We always had barbecue slaw or red slaw served with our pulled pork when I was growing up in the foothills of North Carolina and enjoying Eastern North Carolina BBQ. The marinated cabbage’s peppery, crunchy texture elevates barbecue to a new level. Serve with chicken or pork.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 cups finely shredded cabbage
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 2 dashes hot pepper sauce, or to taste
Instructions
- Place the cabbage into a salad bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together apple cider vinegar, ketchup, sugar, red pepper flakes, and hot sauce until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the dressing over the cabbage, toss thoroughly, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
- Barbecue sauce can be substituted for ketchup, and I like to chill mine overnight to allow for the flavors to combine.
Reviews
Really good but no salt?? Had add a little salt
Great heat not spicey. Exactly what i wanted
A lot of people, even those born and raised in North Carolina, don’t realize that the Tar Heel state has two indigenous forms of pork barbecue with different flavor profiles, but sharing their history. Eastern NC Barbecue uses a “white” vinegar basting sauce, which contains no tomato products, which were originally thought of as toxic and dangerous to eat. As folks learned tomato was safe and as they migrated from the coast further inland, tomato sauces, extracts and pastes began to be added to the basic vinegar sauce, often with a little sugar to balance the flavors (arguably the base for sweeter and thicker bbq sauces like Kansas City styled further down the line), resulting in what locals refer to as Western NC barbecue sauce or Lexington sauce. Side dishes were often made with either the left over sauce from the meat (which was often cooked down from long heating on the side of the pit) or extra sauce made for the purpose, resulting in variations of baked beans and slaws spiced with the vinegar and red pepper flakes mix. Personally, I love Eastern style chopped meat with western style beans and slaw, but I’m the weirdo who likes my slaw on the side too! Enjoy, friends!
Made a 1/4 batch, and added to smoked bbq chicken quesadillas. Yum.
No changes.My family loved it!
Made this for a party in Western NC and everyone loved it! The only change I made was to use Texas Pete instead of pepper flakes.
Was great with our pulled pork! Used BBQ sauce instead of ketchup
This is SOOO close to my favorite bbq in Thomasville, Tommy’s bbq. I didn’t add the heat, because kids lol. We always add a couple dashes of hot sauce on the meat anyway. I used Trisha Yearwoods peachy pork for the bbq (without making the bbq sauce) and Georgia’s Finest Vinegar BBQ sauce, because that’s the closest vinegar bbq sauce to Tommy’s I can find here in North Georgia. The red slaw was a great compliment to sandwich!!!
I followed the recipe without any changes. We made BBQ and used this slaw to make sandwiches. It was a big hit.
I have made this twice now & my family loves it!
This was fantastic! I am from Greensboro, NC but moved to WY about 5 years ago and not a day goes by that I don’t crave BBQ from back home. I learned how to make Lexington-style BBQ on my own but it was still missing something. This recipe fixed that! It’s just like the slaw I’m used to and not the mayonnaise soaked kind they have here. Thank you so much!
Too heavy a vinegar taste and the flavor just wasn’t anything to write home about, and I’ve eaten a lot of BBQ with BBQ slaw since I’ve lived in NC (32 years). I’ll find a different recipe next time.
You definitely want to let this sit for a few hours to get the best flavor. A great side dish for Carolina BBQ. I made some Carolina Pulled Pork and put this on top for sandwiches; MMM MMMM!!!! Go TarHeels!
I made this delicious slaw to go with Texas Barbecue pulled pork. As native Tarheels, we appreciate good barbecue and slaw for a barbecue sandwich is nothing without slaw. This is an excellent slaw and not too sweet A nice change from slaw with mayonnaise. This recipe is truly a keeper.
Husband and I love the red slaw from a bbq restaurant 2 hours away so I can had to find something similar that did not involve a long drive. This is IT. I used a chopped salad mix from the grocery store instead of doing it myself. I pulsed it a couple times in the food processor to make it more “slaw” like. It was perfect and I got my husband to eat some kale (in the mix) that he otherwise refuses to try.
Easy, great taste and saves well. Big hit with my NC family members. Thanks!
Finally, the perfect topping slaw for pulled pork! It’s very simple, and a little weird tasting when first made, but after it sits for a day or two, the flavors really meld together, and the vinegar comes out front and center. On top of pulled pork on a sandwich, it adds the perfect amount of crunch, vinegar bite, and counterbalance to the rich fattiness of the pork. Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely make again.
I was looking for a slaw to go with our hotdogs the other day. I’m glad I tried this one. I changed the catsup for BBQ sauce and omitted the sugar. It was a fun topping for our hotdogs. We all looked it. I’m making it again tonight!
Brown’s Chicken used to sell a red slaw back in the 60’s. I was hoping that this was a copycat of that recipe. It was flavorful and fresh, and the dressing was very good, but not exactly what I was looking for. I’ll try this again, but will wait until cabbage is back in season.
Made this slaw for an outing with smoked pork butts. It was a HUGE success. It is very much like North Carolina red slaw from some of the old hickory wood fired BBQ restaurants. Let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of days for better results. Will make this slaw over and over again.
Great slaw recipe. My variation is to add a half of a tsp of celery seed.