Kansas City–Style BBQ Guide: History and Characteristics

Kansas City–style BBQ is a method of hot smoking or grilling a variety of meats seasoned with a dry rub, then finished with a tomato-based barbeque sauce. Some regional BBQ styles focus on one or a select few cuts of meat, while Kansas City BBQ encompasses everything from whole chickens and pork ribs to beef brisket and even fish. Burnt ends, the crispy charred edges of slow-smoked beef brisket, are a popular and quintessential part of Kansas City BBQ.

You can trace Kansas City–style BBQ back to a man named Henry Perry, who started a BBQ stand in the early 1900s, feeding everyday folks like day laborers and jazz enthusiasts in various neighborhoods throughout Kansas City, Missouri. Perry’s menu items were all-encompassing and included wild game, such as opossum and woodchuck, and Midwestern beef.

He ran his restaurant until he died in 1940. After his passing, his trained cooks took over the restaurant and started new businesses, evolving from Perry’s style while carving the path for Missouri’s BBQ legacy.

Each regional barbecue style has differentiators that make it unique to the area. While smoked meat may seem simple, everything from the seasoning, wood type, sauce, and heat level will affect the end product. Here are some standout methods that set Kansas City apart from the others:

1. 1. Dry rub: While some BBQ styles use a simple salt and pepper rub, Kansas City dry rub is a more complex mix of spices and herbs, with the occasional addition of brown sugar. Learn more about BBQ seasoning.
2. 2. Mixed wood smoke: The founder of Kansas City–style barbecue, Henry Perry, smoked his meats with a blend of hickory and oak woods. Learn more about choosing the best wood for smoking.
3. 3. Variety of meats: North Carolina–style BBQ is most known for its pulled pork, while Texas is more beef-focused. Kansas City–style BBQ encompasses almost every kind of meat; the real key is the seasoning and sauce.
4. 4. Thick BBQ sauce: Some barbecue styles use a simple vinegar mop to baste the meat as it cooks, while others, like Carolina Gold–style sauce, are thinner and heavy on the mustard. Kansas City barbecue sauce is typically tomato-based, tangy from molasses, and seasoned generously with black pepper.
5. 5. Burnt ends: It’s not a KC barbecue joint if it doesn’t serve charred, crispy morsels sliced off the fatty ends of BBQ beef brisket. Burnt ends are also a staple of St. Louis–style barbecue.
6. 6. Sides: While Henry Perry’s original menu almost exclusively featured smoked meat, different restaurants have added various accompaniments to bulk up their plates. In Memphis, you’ll find BBQ served with bread and pickles, while Kansas City–style BBQ includes baked beans and slaw.

Along with various barbecue competitions, Kansas City has several BBQ mainstays. Here are some of KC’s most well-known barbecue restaurants:

1. 1. Arthur Bryant’s: Henry Perry, the founder of Kansas City–style barbecue, trained Charlie Bryant and Arthur Bryant, who took over Perry’s Barbecue before renaming it after Arthur in the late 1940s. A constant in BBQ culture, Arthur Bryant’s is world-renowned for its humble décor and boldly flavored fare. In the 1970s, popular food writer Calvin Trillin called it “the single best restaurant in the world.”
2. 2. Fiorella’s Jack Stack: Known for its less traditional menu items like smoked steaks, lamb ribs, and grilled seafood, Jack Stack Barbecue is a family-owned business and one of the most notable barbecue restaurants in the United States.
3. 3. Gates BBQ: The rivalry between Gates BBQ and Arthur Bryant’s is as old as the two restaurants. Another former cook of Henry Perry’s founded Gates BBQ in 1946, and some say the sauce at Gates is more like Perry’s original version: less sweet and heavy on the pepper.
4. 4. Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que: Best known for winning its share of BBQ championships, Joe’s initially opened in a gas station and has since made its name as one of Kansas City’s favorite BBQ locations.
5. 5. Jones Bar-B-Q: Founded by the Jones sisters in the 1990s, this is the only barbecue restaurant in Kansas City owned and operated by women pitmasters. Their barbecue is straightforward and classic with a home-cooked feel.

Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Aaron Franklin, Yotam Ottolenghi, Gabriela Cámara, Niki Nakayama, Chef Thomas Keller, Dominique Ansel, Gordon Ramsay, Alice Waters, and more.