South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce

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!

yellow carolina sauce with grilled chicken

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
whisking bbq sauce ingredients together in a glass bowl

How To Make South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce

  1. 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!

Frequently Asked Questions

I’m not a huge fan of yellow mustard. Will I like mustard barbecue sauce?

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!

Can I use this like regular barbecue sauce?

Absolutely! Anything you can think of that gets doused in barbecue sauce is delicious with South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce!

yellow carolina sauce with grilled chicken

South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce

5 from 10 votes
A family favorite! Quick and so beloved, this sauce is delicious mopped onto grilled meats, as a sauce on grilled chicken sandwiches, or for dunking chicken nuggets.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings8

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.

Notes

Homemade BBQ sauce lasts in the fridge for up to two weeks with proper storage and refrigeration.
This recipe was originally adapted from Cook’s Country.

Nutrition

Serving: 2Tablespoons, Calories: 66kcal, Carbohydrates: 15g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 0.04g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Trans Fat: 0.003g, Sodium: 513mg, Potassium: 63mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 14g, Vitamin A: 15IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 25mg, Iron: 0.5mg
Course: Sauces
Cuisine: American
Keyword: sauces, South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
Calories: 66kcal
Author: Kate Jones
Cost: $5
Did You Make This Recipe?Snap a picture, and hashtag it #ourbestbites. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @ourbestbites!
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Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite RecipesSavoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting MagazineBetter Homes & GardensFine CookingThe Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. 5 stars
    Made this sauce for my pulled pork dinner & it was delicious. I’m keeping this recipe forever! YUM & THANKS!????????????

  2. 5 stars
    OH wow I made it and it’s Delicious! I’m from the very south (Louisiana) I’m use to our red sauce which my favorite is the sweet n spicy Which I got all of that in this recipe sauce as well as the Mustard I was craving to Try I will add I don’t know where that craving come from lol But I’m sure glad I Now have New Favorite sauce Thank You! For sharing

    1. I wish I were a canning expert, but unfortunately I’m not! You might want to consult someone who would know…when it comes to canning, I’m hesitant to give advice due to safety issues.

    2. Pitmaster Myron Mixon had a similar recipe of his Dad’s in his “BBQ Rules” book. According to him the sauce will keep, refrigerated, for up to a year. It’s the vinegar that retards spoilage… think pickles. Besides, if you can’t eat this within a year, I regret to inform you that we’re revoking your BBQ card.

  3. I love the Carolina Gold sauce from Trader Joes but I live in Canada and can’t get down to the States often enough. So I went hunting for a clone recipe and found this one. This stuff is delicious and I put it on everything! I have to keep sharing this recipe with people because everyone thinks it’s delicious. Great on pork and equally good on chicken. Yum.

  4. I made this with cider vinegar because that’s what I had. I think it was a mistake. This is way too vinegarry for my family. I even added more brown sugar and some honey to try to balance it out, but no go. I like it, but I’ll have to eat it alone.

  5. 5 stars
    This sauce was so good and so easy to make. I think the simplicity of its ingredients is what makes this recipe so awesome. It was tangy and spicy and had such a great taste. I poured it over my pulled pork and I can’t wait to try it on chicken! Thanks!

  6. 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.

  7. 5 stars
    Loved this! Love the brown sugar, love the Worcestershire sauce, mustard.., everything! Congrats! 🙂

  8. 5 stars
    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!

  9. I was wondering how long this can sit? I want to make it for fathers day for my dad 🙂

  10. 5 stars
    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!

  11. 5 stars
    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)!!!

  12. 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.

  13. 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

  14. What is the meat in the picture with the sauce on it? This looks so good, I need it now!

  15. This doesn’t have anything to do with the yummy recipe above, but I was wondering how to get the our best bites app. I had it once, it didn’t work and I deleted it, then I noticed my mom had it and it worked on her iPad.
    Thanks.

    1. We actually had a lot of problems with iOS7, so we’re in the process of completely reworking it, but hopefully sometime in the near future it will be available!

  16. I can’t make this and it’s really bumming me out. I love mustard BBQ sauce too! But I have a newborn and let’s just say that things that color do not look like food to me these days. Maybe in a few months.

  17. Oh I am so trying this one. Decades ago we had neighbors who made the most delicious sauce for grilling chicken and they would not share the recipe. We new mustard was involved, so maybe…

  18. Oh my gosh, Trader Joe’s makes a similar sauce called Carolina Gold Barbeque Sauce that my husband and I are obsessed with. I’m so excited to try this recipe!

  19. I was raised on Mustard Sauce 45yrs. & I live in Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh had a major population boom of southerners between 1930-1960. Woodside’s owners were from the south. A little BBQ joint named Woodside that closed it’s doors in 1995 Was King! Everyone put that sauce on EVERYTHING! Ribs, Pulled Pork & Fried Chicken.
    DELICIOUS! P.S. I’ve reviewed a lot of recipes online but your recipe is the ONLY ONE that resembles the real deal. The secret is to achieve the darkness !!!WITHOUT THE KETCHUP or Tomato Paste!!! You nailed it! Great job Kate!

  20. I have been looking for a good BBQ sauce and can’t wait to try this out! Thanks so much!

  21. Looks delicious!! Will definitely be making it this week to go with our smoked pork! Where did you get those awesome measuring cups?