Cook

Grilling and Smoking

Why Restaurants Often Serve BBQ With Pickles By Joe Hoeffner Oct. 21, 2025 5:00 pm EST

Some people may ask for no pickles, but you'll find those briny bits of cucumber in all sorts of different culinary contexts. They're put on hamburgers at McDonald's; they're laid atop a Chicago dog (along with a whole bunch of other stuff in a certain order); and perhaps no trip to an old-fashioned deli is complete without a good, crunchy half-sour. With that in mind, why not pair them with barbecue? And, indeed, there's a long and proud tradition, primarily in Texas, of pitmasters doing just that.

Why pickles? Well, for much the same reason why pickles go on hamburgers. Pickles are bright and acidic, while most meat-based dishes are dense and somewhat heavy. By

See Full Page