Vegan Alabama White BBQ Sauce

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Can a simple sauce be life changing? It may seem like a silly question, but the answer is a resounding ‘yes! when this white bbq is involved!

Really though? White BBQ sauce? I know, it sounds preposterous. Opposite of all that is good in the world of BBQ. I get it. I grew up with the thick, sweet, finger licking’ good, tomato sauce based, Kansas City style BBQ, so I hear you. This is not a replacement for that classic sweet and smokey blend. It’s called BBQ, but it deserves to be in a class of its own. Let’s learn a little more about this tangy white bbq sauce!

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White BBQ History

In the mid 1920’s, a man named Bob Gibson began cooking whole chickens and pork shoulders in a hand dug pit in his Decatur, Alabama backyard. No one quite knows why or how he came up with the idea, but at some point he took his affinity for vinegar based sauces and added mayo, hypothetically, to keep the slow roasted chicken from drying out. When Gibson opened his first restaurant, his unique white sauce was a hit from the first day.

Reportedly, Gibson was a friendly guy, and he didn’t try too hard to keep his white bbq sauce recipe a secret. In the mid-90’s, Gibson’s legacy restaurant, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, began bottling and selling their famous sauce in grocery stores.

These days, different iterations of the Alabama white bbq sauce have made it into restaurants across the US, from Chicago to California. Newk’s Eatery serves their version on a chicken sandwich with bacon and Swiss, and on a pizza topped with chicken, bacon, tomatoes, mozzarella, provolone, chili oil, and jalapeño. Um, yum! Friends in the south, go try that out for me, ok?

How to enjoy:

This white bbq sauce is cool, creamy, zesty, zippy, tangy, and sharp. If you’re not vegan, it’s delicious on fish, pork and chicken. It became famous as a finishing sauce on Gibson’s premium meats, so you can baste it over your bbq chicken near the end of cooking. It’s especially good to keep chicken breast from drying out. Or ditch the classic red cocktail sauce and offer this as a shrimp dip.

For a vegan dinner, try a drizzle over roasted portabella mushrooms, caramelized onions and any extra toppings you love on a bed of fresh spinach. I enjoy it with rice and grilled vegetables. It’s also delicious when thinned with just a touch more vinegar and used as a marinade on kebabs with mushrooms, yellow bell peppers and zucchini. Or serve as a dip for raw veggies such as carrots or crisp snow peas.

Another unique idea is pairing this with chickpeas, red onion, and buffalo sauce. Something about these two sauces coming together… it’s a flavor explosion!! Check out my Buffalo Veggie Wraps recipe here if you want to try that combo. I promise you won’t regret it.

This would also be a really yummy alternative to a sour cream or olive oil dressing in a dish like chickpea salad, chicken salad or pasta salad! I’m brainstorming a kind of half greek salad dish, like chickpeas, grape tomatoes, green onions, kalamata olives, red bell peppers and artichoke hearts, all tossed in a light coating of this sauce. Add some vegan feta cheese or ethically sourced goat cheese? Hello delicious. Served on some hearty 11-grain bread with a bowl of seasonal fruit? I can’t think of a better summertime lunch! Ok well, if it was French Parisian bread made from your own bakery, while living in a rustic European flat, well I guess that would be better.

But back to food! A simple vegetarian pasta salad with this sauce would be yummy too. Some elbow pasta, chopped white cheddar or aged cheddar cheese (or a vegan variation of such cheeses) and red pepper flakes. Served with a little cup of soup, like a hearty bisque to balance the lightness, it would be delicious any time of year. A half Caesar salad would also be a great cafe style pairing.

So how do you make this white barbeque sauce?

Well, you’re on this page reading my white barbecue sauce recipe, so that’s a great start. First, get ya some vegan mayo. Or use the half empty jar of regular mayo that’s just been sitting back there, unused, since you went vegan. I mean, if you don’t eat it, it’s just going to get thrown away, and to me, that’s almost worse than eating it. So dig it out, use it up, and then replace it with a vegan one. Or make your own! I’m gonna try that someday, I promise. For now, I’ve been loving this Hellman’s Vegan Dressing & Spread. I found it at my local Walmart, for less than other vegan options! Yay!

Just a note, this recipe was originally developed with regular mayo, so don’t feel like you have to use vegan mayo. It’ll work just fine with that classic Hellman’s. Or whatever store brand you have! (Just don’t use Miracle Whip. It’s great on sandwiches, but bad in this sauce.)

Next, find some horseradish.

Don’t panic, it’s totally vegan! No horses included whatsoever! Thank goodness. Horseradish is a root vegetable, related to the same root vegetable that is used to make wasabi. So it has that same, weird spiciness that flares up the back of your throat and into your nasal passages and makes your eyes water. Anyway!! I digress. My point is, as long as you get prepared horseradish, like this one I found on Amazon, and not anything called “horseradish sauce,” it should be vegan! Just always check your ingredients to be sure 🙂

Ok, only one other ingredient I need to talk about! I’m making this sound so much more complicated than it really is. I promise, it’s so easy. The last thing you need is mustard. The recipe calls for brown mustard, which is similar to dijon, but just a little darker and spicer. Creole mustard should also substitute in ok! If you want to save yourself a trip to the store, go grab some on Amazon, over here. If you’re in a pinch and need to make this sauce NOW, though, regular old hot-dog mustard will work too. I’ve tried it 🙂

Besides those three things, you really only need some pantry basics like white wine vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper and sugar. If you don’t have white wine vinegar, plain old white vinegar works too! Basically gather all your ingredients and whisk them all together. Letting it sit for 15-20 minutes before you use it will let the flavors develop together just a little more, so if you’re making dinner, toss this together first. It will keep in the fridge for at least two weeks, if you can make it last that long. Just keep it in a sealed jar or container and it’ll be handy for zesting up whatever you’re having!

See? It’s really so simple. Let me know if you give it a try! I love to hear your feedback. Comment below or come connect with me on Instagram!