sauce is extremely easy to whip up, and you likely have most of the ingredients already in your fridge and pantry.
- Combine ingredients. Begin by gathering all ingredients and combining them in a small saucepan.
- Simmer. Allowing the flavors to cook and blend together for 5 minutes on low heat.
- Cool. Remove the saucepan from the stovetop and set aside. Allow the sauce to cool completely.
- Use and store. Use the sauce immediately, or transfer it into an airtight container, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
When making my own sauces, I prefer to store them in these Wide Mouth Mason Jars to keep them fresh and tasting delicious. I love this sauce on pulled pork, burgers, ribs, and so much more!
More BBQ Sauce Recipes
Interested in recipes for more BBQ sauces from all over America? Check out more of my delicious BBQ sauce recipes:
Best Mustard BBQ Sauce Recipe
Let’s make something delicious! I’m all about helping you create the best BBQ possible for the people you love. If you want to see more of my recipes, tips, and behind-the-scenes action, follow along on my social channels. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube!
This post was originally published in May 2019. We recently updated it with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.
Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow mustard
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons ketchup
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce I used Cholula
Instructions
- Combine and simmer. Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. You don't want the sauce to boil or reduce, the heat is just to ensure the sugars melt and distribute evenly throughout the sauce.
- Cool. Remove the sauce from the heat and allow it to cool.
- Use or store. Use the sauce immediately, or transfer it to a lidded jar. This BBQ sauce will last up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am really curious about this bbq hash!!
Made for pulled pork and was easily the most popular choice for the folks that came over to eat. I think you can reduce the brown sugar by half if you don’t like the sauce too sweet. Also, I used red pepper flakes instead of hot sauce, so I got a little heat without the flavors (or extra vinegar) in the sauce.
This looks JUST like a sauce Mr. Wonderful enjoyed last night at a local restaurant! Their food was great but they were NOT willing to share any info about the sauce.
“BBQ sauce will last up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.”
Not this sauce in my house.
Haha I know that problem all too well!
Did I read the dietary info correctly? 24,000 calories?
No. kcal is the same thing as calorie. It is not 24,000 calories lol
How long will this stay good for?
My general rule of thumb is one week.
This is a great suace for pork sholder.
I’m glad you liked it!
That sounds great and your down home story put pictures in my mind. Would love to head shot the HASH!
Hey Susie, I’m a confused bbq guy. I grew up in central North Carolina and my Dad’s family hails from around Columbia South Carolina. So all the sauces of the region are well known to me. My grandfather made part of his living BBQ-ing whole pigs. It was easy to dig a pit in the Midlands SC sand, line it with roofing tin. He had a 55 gallon drum with a rebar grid 1/3rd of the way up and about half of the barrel side cut out below the grid. You build a fire in the barrel of hickory and a local oak we call blackjack oak. Blackjack was not so much for flavor as for long lasting coals. The coals drop from the grid and you shovel them out the hole in the barrel and into the pit under the pig.
Will never forget being old enough to “help” him cook. Getting up about 3AM, starting a fire in the barrel, going to the abattoir and coming back with a ready to cook pig on the backseat of his 1949 Ford!
Here is his mustard sauce recipe. Not much sweet at all, no ketchup (they do add some in eastern South Carolina). A key ingredient that you might want to consider is dried mustard. Let itsoak in some of the water for awhile and it gives you a great “kick”:
5 cups prepared mustard
4 teaspoons dried mustard
1/4th cup black pepper
16oz water
2 sticks (1/2 pound) butter
Brown sugar to taste
Nowadays the sauce seems to be getting sweeter and sweeter in South Carolina. His was more about the favor of the smoked meat and enhancing the taste with the sauce.
You have really done a great job researching the Carolina recipes you’ve posted. Next time I’ll tell you about the BBQ HASH that was cooked over an open fire in a cast iron wash pot and served over rice as a side. Hint: we are talking WHOLE HOG when it comes to this!
Would love to build a hog roaster like you mentioned.
Would you can to share the complete build?
Could you please tell me what mustard you use thank you
Hi Sheran- it’s yellow mustard! I just updated the recipe card with that info.
Hello Susie,
I was curious if this sauce can be Canned for a longer Shelf Life?
Thanks for everything you do.
Of course! That’s not a bad idea!