The Vinegar Swap That'll Give BBQ Sauce A Zesty Flavor Upgrade

From a sweet and sticky Kansas City-style blend to South Carolina's mustard-based renditions, there are boundless ways to make barbecue sauce. Some Alabama varieties even use mayo as their base. Sure, there are components every BBQ sauce needs to stay true to form, but there's also quite a bit of wiggle room that can add a little pizzazz to the mix. Vinegar is an essential ingredient in any decent barbecue sauce, but that staple base can be swapped out for pickle juice to incorporate extra flavor — the question is, should it?

When The Takeout spoke with pitmaster Ryan Mitchell, son of legendary Hall of Fame pitmaster Ed Mitchell and co-founder of True Made Foods, he confirmed that pickle juice could, in theory, be utilized to jazz up everyone's favorite grilling condiment. "Traditional and real BBQ sauces use white or apple cider vinegar as their base," he said. "Pickle juice should also be made from white vinegar, so it could be used as a substitute for the white vinegar in a BBQ sauce recipe."

However, Mitchell wasn't sold on the idea, adding, "But there is no point, and the extra pickle flavor will not help the BBQ sauce." Mitchell isn't simply being pretentious — his opposition to including pickle juice in the mix is based on sound reasoning. Its zesty tang has its place in barbecue, just not as part of a sauce.

While there's no telling if pitmaster Ryan Mitchell would approve of adding a splash of coffee into a BBQ sauce or incorporating some punchy, umami-laden black garlic into the mix, he's decidedly not on team pickle juice. It isn't because of some deep-seated hatred of cucumbers in vinegar — he genuinely thinks the flavor is welcome, but not in sauce form.

"Good BBQ uses pickles or coleslaw as a topping/side dish to complement the BBQ and the BBQ sauce, and the flavor is not as important as the mouth feel and the juxtaposition of the hot BBQ and the cold slaw or pickles," Mitchell said. The textural contrast pickles provide is far more valuable than their zesty, acidic essence. It's really Mitchell's love of that diverse consistency that leaves him baffled by the suggestion that the tangy liquid be included in the condiment itself. "Putting pickle juice in BBQ sauce may help gain the flavor, but it will throw off the perfect complement of the pickles with the BBQ."

It's worth noting that Mitchell isn't just waxing philosophical when he makes his case — years of experience have shaped his opinion. "BBQ traditions like the Eastern Carolina traditions I grew up with have developed over generations with generations of pitmasters refining and testing recipes," he said. "If pickle juice helped create a better BBQ sauce, someone in my family would have started to use it."