Alabama White BBQ Sauce is a tangy, creamy twist on traditional barbecue sauce recipe. It’s delicious on grilled chicken, pulled pork, fish, burgers, and lots more!
Alabama White BBQ Sauce
This is my second post in my American Eats series where I’m cooking my way across America, one state at a time. We are in Alabama, and yesterday I shared a tasty, savory Southern Tomato Pie. Today I’ve got another iconic Alabama recipe for you that might make you scratch your head at first: Alabama White BBQ Sauce.
If you love barbecue, you probably know that there are lots of regional variations of bbq sauces to enjoy, depending on what part of the country you are from. Kansas City BBQ is known for it’s thick, sweet sauce, North Carolina has a thin vinegar based sauce, and South Carolina barbecue sauce is mustard based. But chances are, you’ve never heard of this tangy white barbecue sauce unless you’ve been to Alabama.
Alabama white BBQ sauce was created in 1925 in Decatur, Alabama by a man named Bob Gibson, who started a restaurant that is an institution today called Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q.
This sauce starts with a mayo base that is thinned out with a little vinegar, then gets a flavor kick from mustard, horseradish, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
It’s ridiculously easy to make. You just whisk everything together in a bowl until smooth, then pour into a jar and refrigerate until you are ready to use it. It’s so simple, but so, so good.
Use the Alabama white barbecue sauce just like you would any other barbecue sauce – on smoked or grilled meats for basting or as a dipping sauce. We brush it on grilled meat or fish during the last few minutes of cooking on the grill and serve with extra sauce on the side.
How to Grill Bone-In Chicken Breasts
When I was testing Alabama recipes, I used this white bbq sauce on bone-in grilled chicken breasts, which we served with tomato pie. While you can absolutely grill boneless, skinless chicken breasts and have them turn out super juicy and delicious (check out my recipe for grilled cajun chicken sandwiches to see how), I find that when we are doing bbq, I way prefer to go slower and use bone-in chicken.
Here is how we grill bone-in chicken breasts:
- Heat the grill to medium-high heat. Turn on all the burners if using a gas grill, or get the briquettes going if using charcoal, and close the lid. When the grill is hot (between 400-450 degrees), make sure the grates are clean and brush them with a little oil, then create an area of indirect heat by pushing turning off the burners on side side of the grill or pushing the charcoal over.
- While the grill is heating, season the chicken with a little salt. This is also a good time to gather the tools you will need to grill the chicken, like tongs, a basting brush, and a clean tray for when the chicken is done.
- Grill the chicken skin side down over indirect heat. Don’t set the chicken directly over the flames (i.e., direct heat) because the fat from the skin will drip down and create flare-ups. Grill the bone-in chicken breasts for 10-15 minutes on the first side (7-10 minutes if cooking smaller cuts like chicken legs and thighs), then flip and grill for another 7-10 minutes over indirect heat.
- Finish the chicken by grilling over direct heat on the other side of the grill directly over the flame or charcoal. Grill skin-side down, just until the skin is well browned and crisp, about 3-5 minutes, watching carefully for flare-ups, then flip and baste with Alabama white BBQ sauce during the last few minutes of cooking, until the breasts reach 165 degrees F. when tested with an instant read meat thermometer. Move the meat back over indirect heat if it needs more time to finish cooking.
- Let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes before serving, then serve with extra white BBQ sauce on the side.
What to Serve with Barbecued Chicken
- Cornbread
- Corn on the cob
- Southern Tomato Pie
- Summer Fruit Salad
- Lemonade
- Baked Beans
Alabama White BBQ Sauce is a tangy, creamy twist on traditional barbecue sauce recipe. It's delicious on grilled chicken, pulled pork, fish, burgers, and lots more! This recipe is perfect for 4 large chicken breasts, but you may want to double the recipe if you are grilling for a crowd!
- 1 cup mayo
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
- 2 teaspoons cream style horseradish
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
-
In a medium bowl, whisk all of the ingredients together until smooth. Transfer to a jar with a tight lid and refrigerate until ready to use, up to 1 week. Brush on chicken while grilling, or use with fish or other meat, or as a salad dressing or dip for fries.
I have subbed up to half of the mayo with Greek yogurt with good results.
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I'm Amy: former lawyer, now SAHM in the CA Bay Area. I love food, photography, books, travel, exercise, adoption and pie. Definitely pie. 
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Yum! I can’t wait to try this the next time I make ribs or shredded pork!
I have never seen anything like this before, but I do love horseradish, almost as much as I love BBQ. I will totally have to pull this out for a twist on Memorial Day grilling.
I’m a huge fan of Carolina BBQ (all the vinegar!), so this BBQ sauce is very appealing to me… I love the addition of horseradish! I also love your idea of an America Eats series. Fun!
This sauce looks like a keeper,will definitely save this for when i will make bbq!
White BBQ sauce is one of my favorite things to make in the summer because it goes so well on so many things we grill. Your recipe looks fantastic!
Giiiiiiiiiirl, yes! I already have an entire meal planned out in my head to use this on – so excited to try it out!
Yay! Ha, I’m the same way where I will see one recipe and immediately think of all the others I want to make to go with it!
A few years ago I visited the Southern Living test kitchen studio in Birmingham, Alabama. They took us to a restaurant nearby called Jukes BBQ Joint and it had the best white bbq sauce I’ve ever tried! We always order this with our barbecue when we pass through on our way to the Gulf Shores every year and I’m excited I can make this at home now!
That’s so cool that you got to visit the Southern Living test kitchen studio! I’m glad you tried the white bbq sauce while you were there in Alabama!
So, I live in Memphis and it’s all about the bark, the wet mop, etc. I’ve heard about white barbecue sauces but never tried them and by the looks of this recipe, I clearly need to!
It’s so interesting how each region has it’s own emphasis when it comes to BBQ!
Follow Zagat on YouTube. They go to each area and you get to learn about the differences
White barbecue sauce? Intriguing! No added sugar? OK, I need this! For the first time I live in a house with a patio – and am looking at getting a small grill and learning to use it, so this recipe (and the directions for the chicken breast) come just at the right time!
How fun that you get to start grilling in your new place! We used to live in a little condo and had a tabletop grill that we cooked on often on our tiny patio. So many good food memories with that thing!
This looks awesome! We love BBQ but I’ve never had white sauce before. It sounds positively amazing and such a good addition to bbq comfort food. We will definitely be trying it this week!
You had me at BBQ! Can’t believe the sauce is white, so creative!! Can’t wait to use this next time I fire up the grill, yum!
I’m so used to BBQ sauce being some shade of red or brown that I’m having a hard time mentally classifying this as BBQ sauce! But I really love horseradish, so I bet I would love this as a great way to spice up normally bland grilled chicken!
Yes, it’s definitely a bit of a shocker to use a white sauce instead of a red one! But if you think of BBQ as a cooking technique and sauce used to baste meat cooked using that technique, then it makes sense why this would be called BBQ sauce even though it’s not tomato based.
I have never had white barbecue sauce before, the ingredients sound very flavorful and I love mayo so much that I believe this will be a huge hit
Such a lovely combonation of ingredients. Looks amazing. Can’t wait to try this out
This barbecue sauce just makes me so happy! While a white BBQ sauce isn’t traditional in Memphis or Texas, I cannot wait to give this a try because I know it’s gonna be yummy.
As a South Carolinian, I’ve been a diehard fan of mustard-based BBQ sauce my whole life – but I have never made Alabama white BBQ sauce! I will have to give it a shot – it certainly looks delicious! And thanks for the tips on grilling chicken too — I am not yet a grilling pro so that will definitely help!
Lol – I know your love of mustard-based BBQ sauce runs deep!
Been waiting on Arkansas for a while now. Can’t wait to see what you post!
I’m so glad you are enjoying this series! I meant to do Arkansas earlier but got a little behind with school starting back up again! The first Arkansas post is up now though and I will be sharing more throughout the week! 🙂
I made this today, but I found the flavor of mayo and vinegar to be overwhelming so, I added 1/2 cup sour cream, then I ended up doubling everything except the mayo and vinegar. By the time I was done I had added 1 tsp. Onion powder, 1/4 tsp. Worcentershire sauce, and since I remember the white sauce I had in Alabama growing up, having a bit of heat outside of the horseradish, and I was out of cayenne pepper, I added a few dashes of habanero sauce I got from my trip to Mexico. THEN, it became the sauce my family used to make. Not that this isn’t good for some, but for me, it was just lacking and tasted like it belonged used as coleslaw dressing not a BBQ sauce. I used it as a dipping sauce/sauce for my smoked wings and pulled pork at a big bbq I did, my sauce was gone before I new it with people asking for more. I didn’t expect it to go over as well as it did, but they killed it! Note to self: make more of this! I still have plenty of traditional bbq sauce if anyone needs any. Lol! Enjoy!!!
I agree with Jessica above. The taste of mayonnaise was very overwhelming so I followed her recipe and it became a lot better but I will not make this again.
Wonderful 5 Star recipe! Alabama White BBQ Sauce is the bomb! Thank you for clarifying the mystery of tender, juicy, golden and crispy grilled chicken. This recipe is a keeper! My only changes included adding 1 tsp raw sugar to the BBQ sauce and 1 clove crushed garlic. Again, many thanks!
Old grouchy guy here. Why can’t I just get the recipe at the top so I don’t have to endure pages and pages of flowery b.s. before I get to it and find that its not what I want?
I understand your frustration, Bob. If you look at the top of the recipes on my blog (and many other food blogs), you will notice a button that says “Jump to Recipe”. It’s right under the title. If you just click on that it will immediately take you straight to the recipe, skipping everything else. I hope that helps in the future.
This looks incredible! I might have to use the extra hot horseradish I have in the kitchen…. Can’t wait to try!