Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce
Packed with tangy, pepper and earthy flavors, this Carolina gold BBQ sauce is the perfect teammate to your grilled chicken or any grilled meat for that matter.
Mustard in a BBQ sauce? Yep- that's actually what makes this sauce so SO good! If you've tried and enjoyed my homemade BBQ sauce recipe, you're going to fall in love with this spin on the classic.
This sauce is actually a wonderful tradition from South Carolina, and is quite unique, unlike most other tomato-based BBQ sauces out there. While I did try a nice Chinese style hot mustard recipe recently, I was itching to experience this unique twist too, and that’s when I tried out this recipe.
And honestly, I’m so happy I did, because it turned out to be one of my favorite sauces of all time.
Quick Look
- 🔪Prep time: 5 min.
- ⏲️Cook time: 0 min.
- 👪 Servings: 4.
- 📋Main ingredients: Yellow mustard, honey, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder.
- ♨️Cooking method: Combine all the ingredients 🡢 refrigerate for a day 🡢 enjoy.
- ⭐Difficulty: Very easy.
- 🥣Serving ideas: Slather it onto some sliced Hawaiian rolls, pile on a simple coleslaw and some Air Fryer shredded chicken to make some delicious sliders!
Jump to:
What's So Great About the Recipe?
- It's super versatile. You can team it up with your chicken wings or use it as a dip with your favorite grilled or fried foods- even French fries.
- You need just 5 minutes to put it together- and all you'll need is a few pantry staples.
- It's an easy no-cook recipe- just like my olive oil pizza sauce. All you need to do is mix everything together and you're done.
Recipe Ingredients
Yellow mustard: You’ll need to start off with some good quality classic yellow mustard for the mustard base. I wouldn’t recommend using Dijon mustard- just regular yellow mustard should work fine.
Honey: Honey is added in to lend the Carolina mustard sauce some sweetness. You can also use some habanero infused honey or jalapeno infused honey for that kick of heat.
Worcestershire sauce: Worcestershire sauce lends some beautiful complexity of flavors to this golden BBQ sauce.
Apple cider vinegar: Apple cider vinegar is traditionally used for this Carolina gold sauce recipe. It adds a nice bit of tanginess with a hint of sweetness. Sometimes, I like to use my hot pepper vinegar here for a bit of heat or my strawberry vinegar whenever I have it at hand.
Ketchup: I also like to add a bit of ketchup to this rather tangy sauce.
Brown sugar: Brown sugar is again, added to balance out the intense flavors from the other ingredients with its sweetness- I used it while making my garlic habanero hot sauce too.
Seasonings: I also added some garlic powder, onion powder and chili powder to season the sauce.
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- If you want the mustard sauce to have a bit of heat, you can add some cayenne pepper or smoked paprika into the mix. I like to add some of my dried jalapeno flakes sometimes, when I have them at hand.
- Sugar and honey are meant to add sweetness to this sauce. If you don’t want the sweetness, you can skip adding them, or use a natural sweetener like homemade date sugar or date puree.
How to Make Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce
Step 1: Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Step 2: Serve immediately or transfer to a glass jar or an airtight container and refrigerate for later.
💭Top Tip
I would also recommend refrigerating the sauce for a few hours to allow the flavors to deepen further.
Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- For a deeper flavor, you can cook down the sauce on very low heat in a heavy-bottomed pan, stirring it continuously. I did this when I made my homemade Buffalo sauce.
- If you’re cooking down the sauce, remember to let the sauce cool down before you transfer it to a container.
- Keep tasting and adjusting the sauce ingredients as you put it together. If you find the sauce is mild, you can add some more classic mustard and Worcestershire sauce into it.
- For a smoky flavor, add a dash of my homemade browning sauce into the mix.
How to Use Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce
This Carolina barbecue sauce packs in a nice punch of flavor, which makes it a great versatile condiment to have at hand.
Use it to jazz up everything from chicken wings and roasted potatoes to burgers and sliders. I personally love using this for my pulled chicken sandwiches- along with my favorite sweet vinegar coleslaw.
This sauce also doubles up as a delicious marinade for your grilled meats. If you love grilling as much as I do, switch between this, some Middle Eastern Schug sauce and my mulberry BBQ sauce for some flavor variation.
Troubleshooting and FAQs
The sauce can be stored for weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
You can use almost any type of mustard. I used yellow mustard, which tends to be less pungent, but you can also choose to use brown mustard or any other kind of mustard too.
More Wicked Sauces to Try
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried this Carolina Gold BBQ sauce or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- ¾ cup yellow mustard
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
Instructions
- Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl.
- Serve immediately or transfer to a glass jar or an airtight container and refrigerate for later.
Notes
- Taste as you go- and adjust the quantities of ingredients to make the sauce suit your taste buds.
- Refrigerate the sauce for a day or more to allow the flavors to deepen.
