Alabama White Sauce - this White BBQ Sauce Recipe is a Favorite. (2024)

FAQs

What is Alabama White BBQ sauce made of? ›

Add the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, spicy brown mustard, horseradish, and worcestershire sauce to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add the kosher salt, white pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper to the wet ingredients and whisk to combine.

Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q began bottling their Original White Sauce in the mid-90s. It's now available in grocery stores in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida, as well as specialty shops across the country.

Alabama white BBQ sauce is a mayonnaise-based dressing that also includes horseradish and cayenne pepper for a good amount of heat. Two packed tablespoons of brown sugar add some sweetness to the mix, while apple cider vinegar and lemon juice provide some flavorful acidity.

If your white sauce tastes like ranch, that's another sign you're not quite on the right track. Ranch is thin and buttermilky, while white sauce should be thicker and richer, with more tang from the vinegar. It will have a bite similar to that of Carolina BBQ sauce.

Visit Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Ala., and you'll find a barbecue sauce unlike any on the planet. Created by a railroad worker-turned-pit master in the 1920s, this piquant mixture of mayonnaise, vinegar and black pepper has accompanied barbecued chicken for five generations of pit masters.

The flavor of Alabama White Sauce

At first taste, Alabama white sauce has a slightly cool, neutral flavor thanks to the mayonnaise, with the tang of the vinegar to offset any spice.

The creation of white barbecue sauce, often called “Alabama White,” is credited to Robert “Big Bob'” Gibson at Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Q restaurant, in Decatur, Ala., in 1925.

Not only is Alabama white sauce great on barbecue, but it also makes an excellent dip for veggies, salad dressing, and coleslaw dressing. You can even spread it on burgers or use it as a dipping sauce for fries.

The homemade white bbq sauce is white with a mayo base, but unlike the dressing you would use on classic coleslaw or broccoli salad, it is not sweet. It has a more robust savory flavor thanks to the vinegar's tang and the black pepper and horseradish's mild heat.

It's won several awards over the years and this is how it got the name “Alabama White Sauce”. This sauce is different than traditional BBQ sauce because it's more peppery and tangy, and less sweet. It's made with a creamy mayonnaise base, instead of the traditional tomato base found in a classic red bbq sauce.

How old is Alabama white sauce? ›

Alabama white sauce

It is believed to have been invented by Bob Gibson at the Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur in 1925. The sauce's popularity was mainly confined to northern Alabama until 1994 when it began to be bottled and sold commercially.

Combine ingredients:

Stir together mayonnaise, vinegar, water, Worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and hot sauce in a small bowl.

Another name for bechamel — or béchamel — is "white sauce." Making a bechamel is a very basic technique in French cooking which begins with a roux, a cooked mixture of flour and butter, and after slowly whisking in milk, ends in a creamy sauce.

Alabama white sauce has a creamy, tangy flavor that sets it apart from most barbecue sauces, which often have a tomato or ketchup base, with brown sugar, molasses, and hot pepper running through them for sweetness and spice.

Cream gravy or white gravy (sawmill gravy) is a bechamel sauce made using fats from meat—such as sausage or bacon—or meat drippings from roasting or frying meats.

The creation of white barbecue sauce, often called “Alabama White,” is credited to Robert “Big Bob'” Gibson at Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Q restaurant, in Decatur, Ala., in 1925.