5 Types of BBQ Sauce

Considered by many to be one of the original approaches to barbecue, this vinegar-based sauce can be traced back several centuries in North Carolina. This thin, watery sauce uses no tomato and instead is a combination of vinegar, salt, and spices like cayenne, crushed red pepper, black pepper, and hot sauce, making for a spicy mix. Water is also sometimes added. This sauce is often used to soak pork as it cooks but can also be put on the side as a dip.

Also called Piedmont Dip, this sauce gets its name frm the area where it is most prevalent. Lexington-style dip also hails from North Carolina and is the result of Heinz ketchup being introduced in the 1870s, forever creating a divide among barbecue lovers over whether or not tomatoes should be put on smoked meat. This sweet and tangy sauce is still vinegar-based but is reddened and sweetened with the addition of ketchup. It is widely believed that this sauce was invented by a group of German men who were trying to emulate the Bavarian custom of serving pork shoulder with a sweet, vinegar-y sauce. 

The creation of this barbecue sauce is also credited to the Germans--ones who arrived with mustard in tow rather than ketchup. The mustard is thinned with vinegar and various spices. Because the northern part of the state generally followed the Eastern NC style with their BBQ, this mustard-based concoction is most commonly found between Columbia and Charleston. Today, this sauce is usually referred to as Carolina Gold.

Although developed in Missouri, Kansas CIty style sauce actually evolved from Lexington Dip. Primarily based off of tomatoes and ketchup, this sauce is thick and sweet, with recipes using a combination of ketchup, molasses, vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire, liquid smoke, and other spices. Perhaps the most popular type of BBQ sauce as it is widely distributed in stores and restaurants, Kansas City style sauce mostly sits atop barbecue meat instead of soaking into the meat like the thinner sauces. 

Still considered a barbecue sauce, Alabama white sauce nevertheless stands in a category of its own as it is the only mayonnaise-based BBQ sauce in the bunch. The mayonnaise is what gives this sauce its distinctive white color and was invented in the 1920s by a man in northern Alabama named Bob Gibson. This white sauce is usually made using a combination of mayo, apple cider vinegar, salt, black pepper, sugar, and lemon juice. Although mostly put on smoked chicken, it also pairs well with other types of meat. The sauce itself can be either think and creamy or a thin drizzle. Today, the sauce is still most popular in the Decatur region, its area of origin. 

Who else is ready for some BBQ now?