The Best Barbecue in Southwest Missouri

Smokin' Bob's

3309 E. Sunshine St., Ste. E., 417-720-4925
2100 W. Republic Road Suite 100, 417-771-5200
Bob Craver had been passionate about barbecue for two decades. He’d smoke meat in his backyard and invite friends and family over to savor the smoky goodness. Then, in 2013, he left the insurance industry to start a food truck and his meats, especially his juicy brisket and burnt ends, sold out daily. That was the impetus to open a brick and mortar on Sunshine Street in 2015. Four years later, a location on Republic Road followed. He wanted more smoker space so he could expand his catering business, and it worked. Craver makes his own rubs, sauces and sides. He calls his style a crash between Memphis and Kansas City, but really he just created his own style. The brisket and pork are smoked 16 to 20 hours. Then the burnt ends are seasoned again and smoked another two hours. Since day one, Craver has kept the menu simple because the meat is the star—and he’s passionate about quality. Whatever you buy is fresh that day.

The Extras: Makes four homemade sauces: sweet, spicy, original and mustard.  

Big D's BBQ

1550 Missouri 248, Branson, 417-337-5100
Dana Peterson is driven by passion, smoke and creativity. He’d been competing on the barbecue circuit and decided to dive into his passion in 2017 when he left his career in the financial industry to open a food truck.  A year later, he had a location inside the Starlite Theatre in Branson. The following year, he opened a brick and mortar, which has become a destination restaurant. What makes this place different is Dana doesn’t follow one style of barbecue but has a peppering of favorites—and he and his wife, Linda, travel the world to find ideas that they incorporate into their menu. The ribs are Memphis-style, slow cooked over cherry wood. His brisket is Texas-style smoked over pecan wood with a dry rub. And the pork is Carolina-style. He’s won the Best of Branson award in the barbecue category four years in a row—every year they’ve been in business. They offer six fun specials each week, such as brisket gumbo or their BeefyChanga, a chimichanga made with brisket and smoked mac ‘n’ cheese, topped with smoked queso and pit beans. Still have room for dessert after all that? Linda is known for her signature smoked bacon-bourbon pecan pie.

The Extras: You can buy regular rub, brisket rub and sweet or bold barbecue sauces. Or buy a box with a combo of sauces and rub.

[MORE: The Best Steaks In Southwest Missouri]

Pappy's Place

943 N. Main Ave., Springfield, 417-368-0000
This neighborhood gem is one of the oldest restaurants in Springfield. While the location has been a business since 1903, starting as a grocery store, it became a cafe in 1926. The barbecue has been going strong since 1971. Over the years, Pappy’s has had several owners, including the latest, Wayne and Susan Raider, who bought it in 2019.

The new owners have expanded the patio and transformed it into a popular live music venue on Friday nights.

Regulars don’t just come for tunes, though. They come for the juicy pulled pork and the ribs that are smoked over hickory. The St. Louis–style ribs are smoked for seven hours. “The meat just falls off them,” says Wayne. The pulled pork sandwich is a hit, but so are the nachos topped with the shredded meat. They don’t follow a specific barbecue style, they just do what their hungry Ozarks fans have been loving for decades.

The Extras: Barbecue sauces, traditional or southern style, for sale by the quart or pint. Rubs are for sale. Live music every Friday.

Gettin' Basted

Multiple locations in southwest Missouri
Forget what you think you know about barbecue because low and slow does not apply here. Here, it’s fast and hot. Brad Leighninger has made a living revolutionizing the industry and a heck of a name for himself in the barbecue arena. Leighninger has taken home 50 grand championships including all the coveted crowns: World Champion at Memphis in May; twice named Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) Team of the Year; first place in Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational BBQ in pork; and Reserve Grand Champion at American Royal.

As he brought home big wins, Leighninger and three friends started a food truck, then a restaurant, and just kept growing. There are now locations in Branson, Nixa and Springfield, and they sell franchise opportunities. Here’s how this cooking method is different: Leighninger cooks with high heat over 55-gallon drums using Missouri hardwood coals. The method has become known as Ozarks barbecue, with brisket, burnt ends, pulled pork and St. Louis–style ribs as standouts.

The Extras: They have amazing sides including Poblano Cream Corn Brûlée.

Bubba's BBQ

504 N. West Bypass, Springfield, 417-368-0039
In 2016, friends Mike Egger and Brandon Grame teamed up to open this Bubba’s BBQ. But for years before that, Grame and his grandfather had been involved with competitive barbecue.

Today, the cooking style at Bubba’s BBQ is a blend of Texas and Kansas City—because Grame is originally from Kansas City. To achieve their signature flavor, the two use hickory wood and smoke in small batches throughout the day and night. “It takes longer and is a headache, but it’s better,” says Egger.

As pitmasters, Egger and Grame work well together, specializing in baby back ribs and burnt ends. Egger also recommends trying their pulled chicken, which is moist and offers something different than your typical red meat favorites. The spot offers sandwiches too, and their signature offering is the Cowboy, featuring brisket, fried onion petals and pink lightning sauce. That’s a sweet house-made sauce flavored with a little horseradish and garlic.

The Extras: Mild, spicy and gold sauces are bottled and for sale at Hy-Vee and Price Cutter. Meat available by the pound. Sides available by pint or quart to go.

Skinner's Ribs & BBQ

US 60 and Farm Road 241, Rogersville, 417-753-2845
You might say Skinner’s was a pioneer in the food truck industry. In 1997, Jeff Felton opened his food truck in a converted 1976 camper trailer, parked on land that’s been in the family for decades. Felton had always loved to smoke meat. Eventually enough people convinced him it would sell, and it did. He had one meat on the menu at first: pulled pork. “And it evolved from there,” says his niece Deidre Dean, who bought the restaurant five years ago.

Dean started working at Skinner’s when she was 15. She eventually went to culinary school and worked in fine dining at Harvest and Touch, but she left to buy the family business. When she took over, Dean bought a new food truck and upgraded the smokers. She doesn’t follow any specific barbecue styles, just does what she likes.  Everything is smoked over oak, and she still uses her uncle’s rub recipe. The pulled pork is country-style, so the butt is sliced into strips, which makes it a little different because the smoke flavor can better permeate the meat. But Dean’s personal favorite is the brisket, although she sells a lot of baby back ribs. “It was important for me to carry on the family legacy,” Dean says.

The Extras: All sides are homemade, and The potato salad and macaroni and cheese are favorites.

Hard Knox BBQ

2931 E.  Battlefield Road, 417-720-4811
In 2019, friends Tyler Thompson and Pat Duran went from competitive barbecue team members to restaurant partners. Duran has a long history in the restaurant industry, fell in love with competition barbecue and decided to sell the smoked meats. They teamed up with Jeremy Smith, one of the founders of City Butcher, and Hard Knox BBQ was born.

“We like to say we are doing Ozarks-style barbecue,” says pitmaster Alex DeArmon. “Ozarks is a barbecue alley, so we take influences from everybody and make it our own.” At Hard Knox, they use pecan and charcoal, which imparts a more delicate flavor, so the meat still shines. The burnt ends, pulled pork and smoked chicken thighs are favorites. DeArmon says the key to their success is the consistency of working with a small team. They take a lot of pride in homemade sides too, like pit beans and street corn.

The Extras: Barbecue sauces and rubs for sale at the restaurant or Pits N Grills on East Sunshine.

Fat Daddy's Family Bar-B-Cue

6020 US Hwy 160, Forsyth, 417-546-4604
John Winkert was a firefighter in Peculiar, Missouri, when he started taking part in barbecue competitions. “I got hooked on it,” he says. “I like meat, and I like to eat.” He competed several times in the former Rock N Ribs barbecue festival in Springfield, placing in the top 10.

In 2006, Winkert left his job with the fire department to venture into the restaurant world. He is still a volunteer fireman in Forsyth, but he’s also the person behind Forsyth’s Fat Daddy’s Family Bar-b-que, where the barbecue staples are burnt ends and Texas-style brisket. Those are “to die for,” he says. They use fresh, never-frozen meat and they smoke with hickory wood. They even smoke prime rib, one of their most popular dishes served only on Friday nights.

The restaurant is more than barbecue, though. It’s home cooking. Every side except the potato salad is homemade. The shoestring onion rings are customer favorites. Winkert developed his pit bean recipe in 1982 and has been using it ever since because it’s a hit.

The restaurant serves breakfast too, featuring Winkert’s house-smoked bacon and sausage. They use that same bacon on the smoked bacon topped brownies.

Even after 17 years in the business, Winkert still watches barbecue shows and gets excited about smoking meats. He has a partnership with a satellite food truck at Indian Point, the Uptown Hog at 2601 Indian Point Road, which sells his brisket and ribs.

The Extras: Winkert makes his own rubs. The three barbecue sauces to choose from include sweet, mild and hot. 

Gettin' Saucy

City Butcher and Barbecue

3650 S. Campbell Ave., 417-720-1113
2940 E. Sunshine St., 417-350-1519
Since 2014, City Butcher and Barbecue has been known for its Texas-style barbecue, specifically the brisket, burnt ends and homemade smoked sausage. Customers can choose from Austin Andouille, Texas Hot Link, Jalapeño Cheddar and a seasonal sausage. Founders Cody Smith and Jeremy Smith worked in fine dining before opening this joint. Then the Sonnemaker family came in as silent partners to help with the business side and eventually bought the restaurant. But they still honor the original recipes and tradition.

Meat is smoked in small batches and when it’s gone, it’s gone. For something different, try the mouth-watering smoked turkey. They smoke over hickory and oak, and everything is homemade from the meats to the sauces. The barbecue sauce is the original recipe but it became tedious to make it in-house, so they gave the recipe to Ott’s to produce.

The Extras: Buy their smoked meat by the pound to go. All sides are available to go in 8-ounce, 16-ounce, 32-ounce or larger catering sizes up to full pan. Try the jalapeño cheesy corn, beans or potato salad (all homemade).

Buckingham's BBQ

2002 S. Campbell Ave., Springfield, 417-886-9979
David Campbell, owner and pit master, had humble beginnings. In 1995, Campbell needed a job and was passionate about barbecue, so he rented a trailer and set it up to sell smoked meats. He called it BBQ 2 Go and quickly built a booming business. In 1996, a location on Campbell became available; he snagged it and has been there ever since. The restaurant has won the Best Barbecue category in various newspaper and magazine awards. But his coolest claim to fame is competing on a barbecue cookoff for the Travel Channel and taking home the $10,000 prize! “It was quite an experience,” he says.

Ribs, burnt ends, beef brisket and pulled pork have kept people coming back from more than 25 years, and he smokes them using a blend of hickory (for flavor) and oak (for heat). And the horseradish slaw is legendary. Campbell credits an old friend for the recipe. The friend drove tour buses and was driving singer Barry White when they stopped at a restaurant in the South. The friend paid the cook $50 for the horseradish slaw recipe and shared it with Campbell. Campbell says it should be called the Barry White slaw.

The Extras: Buckingham’s sauces are for sale at Hy-Vee, all Harter House locations and Price Cutter in Ozark sell their pit beans.

Heady Bar-B-Cue Co.

573 E. Elm St., Republic, 417-732-4227
Kevin Heady and his wife used to travel around to concerts selling their barbecue to hungry partygoers. It was a successful but exhausting gig.

“We got tired of tearing down the tent,” he says. So, they decided to open a spot in Republic, and they’ve been in business since 2013. The first venture was so popular, they had to expand to a larger location. Kevin runs the kitchen, and his wife runs the front of the house.

Their style is a cross between Texas and Kansas City. Most of their meats are not sauced. The best-selling items are the brisket and pulled pork, both smoked 13 hours overnight. The meats are dressed in a homemade rub and he uses a combination of hickory and cherry to smoke the meats. There’s a nice selection of homemade sides including options you don’t see every day, like pea salad. They also have playful menu items like a brisket burrito and pulled pork quesadilla. The menu is extensive, and they’re even known for their deep-fried pies in cherry, apple, lemon, pecan or chocolate.

The Extras: Buy Heady’s barbecue sauce by pint or quart.

Take a BBQ-Based Road Trip

Looking for some of the best places to stop for char-grilled goodness when you're on the road? We've got you covered, check out our recommendations for some must-visit barbecue joints.

Penguin Ed’s B&B (230 South East Ave., Fayetteville, 479-521-3663)
The Fillin’ Station (6741 State Highway 13, Lampe, 417-779-2727)
Crumpie’s 11-Point Smokehouse (Mo-142, Couch, 417-938-4771)
Big Ben’s BBQ Station (2817 The Loop, Carthage, 417-237-0752)
Hog Tide Bar-B-Que (417-986-4227)
The Bar-B-Q Joint (416 S. Neosho Blvd., Neosho, 417-312-8811)
Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que (three Kansas City locations)
Q39 (1000 W. 39th St., Kansas City, 816-255-3753)
Arthur Bryant’s (1727 Brooklyn Ave., Kansas City, 816-231-1123)
Bogart’s Smokehouse (1627 S. Ninth St., St. Louis, 314-621-3107)
Sugarfire Smoke House (various locations)
Pappy’s Smokehouse (3106 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-4340)
Memphis’s Central BBQ (various locations)
Charlie Vergos Rendezvous (52 S. Second St., Memphis, 901-523-2746)
Corky’s Ribs & BBQ (various locations)

Got another suggestion for a great place to stop for barbecue on the road? Let us know!