This Carolina style bbq sauce has become a family favorite–it literally comes together in just a few minutes (no cooking required) and it’s delicious mopped onto grilled meats and as a sauce or on grilled chicken sandwiches or chicken nuggets. We drizzle this on Kalua Pork or brush it onto ribs or Fauxtisserie Chicken (or rotisserie chicken from the grocery store)–my favorite is to add just a little while it’s still cooking and then serve it on the side. If you’ve never had South Carolina style BBQ sauce, it’s mustard based- hence the bright yellow color. The mustard makes it super tangy and is balanced with sweet brown sugar and other flavor enhancers. If you have this in your fridge, you’ll find yourself reaching for it over and over again for all sorts of things!
Ingredient Notes
- Mustard – You’ll be using good old yellow mustard here.
- Brown Sugar – Light or dark brown sugar will work.
- White Vinegar – Varieties of vinegar vary in acidity. Apple cider vinegar is similar to white vinegar and would be the best substitute in a pinch.
- Hot Sauce – Any basic hot sauce, like Tabasco, will do.
- Worcestershire Sauce – Find Worcestershire sauce near the barbecue sauces on the condiment aisle.
- Salt and Pepper
How To Make South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce
- Combine all the ingredients. Whisk them together. And you’re done.
Yep, that really is the extent of this recipe! No cooking required, simply whisk together until smooth. You’ll just want to be sure to stir long enough to dissolve the brown sugar- which doesn’t take long!
Storing and Other Tips
- You can use this barbecue sauce right away, or store in the fridge in an airtight container. For best results, use within two weeks.
- Feel free to whip this sauce up a day or two early if you’re busy. I like to mix it up on the weekend to have as an easy condiment throughout the week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Think of this sauce as an elevated honey mustard type condiment. While it still has the tang of yellow mustard, it’s much more complex with the sweet brown sugar and slight bite of hot sauce. Give it a try and you might be surprised how good it is!
Absolutely! Anything you can think of that gets doused in barbecue sauce is delicious with South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce!
South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce pairs well with:
South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup yellow mustard
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce you can add more to taste later
- 1 ½ teaspoon hot sauce you can add more to taste later
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Whisk together ingredients and season to taste with additional Worcestershire and hot sauces.
Questions & Reviews
I really liked this recipe. The sauce even taste better the longer it sets.
In the summer of 2012, Camden, my youngest, didn’t make the Cal Ripken all star team for the first time in several years (much to our chagrin), but that opened an opportunity and a free summer to do whatever we wanted. My wife, Heather, suggested we have our own Summer BBQ Tour (see link to read more) of barbeque restaurants around SC. Turned out to be a fantastic experience and we had the chance to experience a lot of different BBQ in a relatively short time period.
As a native South Carolinian, I would tell you that I liked mustard sauces. I was wrong. Most of them aren’t very good from what we’ve tasted. Often, they are too “mustardy,” ironically.
My wife’s mustard sauce was taken from a recipe she found online. Big Daddy’s, I think it was. It is unbelievably good:
1 cup prepared yellow mustard
½ cup sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon liquid smoke (hickory flavoring)
Mix all except soy, butter and smoke. Simmer 30 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 more minutes. Vinegar taste may be very strong until completely cooled. Refrigerating overnight is best and allows flavors to blend.
Add a few drops of Louisiana Hot Sauce at the end if additional heat is desired.
Loved this! Love the brown sugar, love the Worcestershire sauce, mustard.., everything! Congrats! 🙂
Ok, sooooo, I am in the middle of cooking 80 lbs. if pork butt for my sister’s wedding on Friday (two days and 80 people, GAH!). I have a standard bbq sauce that is amazing, but I wanted to give our guests a choice. I only eat mustard on hot dogs really, but I know that Carolina mustard bbq sauce is supposed to be amazing with pulled pork. I searched for a recipe, and believe me, I do my research! I found several, but most had a crap ton of ingredients. I am cooking for 80 people, I don’t have time for that! This recipe spoke to me with it’s simplicity. Sometimes simple is just best.
Although I am still in the middle of cooking a thousand pounds of pork, I have started my first huge batch of this sauce, and it tastes AH-MAZING! Literally, soooo good. The dark color, the visible coarse pepper, the sweetness, it all just plain worked. I haven’t even tasted it with meat yet, but my step-kids are raving that it is awesomesauce, literally. Thank you so very much, this one is definitely a keeper!
I was wondering how long this can sit? I want to make it for fathers day for my dad 🙂
I just made this and it DELICIOUS. I also tried it with a little added honey, and it was great! It provided just a tiny bit of sweetness to balance the mustard and vinegar. I think this is going to be my new go to!
I think brown sugar makes everyone feel that way, well at least most of us 🙂
I’m from SC and ran out of our beloved sauce. I tried the recipe and it was dead on it! Loved it! Thanks for saving our dinner tonight (and all of the other nights we use your recipes)!!!
I don’t have a recipe like this in my book of tricks. In fact I don’t think I even knew mustard bbq sauce existed. Well I guess that why one takes the time to read food blogs. I am pinning this one. I don’t want to lose track of it. Thank you.
This recipe is the epitome of why I love your blog: Having lunch at my desk yesterday at work and looked on the OBB site (a M/W/F ritual) to find this recipe. Immediately, I knew I would be able to transform the longely whole chicken in my fridge waiting to be roasted into something special. When I got home, my 5 year-old helped me whip it together, proclaimed it to be “terribly good!” and my family raved about it! Paired with cornbread and coleslaw and voila! Wednesday night dinner was a hit.
Thank you for always giving us reliable, easy, and delicious recipes to infuse our boring weeknight meals with excitement!
Sherri