Fire Up the Flavor: Five BBQ Sauces Every Grill Needs
At Pine Street Market, we believe great barbecue starts with great meat—but the right sauce can take it somewhere memorable. Whether you’re cooking low and slow or grilling hot and fast, having a few house-made sauces in your rotation gives you flexibility at the pit and at the table.
If you’re local to Atlanta, stop into Pine Street Market and we’ll help you choose cuts that really shine on the grill. Not local? We ship meats and our market favorites nationwide, so you can pair these sauces with the same quality we’re cutting in the shop.
Below are five sauces we come back to again and again. Each one hits a different note—tangy, sweet, sharp, rich—and each one has a natural partner depending on the cut and cooking method.
Sriracha Mustard Sauce
This Sriracha Mustard Sauce is our spin on a Carolina-style mustard sauce; it’s bright, tangy, and just spicy enough to cut through rich, smoked pork. The Dijon and honey keep it balanced, while a splash of soy or coconut aminos adds a savory note that plays well with slow-cooked, well-marbled cuts.
Best with:
Pulled pork and chopped pork shoulder
Grilled sausages and hot dogs
Smoked pork loin or ham slices
Ingredients
½ cup Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
¼ cup honey
1 ½ tbsp soy sauce or coconut aminos
Preparation
Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Transfer to an airtight container and let sit at least 1 hour or up to 1 day to allow the flavors to meld. Before serving, stir and season as needed. This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Tamarind BBQ Sauce
Tamarind shows up in several well-known barbecue and grilled-meat traditions, especially where sweet-sour flavor and warm spices are common. You’ll see tamarind in everything from Jamaican jerk to Indian tandoori and Mexican barbacoa, and it brings that same sweet-sour backbone to this sauce. We love how its natural tartness plays with smoke and fat. In this Tamarind BBQ Sauce, the sweet-sour tamarind brightens a classic ketchup base, while ginger, allspice, and molasses give it the depth it needs for big cuts and long cooks.
Best with:
Spare ribs
Smoked or grilled chicken quarters
Grilled beef short ribs
Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
2–3 tbsp tamarind paste (according to taste)
¼ cup dark brown sugar (packed)
2 tbsp molasses
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt
Preparation
Sweat the onion in olive oil over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Add all remaining ingredients except the tamarind paste, bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Stir in 2 tbsp tamarind paste and taste after 10 minutes. Add the remaining tablespoon (or more) to dial in your tartness level. Simmer 30–45 minutes total until thickened; the sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
White BBQ Sauce
Our White BBQ Sauce takes its cue from Alabama-style white sauce, but we build in the PSM profile with Sweet Cheeks BBQ Rub. The mayo and cider vinegar give you that creamy-tangy backbone, while the rub folds in black pepper, mustard, brown sugar, chiles, and herbs, so it clings beautifully to crispy skin and charred edges.
Best with:
Smoked or grilled chicken (especially wings and halves)
Turkey breast or turkey legs
Grilled pork chops and pork tenderloin
Ingredients
¾ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp whiskey or water
1 tsp kosher salt
Preparation
Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Transfer sauce to an airtight container and let sit at least 1 hour or up to 1 day to allow the flavors to meld. Before serving, stir and season as needed. This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Signature Sweet Cheeks BBQ Sauce
If you want one “house sauce” to keep in the fridge next to your Sweet Cheeks BBQ Rub, this is it. Built on a simple ketchup and cider vinegar base, our Signature Sweet Cheeks BBQ Sauce layers in dark brown sugar and more of the rub for a sweet-tangy profile that works on just about anything coming off the grill or smoker.
Best with:
Ribs and pork shoulder
Burgers, meatloaf, and grilled meatballs
Grilled chicken thighs and drumsticks
Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
Preparation
Place all the ingredients in a sauce pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook for 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Cool slightly before using as a finishing glaze or table sauce.
Mop Sauce
When we’re running a long cook—pork shoulder, whole hog, or a big rack of ribs—we like a simple vinegar mop that keeps the meat moist without building up a thick, sugary crust too early. This Cider Vinegar Mop Sauce carries the Sweet Cheeks profile in a light format that you can brush on throughout the cook.
Best with:
Pork shoulder and whole hog
Spare ribs
Any low-and-slow cook that needs periodic basting
Ingredients
1 cup cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a chef knife
Preparation
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, BBQ rub, and garlic. Use a brush or “mop” to baste meat during cooking. Stored in the refrigerator, the sauce will keep for up to 2 months.
Respecting the Meat First
However you like to barbecue, the constant is the meat and how it was raised. At Pine Street Market, we build sauces that respect the meat—simple ingredients, plenty of acidity to keep things bright, and seasoning blends designed to support pasture-raised, well-handled animals instead of hiding them.
Fire up the grill, choose your favorite cuts, and keep these sauces on hand: mop sauce for basting, Sweet Cheeks BBQ Sauce at the table, white sauce for poultry, tamarind for richer cuts, and Sriracha Mustard when you want that Carolina-style tang.
Questions or ideas for what to cook next? Come by the shop and talk with us! Helping you figure that out is our favorite part of the job. If you’re not nearby, you can still order humanely raised meats and our market favorites from Pine Street Market online and bring a bit of our butcher shop to your kitchen.
Not in the area, send Butcher Rusty a message!
Rusty Bowers︱Know Your Butcher︱Pine Street Market
Avondale Estates, Georgia