Barbecue Chicken with Alabama White Barbecue Sauce

Barbecue Chicken with Alabama White Barbecue Sauce brings bold Southern flavor to your summer grilling lineup. This dish starts with bone-in chicken quarters marinated in a savory blend of fresh herbs and spices, then grilled low and slow over indirect heat. While the chicken cooks, it’s basted with a rich, homemade white sauce—tangy, peppery, and thick with depth. A second, thinner version of the same sauce is reserved for dipping or drizzling at the end.

Unlike traditional red barbecue sauces, Alabama White Barbecue Sauce swaps tomatoes for a base built from scratch with egg yolks, apple cider vinegar, and dry seasonings. The result is a smooth, velvety marinade that locks in moisture and infuses every bite with heat from cayenne and black pepper. Layered basting and tenting keep the meat tender, smoky, and juicy, while the final glaze adds a bold finish that cuts through the char with just the right tang.

This is backyard cooking at its most satisfying—simple ingredients, methodical grilling, and standout flavor that turns heads. When you want to serve something unexpected and packed with personality, this recipe delivers. Fire up your grill, grab your tongs, and make this summer about flavor that sticks.

Serves 4

Barbecue Chicken with Alabama White Barbecue Sauce Ingredients

For the Chicken

• 4 egg yolks
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning (or make your own - we used 1 1/2 teaspoons each of dried marjoram, oregano, thyme, and rosemary, plus 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg)
• 2 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 3 1/2 teaspoons of fine salt)
• 1 cup grapeseed oil
• 6 chicken leg/thigh quarters
• 1 ½ cups Alabama White Barbecue Sauce (recipe follows)

For the Alabama White Barbecue Sauce

• 2 egg yolks
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 1 1/8 teaspoons fine salt)
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1 cup grapeseed oil

Barbecue Chicken with Alabama White Barbecue Sauce Directions

For the Chicken

1. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, blend the egg yolks, vinegar, water, poultry seasoning, and salt until the yolks are slightly fluffed, about 30 seconds. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the oil; the mixture will blend, emulsify, and resemble mayonnaise. You will hear the sound change to a whop, whop; it should take about 1 minute.
2. Spoon the marinade into a large zip-top bag, add the chicken pieces, and massage until the chicken is completely covered with the marinade. Zip the top closed, pressing out any air as you seal the bag. Set the bag in a bowl in the refrigerator overnight or for up to 24 hours. 
3. Pour 3/4 cup of the Alabama White Barbecue Sauce into a bowl to use for basting.
4. Preheat a grill to medium-high indirect heat. On a gas grill, leave one side of the grill unlit. On a wood or charcoal grill, rake the coals to one side. Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat it completely dry. Scrape the grill clean and coat it with oil.
5. Place the chicken, skin side down, over the unheated part of the grill, and cover with an aluminum pan or tent with foil. After 10 minutes, flip the chicken pieces, moving them to a hotter part of the grill but still over indirect heat. Cover again with the pan or foil. After 10 more minutes, baste the chicken with the sauce, flip so the skin side is down, and baste again. Cover the pan or foil, cook for an additional 10 minutes, and then baste, flip, and cover one last time for a total cooking time of 40 minutes, or until the chicken, including the last round of basting, reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
6. Discard the basting sauce. Remove the chicken from the grill and let it rest, tented with foil or in a foil pan, for 10 minutes. Serve with the remaining sauce on the side.

For the Alabama White Barbecue Sauce

1. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine the egg yolks, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and black pepper, and process until the yolks are slightly fluffed, about 30 seconds. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the oil; the mixture will blend and emulsify, but won't be as thick as the marinade used for the barbecue chicken. You will again hear the sound change to a whop, whop; it should take about a minute.

Taken from Food52.com