Servings: 4 Prep: 5 min Cook: 0 min Total: 5 min
I experimented with a zero carb diet for 30 days (interesting experience, with overall great success!). During that period of time, I wanted to ensure that I had a wide variety of options. If I constantly felt that my choices were limited … I couldn’t believe that a zero carb way of eating would work for me. So … I worked to create a menu of interesting options! One of them … was this Northern Alabama favorite … right here!
This is a great little sauce, especially for basting or brushing onto grilled meats (such as chicken, where most of it winds up!). It’s an emulsified fat, which means it brushes on thick and lustrous, but will quickly melt and meld the flavors in with the meats.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but … I just realized … if I were to mislabel my White BBQ Sauce and accidentally grab my sugar free coleslaw dressing … there’d be no difference. Same basic stuff!
I see a BBQ’d Ribs with White BBQ Sauce and Coleslaw … just around the corner!
Note: Good in combination with Horseradish-Fennel Spare Ribs.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp 'Swerve' or other sugar replacement
- 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper ground
Instructions
- Mix it in a bowl.
- Put it on stuff!
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
DJ, this is a keeper. Perfect with pulled pork. We used Chipotle instead of cayenne,and it tasted great. Thanks
Great, Marjie! I’d bet it would be. Frankly, I’m all for ANY excuse to eat chipotles! 😉
Thank u so much. I live in South Africa and have been looking for a white sauce recipe for a long time. Definately trying this one.
Thank u so much. I live in South Africa and have been looking for a white sauce recipe for a long time. Definately trying this one.
this was made at a barbq place in my hometown of Decatur al..i make it for my Tennessee family and friends and its fabulous
Yep! This is a good one! 🙂
Just made this to go on chicken. I used half the vinegar, 5 packets of Swerve, and added just a touch of garlic powder. Already tastes so good, can’t wait till the chicken is cooked! My low carb lifestyle (66+ pounds down so far!!) will be easy with good recipes like this!! Thank you DJ!!
Fantastic, Wendy! I hope it turned out even better than you’d hoped! 😉
add 1/2 c sour cream and you DO have my coleslaw recipe..LOL
I would like to know more about your "0" carb adventure……I’d actually like to try it.
Stupid question (since I had food poisoning in my twenties from mayo.) Do you put this on while cooking or towards to end of cooking. I really don’t what a repeat of that event of my life.
Judy … Look through my blog posts. In August of 2012, I believe … there are 5 or 6 posts about it. Browse through it and give it a read! AJs, it’s up to you. Really … the answer is "both". You’d marinate in it and then brush it on as it cooks. For the most part, you’re just adding fat to it, for moisture. Some flavor comes from it and the thick emulsion from the eggs helps it to adhere. If you’re afraid, just add it early and cook it, making sure not to add any near the end of the cooking process. I hope this helps! 🙂
Real White BBQ sauce from North Alabama (yes it is from here) does not include Apple Cider Vinegar! You use white vinegar. Born and raised here in Huntsville! My late grandpa used to baste the chicken on the grill with it to give the chicken skin a golden tone! I have been eating chicken with white BBQ sauce since birth in 1975! Bob Gibson made this popular here because he used it in has his restaurant in Decatur AL. Evidently my grandpa was friends with Bob and that’s where he got it from. The best place to eat chicken with white BBQ sauce now in North Alabama is Thomas Pit on Hwy 72 in Madison, AL. White sauce is good on Texas Toast and Steak fries too! Enjoy! And don’t use freaking Apple Cider! It’s not how it’s made!
Oh yea use Real sugar (if you want to add it) and not freaking fake sweetener. Real Alabama folks don’t use that artificial garbage!
—Reply posted by monty s young on 3/31/2015
well you use the fake stuff stevia sugar it comes from a plant not like sweet & low or splenda that is all chemical made by man. and you have diabetis you cannot use real sugar regardless what state you live in.!!!
Also, you really don’t use red pepper either but use more black pepper than the recipe calls for. And make some real sweet tea for gods sake! Two cups of sugar per gallon of tea!
Thanks for the insight, Paul! Having never been to Alabama, I can’t really account for all of this. I had a roommate from that neck of the woods and that’s where I picked this up. It’s my little spin … and it’s quite tasty, but I agree that it’s not the original recipe. Still pretty tasty, though! 😀
I just made this: it’s bitter and watery. How do I fix this? Do I need more sweetness? How do I thicken it?
Hi JS, ummmm … it’s not a super thick sauce. When it’s hot and brushed onto things, it’s just going to break and cook, anyway. That shouldn’t much matter. That said, it’s also not super watery. I’d describe it as being like a salad dressing type of sauce. I don’t know why it would be bitter. There are no real bitter ingredients in it. There are some acidic ingredients (tart/sour), but nothing bitter, short of potentially some spices that haven’t aged very gracefully. Typically, though, bitter is countered with some sweet. You can add some sweetener to downplay bitter and sour. You can also thicken with some more mayonnaise (but this dilutes the flavors). You CAN combine some powdered sweetener with a bit of salt and a bit of guar gum and whisk this in. The gum will thicken it, but I wouldn’t use more than an 1/8th of a tsp to start with. It doesn’t take much. I also don’t think it’s really necessary to thicken in this manner, but if you need it extra thick, this is a direction you can go. Ultimately … my guess is that you just didn’t really like this sauce … which is fine and it happens. Hopefully we can turn it into something closer to what you’d imagined! I am sorry you didn’t love it!
Thanks DJ. You’re right, I was expecting something thicker, like a BBQ sauce. I took your advice and added more mayo and sweetener. This is miuch better – the consistency of thick dressings. I think the sour outweighed the other flavors to begin with. Now I can use this as a marinade. Thanks for you help
Now that you’ve fixed it, Js … let us know how it turned out, as a marinade! Thanks! 🙂
Without red pepper or sweetener, make this sauce and mix with shredded iceberg lettuce and chopped eggs for a very LC, very tasty salad!
I have the original recipe, which uses double the mayonnaise, no cayenne pepper and no sugar nor sugar substitute.
Sooooo … mayonnaise? 😉
Thank you was looking for this!!!
My pleasure! 😀
White BBQ sauce is unique to North Alabama (yes, sounds like an oxymoron). There is no sugar, no lemon juice, no horseradish or cayenne. It is very basic, very simple, and delicious. It does have MUCH more ground black pepper.
1 1/2 Cups mayonnaise
1/4 Cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
Mix well, stores in refrigerator for a week. Try it, it’s delicious.
I really don’t even remember writing this recipe. It’s one of my very first recipes. I’ve never been to North Alabama, but … I’ve also received a lot of praise for this recipe on social media. At the very least, it’s a good recipe. I just wonder if … there are regional variations? North Alabama is a large state. Maybe people up north throw sugar in it and the southerners add lemon juice? Though, I will admit the previous 2 comments both indicate it’s just an acidulated mayo. Maybe? I see nothing wrong with either approach.
Thanks for the input! 😀
I just scrolled up and read my own notes. I remember where this recipe came from … It’s a recipe from an old chef roommate who grew up in that area. I’m no longer in touch with him, otherwise I’d ask him how true it is to the source … and did he meddle with its DNA? I really don’t know …
DJ I love your blog, your writing style, your sense of humor, your honesty and your recipes! I too would like hear more about your 30 day adventure. I am so excited to try this recipe 😘
I love love love this recipe!! Low carb or not. I just came to site to search specifically for it. So good on pulled pork or any kind of smoked meat. Thank you for the great sauce!!