Replace Mayo With Alabama White BBQ Sauce For A Tangy Coleslaw Upgrade

There are two types of people in the world: the ones who are absolutely obsessed with coleslaw and others who gag at the mere sight of it. Either way you slice it, coleslaw has been around for a while – since -ancient Rome, if you can believe it — and it's here to stay. It seems like every day, we're seeing more and more unique versions of the beloved side dish, such as making it with tzatziki sauce or using it as a Korean-style kimchi, but the newest trend involves giving the slaw some sweet Southern heat by substituting traditional coleslaw dressing for Alabama white barbeque sauce.

Original coleslaw dressing typically involves mayonnaise, sugar, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and poppy seeds. While Alabama white barbecue sauce shares a few of the same ingredients, this tangy dressing packs a bigger punch by including items like distilled white vinegar, horseradish, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. It lends a more assertive character that the regular dressing frankly lacks.

Alabama white barbeque sauce was popularized in the 1920s at the beloved Decatur, Alabama restaurant of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q. It didn't take long for the recipe to make its rounds in the barbeque world, and pretty soon, it was replicated around the country. These days, you'll find folks all over the internet using it as that perfect kick to make the coleslaw dish at their weekend barbeque a smash hit.

To whip up your own Alabama white barbeque sauce coleslaw, start by making your sauce. Combine mayonnaise, distilled white vinegar, black pepper, kosher salt, granulated sugar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. You can substitute the hot sauce for horseradish if you want it extra spicy. Other cooks like to bring in additional ingredients like cayenne or mustard for extra dimension. After making your sauce, mix it with shredded cabbage and let it sit in your refrigerator for a few hours.

If you're not up for making the sauce from scratch, naturally you can pick up a bottle of Bob Gibson's original Alabama white barbeque sauce at your local grocery store (if you're lucky) to give your coleslaw the burst of flavor it's begging for.