10 signature Alabama barbecue dishes

We’ve told you about our favorite Alabama barbecue joints, opined about our state’s greatest pitmasters, and reminisced about those old barbecue joints we miss the most.

Today, we’re here to shout out some of Alabama’s signature barbecue dishes — ones which, if you haven’t tried them already, you should. And if you have, then you know what we’re talking about.

From ribs to brisket, pulled pork to smoked chicken, banana pudding to red velvet cake.

Think of it as a “Greatest Hits of Alabama BBQ,” a mixed tape of favorites that never get sick of listening to – or, in this case, you never grow tired of eating.

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Pork ‘n’ greens at Saw’s Soul Kitchen

With its combination of Alabama’s own McEwen & Sons grits, spicy collard greens and slow-cooked pork barbecue, the signature dish at Saw’s Soul Kitchen is like a medley of Alabama’s greatest culinary hits in a single serving. “It outsells everything we do here,” says Brandon Cain, who came up with the pork ‘n’ greens, almost by accident, not long after the Avondale barbecue joint opened in 2012. “We could stack multiple menu items up against this one, and it would still win.”

Saw’s Soul Kitchen is at 215 41st St. North in Birmingham. The phone is 205-591-1409. For more information, go here.

The story behind one of the most Alabama dishes ever

Smoked turkey sandwich with chow-chow at Full Moon Bar-B-Que

Full Moon Bar-B-Que boasts of being “The Best Little Pork House in Alabama,” but owners and brothers David and Joe Maluff can talk turkey, too. The smoked turkey sandwich topped with Full Moon Bar-B-Que’s signature chow-chow and a generous dousing of barbecue sauce is so good it will make you forget you’re not eating pork. The turkey sandwich has long been a favorite of the Maluff brothers, and it has become our go-to order, as well. Pro tip: Order a side of Full Moon’s marinated slaw and pile it on top of the turkey to elevate your sandwich to another level.

Full Moon Bar-B-Que has 15 locations throughout Alabama and one in Mississippi. For more information, go here.

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Pork sandwich with slaw at Whitt’s Barbecue

Whitt’s Barbecue is a northwest Alabama tradition that goes back nearly 60 years, and Whitt’s famous pork sandwich, which is served with a sweet coleslaw and a choice of sauces, was selected “Alabama’s Best BBQ Sandwich” in AL.com’s statewide barbecue hunt in 2016. Find out for yourself why our Haley Laurence called it “a near-perfect ‘cue sandwich.”

Whitt’s Barbecue has six locations in North Alabama and 19 in Tennessee. For more information, go here and here.

5 things to know about Whitt’s Barbecue

Ribs with white bread at Archibald’s Bar-B-Q

A must on any serious barbecue lover’s bucket list, Archibald’s Bar-B-Q in Northport, as we have said before, is the Wrigley Field of rib joints. And a pilgrimage to this 62-year-old, soot-scorched, cinderblock swine shrine that is not complete without getting a half or full slab of Archibald’s revered ribs, which are grilled over a bed of hot hickory coals and served with slices of white bread and a Styrofoam cup of Archibald’s atomic-orange barbecue sauce. For the full effect, we recommend you wash it down with an ice-cold Grapico.

Archibald’s Bar-B-Q is at 1211 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Northport, Ala. The phone is 205-345-6861. For more information, go here.

A quick history of Archibald’s Bar-B-Q

Smoked chicken with Alabama white sauce at Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q

None other than the globetrotting gourmet Andrew Zimmern has proclaimed the smoked chicken at Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q in Vestavia Hills’ Cahaba Heights neighborhood the best that he has ever eaten. (He’s a huge fan of Miss Myra’s banana pudding, too.) Zimmern first visited Miss Myra’s in 2013 for a legendary episode of his “Bizarre Foods America” food and travel show, and he’s been singing the praises of the suburban barbecue joint’s hickory-smoked chicken drizzled with Alabama white sauce ever since. “When I’m there, I usually polish off two orders of the best BBQ chicken in America first,” Zimmern wrote in a story for Delta Airlines’ in-flight magazine. “Brittle golden skin, sweet, smoky, moist yardbird and her famous ‘white sauce.’ Miss Myra’s tangy, creamy version of the Alabama state BBQ sauce is a perfect dip for the expertly smoked chicken.” We wholeheartedly agree.

Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q is at 3278 Cahaba Heights Road in Vestavia Hills, Ala. The phone is 205-967-6004. For more information, go here.

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Pulled pork sandwich with crispy pork skin at Lannie’s Bar-B-Q Spot

Regulars at Selma’s historic Lannie’s Bar-B-Q Spot know to order the pulled-pork sandwich, which comes soaked in a fiery house-made sauce, topped with a bark of crispy pork skin and stuffed between two slices of white bread that can’t begin to hold it all together. For long-time customers, that crunchy pork skin takes the Lannie’s sandwich to another level. “That skin makes it for ‘em,” Floyd Hatcher, a grandson of founders Lannie and Will Travis, says. “The skin and the sauce.”

Lannie’s Bar-B-Q Spot is at 2115 Minter Ave. in Selma, Ala. The phone number is 334-874-4478. For more information, go here.

Historic Alabama barbecue restaurant reopens in new building

Smoked brisket and baked beans at ChuckWagon BBQ

Transplanted Texan Mike Holley brought real-deal Lone Star State beef brisket to North Alabama when he opened the original location of his ChuckWagon BBQ in Athens 20 years ago. (The restaurant has since relocated to Madison.) “ChuckWagon’s brisket is as meaty, tasty and satisfying as a Billy Gibbons guitar solo,” AL.com’s Matt Wake writes, referring to the ZZ Top singer and guitarist who also happens to be a big ChuckWagon BBQ fan and occasional customer. While the smoked brisket is the headliner, the baked beans, which are flavored with chunks of brisket, are a solid supporting act. The beans are from a recipe handed down by Holley’s grandfather, George Washinton Gray, who prepared them as a cook on an epic Western cattle drive, Matt writes.

ChuckWagon BBQ is at 8048 U.S. 72 in Madison, Ala. The phone is 256-772-5179. For more information, go here.

The Texans who brought killer beef brisket to North Alabama barbecue

Cheese biscuits at Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q

To anyone who’s ever bitten into one of those addictive little cheese biscuits they serve at Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q restaurants, it’s no surprise they’re as popular as the Birmingham-based chain’s pulled pork sandwiches and coconut-cream pies. The sweet, cheesy mini-muffins come with every meal served at Jim ‘N Nick’s, and they’ve become such a customer favorite that the Jim ‘N Nick’s folks sell the bagged biscuit mix at their restaurants, on their website and in about 3,500 grocery stores around the Southeast. Who knows? One day, they might even bring about world peace. “If we took those cheese biscuits and went around the world, it would solve a lot of differences,” Jim ‘N Nick’s founder Nick Pihakis said in a 2020 interview with AL.com. “That’s what food does.’’ Go ahead, we bet you can’t eat just one.

Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q has 48 locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. For more information, go here.

Jim ‘N Nick’s cheese biscuits are beloved nationwide

Red velvet sheet cake at Bob Sykes Bar-B-Q

The daily dessert menu at Bessemer’s venerable Bob Sykes Bar-B-Q features chocolate, coconut, pecan and lemon icebox pies; caramel, chocolate lemon and red velvet cakes; as well as a rotating selection of sweets that, depending on what strikes dessert queen Sharon Mayes’ fancy that day, might include strawberry shortcake, peach cobbler, banana pudding or key lime pie. Mayes’ signature dessert, though, is her single-layer red velvet sheet cake with cream cheese icing and chopped pecans. Mayes says, however, that it’s not what she puts into her cake recipe that makes it special but what she leaves out. “The key to it, to me, is leave that cocoa out,” she says. “Everybody puts cocoa in it, but I stopped putting cocoa in mine because (leaving it out) makes it a pretty, bright color.”

Bob Sykes Bar-B-Q is at 1724 Ninth Ave. North in Bessemer, Ala. The phone is 205-426-1400. For more information, go here.

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Banana pudding at Dreamland Bar-B-Que

OK, so banana pudding wasn’t on the menu back in the day when the late John “Big Daddy” Bishop served only hickory-fired ribs, Sunbeam white bread and his secret-weapon sauce at the original location of his Dreamland Bar-B-Que in Tuscaloosa. But we’re pretty sure he would approve. The dense, creamy pudding — which Southern Living readers voted the best in Alabama — is chock-full of banana slices and flecked with bite-sized vanilla wafers from Birmingham’s Bud’s Best Cookies instead of the usual Nabisco Nilla Wafers. It’s the best thing since your grandmother’s — maybe even better. But don’t tell her we said that.

Dreamland Bar-B-Que has eight locations in Alabama and two in Georgia. For more information, go here.

A brief history of Dreamland Bar-B-Que