Best BBQ in North Carolina

Texas-inspired barbecue handcrafted with only wood, fire, and smoke in a small Anson County town. Jon G's Saturday-only service draws pilgrims from Charlotte and beyond for brisket, Cheerwine hot links, bacon burnt ends, and jalapeño cheese grits. Widely considered one of the best brisket experiences outside of Texas.

A legendary eastern NC institution. Hickory-smoked whole hog with crackling skin mixed into the meat, served with vinegar sauce, yellow slaw, and heavy flat cornbread. A pilgrimage destination.

Eastern-style BBQ cooked over hickory and oak with family-recipe sides of steamed cabbage, collards, and slaw. The hush puppies are light and crispy — a perfect companion to the smoke.

Simple, legendary, and incomparable. No phone, no frills, no equal. This Greenville landmark sells out early every day it opens. Cash only, arrive early, and prepare to understand what NC BBQ is all about.

Artisan smoked meats and homemade sides with small-town hospitality in a converted service station on Main Street. Award-winning brisket, fall-off-the-bone ribs, Gouda mac and cheese, and a brisket meatloaf that surprises everyone who orders it. A must-stop between High Point and Greensboro.

Pulled pork shoulder pit-smoked over hardwood charcoal with a tangy sauce. The pit fires every day except Sunday, and the white coleslaw and vinegar sauce mark it as eastern-style through and through.

Each week Parker's smokes around 150 whole hogs — chopped and seasoned with vinegar-and-red-pepper sauce — and fries 8,000 chickens for 20,000 customers. Eastern NC BBQ at its most monumental scale.

The standard bearer for Charlotte BBQ since 2012, smoking everything over NC hickory hardwood. A menu that spans Carolina pulled pork, Texas brisket, and creative specials like Miguel's Queso — a collaboration with Austin's Valentina's Tex-Mex Barbecue. Multiple Charlotte locations but the Central Avenue original is the heart.

Hickory-smoked barbecue served on sourdough rolls inside a historic 1920 general store that was once the original train stop for Tweetsie Railroad. A true mountain BBQ experience.

Just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, this seasonal café smokes barbecue over hickory and serves it with a signature sauce blending Lexington- and eastern-style flavors. A scenic mountain detour.

No 'best in the world' sign needed — the woodsmoke drifting through downtown Ayden says it all. A family-run eastern NC institution where the whole-hog tradition runs deep and the sides are legendary.

Open Saturdays only since 1956. Eastern-style barbecue worth any inconvenience — the hush puppies and layer cake are not to be overlooked. A true once-a-week NC BBQ pilgrimage.

One of the last places in eastern NC where barbecue is cooked entirely over hardwood coals. Open since 1962, Wilber's is a living monument to the eastern whole-hog tradition — unchanged and uncompromising.

Since 1946, customers drive from across the Carolinas for hand-chopped pork pit-cooked over hickory and oak, slathered in red Lexington-style sauce. The hush puppies and red slaw are legendary.

From humble backyard beginnings in the mid-1940s, Hursey's hickory-smoked pork shoulders have made this a pork powerhouse. The Old-Fashioned Sauce sits just east of western and west of eastern.

The gold standard of Lexington-style BBQ. Pork shoulder enhanced to perfection by a dark, thin dip that is neither too mild nor too fiery. The rows of smoking shoulders are a sight to behold.

A whole-hog joint that tinkers with tradition while honoring time-honored cooking methods. Durham's most inventive take on NC BBQ, bridging the gap between old-school smoke and modern sensibility.

Founded in 1930, Stamey's cooks exclusively over hardwood hickory coals and serves a tangy-sweet vinegar-and-tomato sauce. One of the longest-running Lexington-style operations in the state.

A former drive-in turned BBQ institution in the heart of Lexington. Pork shoulder with tomato-based Lexington-style dip has drawn devotees to this spot for decades.

Pure Lexington-style BBQ — pork shoulders slow-roasted over wood coals for 12 to 14 hours. The vinegar-based dip has a bracing dose of pepper that sets it apart from the competition.

Home to a massive all-you-can-eat buffet featuring biscuits, barbecue, and cornbread. A Fayetteville institution where quantity and quality coexist, drawing military families and locals alike.

An upscale setting for authentic pit-cooked BBQ in downtown Raleigh. Whole-hog eastern-style barbecue served in a restaurant that proves you don't have to sacrifice comfort for Carolina tradition.

Open since New Year's Day 1938, one of the oldest BBQ restaurants in NC. Collard greens, potato salad, slaw, and banana pudding complete a meal rooted in decades of Raleigh tradition.

Looking much as it did in 1954 when T.H. 'Fuzzy' Nelson opened it, this Eisenhower-era diner serves moist, zesty barbecue with long curvy hush puppies and vinegar slaw.