23 Classic Barbecue Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated May 22, 2019
These sweet and saucy recipes for delicious barbecue include cherry-glazed chicken wings, sticky beef ribs and more.
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Robb Walsh's Texas Barbecue Brisket

Credit: Hector Sanchez
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This exquisite Texas barbecue brisket recipe from BBQ master and cookbook author Robb Walsh yields juicy meat that’s fantastic alone or on a sandwich with coleslaw.

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Coffee-Cured Pulled Pork

Credit: John Kernick
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Linton Hopkins turns this slow-roasted pork shoulder into sliders. "Why are we so obsessed with the 30-minute meal?" he says. "I want to create a TV show called The 36-Hour Meal. The best things take a little bit of time."

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Smokin' Sweet Chicken Wings with Cherry Barbecue Glaze

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Cherry preserves with habanero chile create a fabulously sticky, sweet and spicy glaze for grilled chicken wings. Glaze them just before serving so the sugars don't burn.

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Twice-Glazed Asian Barbecued Chicken

Credit: Anna Williams
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This fabulous barbecued chicken recipe has an Asian-style barbecue sauce that's made with oyster sauce, soy sauce, roasted garlic and toasted black peppercorns.

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Sticky Barbecued Beef Ribs

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These beef ribs—leftovers from the giant rib roast—are incredibly luscious. Chef Tim Love douses them in his sweet and tangy homemade barbecue sauce, then cooks them on the grill until they're crusty, sizzling and outrageously good.

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Carolina Pulled Pork

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Traditional Carolina barbecue begins with a whole hog smoked over coals; here, Sean Brock cooks pork shoulder for 12 hours in a 275° oven before smoking it for about 1 hour in a backyard grill.

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Big Bob Gibson's Chicken with White Barbecue Sauce

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At Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, chef Chris Lilly butterflies a whole chicken, smokes it, then dunks the bird into a vat of tangy white barbecue sauce.Home cooks can grill pieces of chicken until crispy and nicely charred, then serve them alongside Lilly's terrific white sauce.

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Barbecued Spiced Shrimp with Tomato Salad

Credit: John Kernick
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The big, bold Southwestern flavors in this shrimp seasoning—which include pure ancho chile powder, smoked paprika, cumin and brown sugar—epitomize Bobby Flay's style. The seasoning mix would also be terrific on pork chops or beef tenderloin.

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Barbecue Sloppy Joes

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Before serving this hearty sandwich, which is spiked with ketchup, chef Christopher Tunnell ran it by his mom. "When she tasted it, she was proud," he says.

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Mo's Sticky Ribs

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Fred Donnelly makes these spectacularly sticky ribs at home. "Anyone you make them for falls in love with you," he says.

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Barbecued Salmon Sandwiches

Credit: Yunhee Kim
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This barbecue sauce, made with ketchup, cider vinegar, Worcestershire and canned chipotles in adobo, comes together quickly in a blender. The chipotles give the sauce an appealing smokiness.

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Smoked Gouda and Bacon Burgers with Barbecue Sauce

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Brian Perrone came up with this patty melt-style burger topped with smoked Gouda, sweet house-made barbecue sauce and hot sauce-spiked onions. He's glad he did: It was an instant hit.

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Barbecued Lamb Shoulder Chops

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The seasoning paste for this smoky lamb dish can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

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Slow Cooker Barbecued Pulled Pork

Credit: HANNAH QUEEN
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Serve the pulled pork with coleslaw and pickles, or mound it on hamburger buns and top with coleslaw and thinly sliced onion and dill pickles.

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Beef Burgers with Peanut-Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

Credit: JOHN KERNICK
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Bobby Flay makes this extremely good barbecue sauce by spiking tomato puree with two forms of smoky chile—ancho chile powder and chipotle in adobo sauce—then adding peanut butter for sweetness. The sauce takes some time to prepare, but by doubling the recipe, it can be made in one large batch and kept in the refrigerator for up to two months.

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Apple-Glazed Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

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These sticky, apple-scented ribs are cooked in the oven, then finished on the grill. They're a simpler version of a recipe by champion pit master Chris Lilly, who cooks his ribs entirely on the grill. To follow Lilly's example, use a thermometer to keep the temperature at a steady 250° and wrap the ribs in foil after adding the apple cider mixture.

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Grilled Beef Ribs with Smoky-Sweet Barbecue Sauce

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Beef back ribs can be harder to find in butcher shops than short ribs, but chef David Burtka serves them on Halloween because they resemble human ribs. Here, he braises them in Coca-Cola, then brushes them with homemade barbecue sauce before grilling them.

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Barbecued Shrimp with Cheese Grits

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By happy accident, Amber Huffman combined leftovers of two low-country staples—barbecue and cheddar cheese grits—for a quick Southern fusion meal. Here, Huffman tops her grits with grilled shrimp slicked with a tangy, bourbon-based barbecue sauce.

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Barbecued Salmon with Green Mango Salad

Credit: Anson Smart
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Chef Pete Evans uses green mango—which is firm and a little crunchy—for the fresh, bright salad that accompanies the salmon fillets here.

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Sweet-and-Salty Korean Barbecued Short Ribs

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"Some people follow Texas or American barbecue. Me, I'm a connoisseur of Korean barbecue," says chef Roy Choi. Choi especially loves these thinly sliced short ribs, known as kalbi in Korea; they're marinated overnight in a garlic, soy and sugar mixture, then quickly grilled, so they're charred all over.

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Red Wine BBQ Chicken

Credit: © Con Poulos
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Leftover red wine gets repurposed into a sweet, sticky and luscious barbecue sauce in this great recipe from Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple.

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Pulled Pork Sandwiches with BBQ Sauce

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Roasted garlic seasons this pork shoulder, which slow-cooks until tender and deeply flavorful. Shred it and top with barbecue sauce, coleslaw and a spicy habanero vinaigrette for the perfect sandwich.

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Honey-Tamarind Baby Back Ribs

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Naturally tart tamarind keeps the honey-based barbecue sauce from becoming too sweet for the luscious, slow-cooked ribs. Opt for dark, runny tamarind concentrate instead of tamarind pulp, which needs to be soaked and strained before using; it's available at Asian markets.

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