Carolina BBQ-Style Honey Mustard Sauce Recipe

The list of BBQ sauce styles is a long one. One popular variety, honey mustard BBQ sauce, with its delicate balance of sweet honey, sharp mustard, and complex flavorings, is a perfect accompaniment to a wide variety of foods. Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for a honey mustard sauce inspired by South Carolina BBQ. Rather than being red and ketchup based, this kind of BBQ sauce has a bright gold color from yellow mustard, its traditional main ingredient. It's bold, tangy, and sweet from the mixture of mustard, spices, vinegar, and sweet additions.

This recipe starts with yellow mustard and honey for the classic balance of acidity and sweetness that characterizes honey mustard, and brown sugar is added for extra sweetness, richness, and a hint of molasses flavor. Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, a variety of spices, and a touch of cayenne pepper deepen the flavor to complete the sauce. If you love heat, simply add hot sauce to give it the perfect spicy kick, and if you like your sauces even sweeter, substitute ketchup for the tomato paste.

Reach for this sauce as a tasty finishing touch for grilled meats and French fries, use it to flavor roasted vegetables, or liven up coleslaw with honey mustard instead of mayo. You'll hardly believe how easy it to make this honey mustard BBQ sauce at home. The recipe is ready in under 15 minutes and will reward you with restaurant-quality sauce you can enjoy during BBQ season and beyond.

For this recipe, you will first need yellow mustard, honey, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce. The spices this recipe requires are garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Finally, hot sauce is an optional ingredient you can add if desired to add heat to the sauce.

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small saucepan until well combined.

Place the pan on the stove and heat on medium until the mixture comes to a simmer.

Immediately reduce the heat to medium low and let the sauce simmer gently for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Transfer the mixture to a heat-safe container and allow it to cool completely.

Use immediately as a barbecue sauce, dip, or drizzled over your desired foods, or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. The sauce will develop more flavor if you let it sit in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

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This Carolina-style honey mustard BBQ sauce is made with yellow mustard, the traditional choice for this kind of sauce. Yellow mustard is the mildest of mustards, although it still has a bold flavor from white mustard seeds, vinegar, turmeric for color, and spices. It combines well with the sweetness of honey. Dijon mustard originally comes from Dijon, France, and is also a popular choice for honey mustard. It's made with brown and black mustard seeds and verjuice, which is a kind of grape juice. Dijon mustard has a stronger flavor than yellow mustard and is a good choice for a honey mustard with more of a kick. To tone it down, you can use half yellow and half Dijon. While it's hard to say which mustard is the absolute best for honey mustard, yellow and Dijon are often the two choices people reach for the most.

The choice is yours. There are many other popular types of mustard that combine well with honey for a creative take on honey mustard sauce. Brown mustard is more textured than yellow mustard and has more heat and spice. If you're a fan of heat, grab some Chinese hot mustard for a very spicy sauce. English mustard (a favorite brand is Coleman's) also packs serious heat. Creole mustard combines stone-ground mustard with strong Creole seasonings. It's already slightly sweet, so it plays well with honey. Finally, German and Bavarian mustards mix heat and sweetness and for a more unique choice.

This recipe includes both honey and brown sugar, but if you're following a sugar free diet, for example a keto diet, you don't have to renounce honey mustard BBQ sauce. There are many keto-friendly sweetener options that will work instead. Monk fruit extract, stevia, erythritol, allulose, sucralose, swerve, and xylitol are some commonly used choices. Check the recommended substitution ratio before using your preferred sweetener, because they are not all used in a 1:1 ratio to replace sugar. For example, monk fruit extract and stevia are sweeter than sugar and you'll need to reduce the quantity used.

If you're worried about a keto-friendly sweetener recrystallizing, you can make a keto simple syrup instead. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and then remove it from the heat. Stir in 1 cup of keto-friendly sweetener and stir until it's fully dissolved. Let it cool completely before use.

If you'd rather not use sugar alternatives, you can still enjoy this sauce. Adding caramelized onions adds a natural sweetness that works well and makes an enjoyable condiment. Caramelized onions are textured, so you'll want to puree them before you mix them with the mustard and other ingredients. To make it sweeter, substitute canned plum tomatoes for the tomato paste. When the caramelized onions are cooked, add the tomatoes and cook them for a few more minutes before blending.

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