Monk: Earlier this month I power ranked the new barbecue shows this summer but with the ever changing streaming landscape I wanted to revisit the older shows that are currently available on streaming, which I somehow haven’t done since late 2020. Starting with a few of my favorites:
Previously:
The New Barbecue TV Power Rankings of Summer 2023
The Best Barbecue Shows on Streaming (December 2020)
BBQ Pitmasters – Season 1 (Max)
For me and likely many others, this is the show that got me into barbecue on television. It’s first season (the only one currently available on Max) was filmed documentary style, following several competitors over the course of a barbecue competition season across the country. Myron Mixon and Tuffy Stone were two of the competitors followed during the course of this format and would go on to be full-time judges starting in season 3. Noted competition pitmasters Danielle Bennett (aka Diva Q), Johnny Trig, and Harry Soo are also featured in season 1.
Previously: Barbecue on Netflix Streaming (March 2016)
BBQuest (Hulu)
Across three seasons of the travel show co-produced by the Texas Beef Council, host and native Texan Kelsey Pribilski (along with Austrialian-turned-Texas Jess Pryles in season 3) criss-crosses Texas to meet with some of the best pitmasters in the state. She’s in search of the state’s best barbecue as well as secret barbecue menu items. The first season gets the large cities (Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth) out of the way, while season two and three are able to tackle more remote locales. Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn even makes an appearance as Kelsey’s guide for the Big Bend episode (S2E1).
Previously: Season 3
BBQ with Franklin (PBS, Prime Video)
This series was originally made for PBS Austin but is available on both the free PBS streaming app as well as Prime Video. This is very much a process-oriented series about brisket, sausage, whole hog, and other aspects of a barbecue smoke, but Franklin’s such an easygoing on-screen presence that its definitely worth a watch.
Chef’s Table: BBQ (Netflix)
This barbecue and live-fire cooking edition of the Chef’s Table series profiles 4 pitmasters or live-fire cooking chefs, with the Tootsie Tomanetz of Snow’s Barbecue and Rodney Scott episodes being the highlight for American barbecue fans.
Previously: The Best Barbecue Shows on Streaming (December 2020)
Other options:
Netflix
- Barbecue Showdown – 2 Seasons
- The Chef Show – S1 V1 E7 “Aaron Franklin” & S1V1E8 “Hot Luck”
- Cooked – S1 E1 “Fire”
- High on the Hog – S1 E2 “The Rice Kingdom” & S1 E4 “Freedom”
- Queer Eye – S3 E3 – “Jones Bar-B-Q”
- Somebody Feed Phil – S6 E4 “Austin”
- Street Food: Asia – S1 E9 “Cebu, Philippines”
- Taco Chronicles – S1 E5 “Barbacoa”
- Taco Chronicles: Cross the Border – S1 E6 “Dallas”
- Ugly Delicious – S1 E5 “BBQ”
Hulu
- The World Food Championship – S1E5 “BBQ”
- Worth It – S3 E2 “$7 BBQ Ribs Vs. $68 BBQ Ribs” & S2 E10 “$13 BBQ Ribs Vs. $256 BBQ Ribs”
Max
- BBQ Brawl – 4 Seasons
- BBQ USA – 2 Seasons
PBS
- Planet Barbecue with Steven Raichlen
- Steven Raichlen’s Project Fire
- Steven Raichlen’s Project Smoke
Prime Video
- Food Safari – Fire
- Smoke And Ribbons: A DocQmentary
The Roku Channel
- Mind of a Chef – S1 E15 “BBQ” & S2 E7 “Lowcountry BBQ”