Columbia Gold, a South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce Recipe

In a swath of mid-South Carolina, from around Columbia to the coast around Charleston, BBQ sauce is yellow, thanks to its main ingredient: mustard. Here, we give a quick and easy South Carolina BBQ sauce recipe.

There’s wide world of barbecue sauce recipes beyond the more familiar tomato-based sauces. But Carolina BBQ sauce’s color is a byproduct of the region’s German heritage. In Germany, pork and mustard go together like peanut butter and jelly.

The science behind our Carolina BBQ sauce recipe

It is a bit of a jolt to an outsider wandering into BBQ joints in the area like Maurice’s Piggie Park and being served a pulled pork sammie mixed with a yellow sauce. Until you bite down. The flavor profile is similar to conventional red BBQ sauce, sweet and tart, but the base flavor is mustard, not ketchup, and the sweetness is cane sugar, not molasses. But it works! In fact, I prefer it to red sauce on pulled pork. It’s tangy and delicious. So, try it on hot dogs or brats or anywhere that you might use bottled mustard. You can thank a generous amount of yellow mustard and apple cider vinegar for the tang. For more on that, check out my article on the Science of Vinegars.

Ingredients and substitutions for Carolina BBQ sauce

• Prepared yellow mustard is a must. It’s the base. Use the authentic ballpark style mustard, not Dijon or a spicy mustard.
• Apple cider vinegar contributes some brightness and acidity that is essential to this Carolina BBQ sauce. It’s more flavorful than other vinegars.
• Tomato paste is necessary for a combination of acidity and sweetness, but you can substitute ketchup if you wish.
• Chipotle Tabasco sauce brings some heat and a bit of smokiness to the sauce. But you can also use your favorite hot sauce or make my Controlled Burn Hot Sauce.
• Sugar contributes some sweetness that helps to balance out the acidity, pungency, and heat.
• Mustard powder dissolves in water and works with the prepared mustard and vinegar to provide a sharpness to the sauce.
• Chicken bouillon acts like a chicken concentrate. Look for bouillon cubes, jarred bouillon granules, jars of bouillon paste, all of which will do the job.
• Dried rosemary leaves add a piney undercurrent to this BBQ sauce.
• Celery seed is savory, warm, earthy, and a bit bitter. Don’t substitute celery salt; they’re totally different.
• Onion powder adds its mildly pungent taste. If you want, you can replace it with granulated onion, but you’ll need to use up to twice as much to account for the difference in volume. Granulated onion is more coarse than the powder.
• Garlic powder brings garlic to the mix without overwhelming the sauce. As with onion powder, if you want to swap it out and use granulated garlic use up to twice as much.
• Morton’s Coarse Kosher Salt is always my preferred salt, but if you use table salt, remember to use half as much. Otherwise, it will be too salty.
• Black pepper: Make sure it’s freshly ground black pepper. Trust me, there’s a big difference!

If you like Carolina BBQ sauce, you’ll love . . .

• Grownup Mustard Sauce, or the Best Darn Mustard Sauce Ever
• Danny Gaulden’s Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze
• Board Sauce Recipe for Finishing Grilled Meats
• Red Kansas City BBQ Sauce Has a Secret Ingredient
• The Perfect Texas BBQ Sauce for Beef Barbecue

Carolina Gold Mustard BBQ Sauce Recipe

Author: Meathead

4.59 from 568 votes

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Here's a quick and easy recipe for classic South Carolina mustard barbecue sauce. For those who are only familiar with traditional red BBQ sauces, yellow mustard sauce can be jarring at first — at least until that first flavorful bite.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Servings: 48 1 tablespoon servings

Course: Sauces and Condiments

Cuisine: American, Southern

Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients Method Approximate Nutrition Notes

Makes

3 cups

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

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• 2 cups prepared yellow mustard
• 2/3 cup cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon chipotle Tabasco sauce or you favorite hot sauce
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon mustard powder
• 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules or soup base
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground finely ground black pepper

Method

 

1. Prep. Mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl.
2. If you are using a bouillon cube, crush it with a spoon in a bowl or mortar & pestle and add it to the bowl. Crush the rosemary leaves and celery seed in a mortar & pestle or in a blender or coffee grinder and add it to the bowl. Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. Cook. Simmer for 10 minutes to pasteurize it.
4. Serve. Pour into a clean jar and use as you would any BBQ sauce. Store remaining sauce in the fridge. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for months.

Notes

About the mustard. To be authentic, use yellow ballpark style mustard, not Dijon. Besides, it just doesn’t taste right with Dijon.

About the tomato paste. You can substitute ketchup if you wish.About the chicken bouillon. What we are looking for here is a chicken concentrate so chicken stock won’t do. But there are cubes of bouillon, jars of bouillon granules, jars of bouillon paste, and jars of chicken soup stock, all of which will do the job.

About the bouillon granules. If you wish to use bouillon cubes substitute 1 cube for 1 teaspoon.

About the salt. Remember, kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works.

Approximate Nutrition

Calories: 22kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 1gFat: 0.4gSaturated Fat: 0.04gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.3gTrans Fat: 0.001gCholesterol: 0.01mgSodium: 240mgPotassium: 33mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 23IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 9mgIron: 0.3mg

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