North Carolina events › Where To Eat › North Carolina Barbecue Styles: Eastern Vs Lexington
Short answer: Eastern North Carolina barbecue is whole hog with a vinegar, red pepper and salt sauce; Lexington style is pork shoulder with a thin tomato-based “dip,” per NCpedia’s encyclopedia entry. Our barbecue section lists places by style, two road trips and the yearly festivals.
- 2Main stylesEastern and Lexington
- 4Varieties namedper NCpedia entry
- “Dip”Lexington table saucethin, tomato-based
- 6States comparedNC, SC, GA, TN, MO and Texas
How we checked: the NCpedia entry “Barbecue” (Encyclopedia of North Carolina, 2006), plus the Buxton Hall Barbecue and 12 Bones Smokehouse sites. The NC Barbecue Society address and the state tourism barbecue pages could not be used. All read on November 3, 2026. Hours, prices, rules, closures and road status change, so check the named agency or business before you rely on them. Anything we could not read is marked Not confirmed where it appears. This page lists places to eat only; we left out bars, breweries and nightlife on purpose, and we give no ratings or rankings. These are places to start, not a ranking: no source we read ranks them, and we did not taste, rate or compare. General guidance on this page is labelled as general guidance. This is not safety, medical or legal advice; where a safety or legal rule appears, the quoted words are the official source’s own.
Barbecue in North Carolina means pork, and the real question is how it is cooked and what goes on it. This page explains the two best-known styles in the words of the sources we could read, and says plainly where we could not read a source.
Two Styles, Two Regions
North Carolina has argued about barbecue for generations, and the argument is mostly between two places on the map. The state encyclopedia entry we read, from the Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006) as republished by NCpedia, says people in the Coastal Plain understand barbecue in its “simplest and eldest form”: a split hog roasted over a pit of coals and basted with cider vinegar, red pepper and salt, then boned, chopped or shredded. That is the Eastern style. It describes the modern “pig pickin’” as an example, and says a whole hog sopped with locally made vinegar-and-pepper formulas remains the favorite of most devotees.
The other style is named for Lexington. The same entry calls Lexington the “inspirational center” of the western-style barbecue of the Piedmont and the Mountains, where chopped or sliced pork shoulders or butts are served with a thin, tomato-based sauce. Because that sauce is more combustible, the entry says many vendors do not baste with it; it is served at the table, which is why it is popularly called “dip.”
Eastern and Lexington Style, as NCpedia Describes Them
- Eastern (Coastal Plain)Whole hog, split and roasted over a pit of coals. Sauce is a cider vinegar, red pepper and salt mixture, used to baste and to season the chopped meat. Southeastern cooks often add Worcestershire sauce and sweeteners, per the entry. Common sides: baked corn sticks, fried hush puppies, Brunswick stew and white or yellow coleslaw.
- Lexington (Piedmont and Mountains)Pork shoulders or butts, chopped or sliced. Thin tomato-based sauce, served at the table as “dip.” Common sides: hush puppies and red coleslaw, called “barbecue slaw,” colored with ketchup or dip.
- Where they meetOn the edges of its range, the entry says, Lexington style merges with the red barbecues of neighboring states.
- Age of the entryThe text is dated 2006; restaurant practice since then: Not confirmed
Two More Varieties The Entry Names
NCpedia does not stop at two. It describes a third style, pork with a mustard-based sauce, that has crossed the South Carolina line and found admirers farther north, and a fourth that is “confined to no area in particular”: practically any meat chunked, chopped or sliced, covered in a thick tomato-based sauce and grilled over an open flame. It adds that even open-minded partisans seldom use the word barbecue alone for chicken or ribs. Some North Carolinians, it notes, also follow their southern neighbors in separating the dry “outside meat” from the juicier “inside meat,” and in the eastern part of the state bits of skin are considered an essential part of the finished product in some areas.
How to Use The Difference When You Eat
General guidance, not from a source: if you want to compare the two styles, order the chopped pork plate in a Lexington-style place in the Piedmont and in an Eastern-style place on the coastal side, and pay attention to what is on the table. Ask which sauce is on the table and which is used in the pit, because the entry says the two can differ. Sides are part of the style too, so red slaw and white slaw are a quick way to tell where a cook learned the trade. Not every restaurant follows a style: the 12 Bones Smokehouse site we read says “we don’t believe there’s only one right style of barbecue.” Treat the two styles as a map of tradition, not a rule every kitchen keeps.
Two Restaurant Sites We Read
- Buxton Hall Barbecue, AshevilleIts own site says it is permanently closed; the last day of service was November 22, 2023. It described cooking Eastern North Carolina whole-hog barbecue, low and slow for 18 hours over hardwood coals with a vinegar mop. We list it only so you do not plan around it.
- 12 Bones Smokehouse and BrewingThe site lists a smokehouse and brewery at 2350 Hendersonville Road, Arden, NC 28704 and says it was open that day 11am to 8pm and “now open 7 days a week, 11am – 8pm.” It describes smoking meats over oak and cherry and drawing on recipes from across the South. Its site does not claim Eastern or Lexington style. Reservations: Not confirmed
How Barbecue Differs Across The South
Every Southern state says its barbecue is the real thing. Here is what one official or academic source per state says, in plain words. Where we could not find such a source for a common claim, it is marked.
Barbecue by State
Read November 4, 2026. Each row links its source; the last column links our guide for that state.
| State | What the source says | Signature | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | Coastal Plain barbecue is a split hog roasted over coals and basted with cider vinegar, red pepper and salt. Lexington is the center of Piedmont barbecue: pork shoulders with a thin tomato-based sauce called “dip.” NCpedia | Eastern whole hog; Lexington shoulder with red dip and red slaw | This barbecue section |
| South Carolina | The state tourism office says South Carolina has all four basic sauces: mustard in the Midlands and a band toward the coast, vinegar and pepper along the coast, light tomato in the Pee Dee and upper Midlands, and heavy tomato in the west and northwest. Hash is served over rice. SC PRT | Midlands mustard sauce; hash and rice | It’s South Carolina barbecue |
| Georgia | Pork ribs, shoulders and hams are the meat of choice and pit cooking is favored; north and middle Georgia lean to a thin, spicy and sweet red sauce. Brunswick stew is often served with barbecue. New Georgia Encyclopedia, Brunswick stew entry | Brunswick stew beside the pork | It’s Georgia barbecue |
| Tennessee | Memphis barbecue centers on ribs and pulled pork shoulder: dry ribs are rubbed with spices and smoked without sauce; wet ribs are basted and sauced. Memphis Tourism West Tennessee whole hog: Not confirmed | Memphis dry and wet ribs | It’s Tennessee barbecue |
| Missouri | A 2026 state law made Kansas City the official barbecue capital; burnt ends are charred, fatty bits from the end of a brisket. St. Louis-style ribs lead in St. Louis, along with pork steaks. Missouri Secretary of State, Explore St. Louis | Kansas City burnt ends; St. Louis ribs | It’s Missouri barbecue |
| Texas (for context) | Lockhart’s barbecue history goes back to 1900, with brisket, sausage and ribs served on butcher paper. Travel Texas Brisket as the Central Texas signature: Not confirmed | Beef: brisket and sausage | No It’s guide for Texas |
Plan a Barbecue Trip
Where to Eat It
Our Where To Eat Barbecue page lists places grouped by these two styles, each linked to its own website with the days it is open. The North Carolina Barbecue Society, which the encyclopedia entry cites, no longer runs its own website (its address is a parked page), so that page uses the society’s 2021 trail list as the Internet Archive saved it. For a day out, see Barbecue Road Trips; for festivals and cook-offs, Barbecue Festivals. The Where To Eat hub links the city guides that are built, and the food and drink events page covers festivals and tastings.
What We Could Not Confirm
- Which style a restaurant cooks, when it does not say so itself: see the marks on Where To Eat Barbecue. Not confirmed
- Whether the NC Barbecue Society still operates: its address served an unrelated page on November 3 and a parked page after that. Not confirmed
- West Tennessee whole hog and Central Texas brisket as signatures, in the comparison table: no official or academic source found. Not confirmed
- Changes in style since the 2006 encyclopedia text. Not confirmed
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Eastern and Lexington barbecue?
Per NCpedia, Eastern style is a split hog roasted over a pit and basted with a cider vinegar, red pepper and salt mixture. Lexington (western) style uses pork shoulders or butts with a thin, tomato-based sauce served at the table as “dip.”
What is “dip”?
NCpedia says it is the popular name for the thin tomato-based sauce used in Lexington-style barbecue, served at the table rather than used for basting.
Is mustard sauce part of North Carolina barbecue?
NCpedia says pork with a mustard-based sauce is a third style that has crossed the South Carolina line and found admirers farther north.
Where can I find a list of North Carolina barbecue restaurants?
See Where To Eat Barbecue. It lists places whose own websites we read, grouped Eastern, Lexington and newer styles, and names the 2021 trail stops we could not confirm.
Sources
- NCpedia, Barbecue (Encyclopedia of North Carolina, William S. Powell, ed., 2006; entry by Wynne Dough), read November 3, 2026 (main source for both styles)
- Buxton Hall Barbecue, read November 3, 2026 (says permanently closed)
- 12 Bones Smokehouse and Brewing, read November 3, 2026 (hours and style statement)
- Visit North Carolina barbecue pages (not used), read November 3, 2026 (barbecue paths we tried returned page-not-found)
- SC PRT, Want Great Barbecue? Come to South Carolina, read November 4, 2026 (comparison table)
- New Georgia Encyclopedia, Barbecue, read November 4, 2026 (comparison table)
- New Georgia Encyclopedia, Brunswick Stew, read November 4, 2026 (comparison table)
- Memphis Tourism, What Is Memphis-Style BBQ?, read November 4, 2026 (comparison table)
- Missouri Secretary of State, Official Barbecue Capital, read November 4, 2026 (comparison table)
- Explore St. Louis, St. Louis barbecue, read November 4, 2026 (comparison table)
- Travel Texas, Historical Texas BBQ Tour, read November 4, 2026 (comparison table)
Read on November 3, 2026. How we check: editorial standards; spot a mistake? Tell us.
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Cite this page: It's North Carolina, “North Carolina Barbecue Styles: Eastern vs Lexington”, itsnorthcarolina.com/visit/where-to-eat/north-carolina-barbecue-styles/ (updated ). By the It's North Carolina editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.