Creamy & Tangy Alabama White Barbecue Sauce
Alabama White Barbecue Sauce is a regional specialty that has received national acclaim for good reason! Uniquely sweet yet tangy, this sauce takes just 5 minutes to make and tastes great on everything from juicy grilled chicken and pulled pork to crispy French fries. Let me show you how to make it for yourself at home. One bite and you’ll be serving it with every meal!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Alabama White Barbecue Sauce
- Ready In: 5 minutes
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: mayonnaise, salt, black pepper, white vinegar, lemon juice, white sugar
- Why You'll Love It: Uniquely sweet yet tangy, serve this homemade recipe for nationally-acclaimed Alabama white barbecue sauce with main meat dishes and sides.
The Sweet & Tangy Sauce You’ll Put on Everything
Today, I’m bringing you a real rarity. In fact, it is pretty much unheard of outside of North Alabama. Even my husband (who is from a town in Georgia only four hours away) had never heard of it. A lot of folks in South Alabama have never heard of it.
I’m talking about Alabama white BBQ sauce. This is truly a regional thing, but also… a regional requirement. You’ll find white BBQ sauce on every menu, table, and piece of meat at every BBQ joint in North Alabama. Locals eat it with everything, from French fries and juicy smash burgers to chicken and tender BBQ ribs. My husband loves to smother his chicken with this stuff, and personally, I like to use so much that my food is always swimming in it!
This homemade white BBQ sauce has a uniquely sweet yet tangy flavor, thanks to the combination of mayonnaise, lemon juice, white vinegar, and sugar. Let me tell you, it truly is the perfect compliment to just about everything.
Reader Rating
“I’m an Alabama girl through and through, and I’ve got news for you. THIS IS FANTASTIC. No need for additional ingredients. It’s as good as any white BBQ sauce I’ve ever had. THANK YOU!!!” – Jenna
Recipe Ingredients
- Mayonnaise
- Black pepper
- Salt
- Lemon juice
- White vinegar (apple cider vinegar can be used as a substitute, or a mix!)
- Sugar (you can also use brown sugar, or a mix of both)
Mix It Up: Your Sauce, Your Rules!
- Horseradish: For a classic twist, add a couple of teaspoons of prepared horseradish.
- Mustard: Add 2 teaspoons of yellow, dijon, spicy brown, or Creole mustard for a tangy kick.
- Seasoning: For an extra pop of flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon of Cajun or Old Bay seasoning.
- Lighter Version: Replace half the mayo with sour cream or Greek yogurt to make a lighter sauce without changing the taste.
- Make it Spicy: For some heat, use hot horseradish, 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
How to Make Alabama White Barbecue Sauce
To start, add your mayonnaise to a mason jar or small bowl. Then add the salt and pepper.
Next, add the sugar, vinegar, and lemon juice.
Mix all ingredients together with a whisk. Or if you’re using a mason jar with a lid, you can just give it a really good shake!
That’s all there is to it – you have just made Alabama white barbecue sauce!
Before you go wow your friends, get a French fry or a piece of chicken and give it a good dunking so you can be the first to taste it. YUM!
I could just live on this y’all, honest!
Storage
Pop the sauce in a mason jar or an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 4 days. But we all know it’s not gonna last that long! Luckily, it only takes 5 minutes to whip up another batch (or you can always simply double the recipe).
Alabama White Barbecue Sauce FAQs
Alabama white BBQ sauce is creamy and tangy with a good peppery kick. I make mine with a mayonnaise-and-vinegar base, so it starts off rich and cool. Then you get this sharp, zesty punch from the lemon juice and black pepper that just keeps you coming back for more. It’s truly one-of-a-kind!
Alabama white BBQ sauce originated in Decatur, Alabama. We have Robert “Big Bob” Gibson, founder of Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q, to thank for creating this unique sauce way back in 1925!
Alabama white sauce tastes fantastic with any grilled or barbecued meat, like this North Alabama-style pulled chicken, pan-seared pork chops, roasted beef brisket, crockpot beef ribs, and air fryer chicken wings. You can baste it on the meat two or three times towards the end of cooking, or simply pour it over the top when serving.
It also tastes great as a dipping sauce with fries and veggies, like my baked zucchini fries, parmesan oven fries, and roasted sweet potato wedges. Another option is to use it as a salad dressing. It tastes absolutely amazing with potato salad, coleslaw, and roasted vegetables!
From my kitchen to yours, I hope you enjoyed this recipe. Let me know by leaving a comment and a star rating!
Ingredients
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- 1 ½ tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 6 tablespoons white vinegar
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons white sugar
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together and stir well.2 cups mayonnaise, 1 ½ tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons black pepper, 6 tablespoons white vinegar, 6 tablespoons lemon juice, 4 tablespoons white sugar
Notes
- If you don’t have white vinegar, apple cider vinegar can be used as a substitute, or a mix of them together.
- You can also swap white sugar for brown sugar, or use a combination of the two!
Nutrition
After reading about your vinegar based bbq and sauce I had to check out what a white sauce was. Being from Texas where we believe in red, red sauce on red meat, I was very curious. So basically it’s the same sauce we put on coleslaw. Interesting. Isn’t it funny how different areas of the country eat the same foods only different. I grew up eating pork of course but it was pork chops and ham, never a pork roast much less pulled pork. It’s something I discovered as an adult and absolutely love. In fact that’s what’s for dinner tonight. Just wish I had read this earlier so I could have cooked it your way. Instead it went in the pressure cooker and will be mixed with Bulls Eye (our favorite store bought) because I didn’t have the stuff for my homemade sauce.
Thanks again Christy, love the new look.
Hugs from Texas
We are from middle TN and went to the Hickory Barn BBQ and I must say we were VERY DISAPPOINTED. I am only writing this because I don’t want anyone else to be as disappointed as we were. We ordered the ribs and they were very dry and tough. My friend asked what was their speciality and the lady was very snappy and said everything. It was nothing like I was expecting. I kept apologizing to my friends because it was such a disappointment.
Also, I have only had white sauce once and it so good. I have been craving it and wanted to try it again. Well, their white sauce was bitter and did not taste very good. Again, I really don’t want to complain but we only went because of the endorsement on this blog and I don’t want anyone else to be as disappointed as we were. We drove 3 1/2 hrs. Maybe the bbq sandwich would have been okay but what we had wasn’t. My husband couldn’t even finish his.
YEP !!!!!! JUS” LIKE YOU SAID !!! WE EAT THIS SAUCE ON EVERY THANG !!!! YUMMY !!!
THANKS FOR THE RECIPE
WILL BE TRYING YOUR ZUCCHINI BREAD THIS AFTER NOON TOO..
JUS” LOVE , LOVE SOUTHERN PLATE SITE !!
I use nearly this same recipe and put it on shreadded cabbage (I am all about easy so I use the bagged cabbage) and I let it sit for a good 8 hours or overnight to let the cabbage soften up. It makes an INCREDIBLE cole slaw. Sometimes I put in a dash or two of tabasco to spice it up a little. This is the TEXAS version. 🙂
Hi, Christy! I am so incredibly thankful for Southern Plate! I’m from just over the Georgia line in the northwest corner of the and didn’t discover Alabama white BBQ sauce until about 4 years ago when my new husband and I were on the way to meet his mama in Mississippi. We stopped at Greenbriars and I fell in love! So much so that when I was pregnant with my daughter a few years ago, I was craving this stuff so much that my husband made the long trek out there to get me some (well, he was going to see his mom, but he did bring back some sauce for me!). So I was so excited when I saw this post! Woo hoo and hallelujah! 🙂 Thanks for all your amazing recipes that you share with us – and for sharing your amazing family stories with us as well!
I LOVE white BBQ sauce – particularly Greenbriar’s 🙂 It’s fantastic “squirted” on hushpuppies!
I’ll check out the new restaurant in Athens; sounds good, and I’m always looking for a neat new place to eat.
Greenbriars is all around wonderful in every possible way!
My lil brother came back from Al braggin on soem white bbq sauce tryin to tell me what it was like I need to call him an tem him it was just slaw dressin. Ya’ll need to add a dab of buttermilk to this; also add some celery seed & onion (minced fine) to make slaw I’m wonderin if this come from people puttin slaw on their pulled pork sandwich which I don’t do(YUCK):) but to each their own.
Have a grate day ya’ll
Hey Mellany!
Around here, we don’t put cole slaw on our pork sandwiches, we use vinegar slaw, it hasn’t got any mayo in it at all and is soooo good with BBQ!
I eat mine with vinegar slaw and ketchup, yum!!!
Then drown the rest of my plate in white sauce 🙂
Gratefully,
Christy
Christy,
I would love a recipe for vinegar-y slaw like I grew up with when I lived in Sheffield… my mom died years ago, and I can’t find a recipe for slaw in any of her cookbook collections!
Thanks!
I’m going to get that one up here sometime this summer!!! I love that slaw, too! Don’t much care for mayo slaw myself, we just don’t have that much in these parts! lol