Barbecue spaghetti is a signature Memphis dish that you’re not likely to find anywhere else.
It’s no secret that people in Memphis love barbecued pork. In fact, for many in the city, it’s not just something to eat with a fork or pile on a bun but an ingredient that can be incorporated into just about anything.
Like pizza, for instance. Coletta’s Italian Restaurant invented its now-legendary barbecue pizza in the 1950s, using barbecue sauce in place of tomato sauce and layering on lots of shredded smoked pork. (Elvis was a big fan.)
Or nachos. The Germantown Commissary started topping tortilla chips with gooey cheese, smoked pork or chicken, and barbecue sauce in the 1980s, and barbecue nacho are now a staple at the Memphis Redbirds ballpark.
But none of these raises eyebrows quite like barbecue spaghetti. No, it doesn’t involve cooking noodles on a grill or barbecue pit. Nor is it just barbecue and spaghetti served side by side, though that combination (called a Half & Half Plate) was popular in the city’s barbecue restaurants a half-century ago.
The delicacy known as barbecue spaghetti is more than a simple mash-up of the two dishes. The city’s signature thick, tangy brown barbecue sauce is blended with traditional Italian tomato sauce, then barbecued pork is added and simmered in the mixture, creating a rich, smoky base. Instead of pouring the sauce over cooked spaghetti noodles, you stir the noodles into it so that each long strand is coated with savory orange sauce.
Craig David Meek delved into the history of this unusual barbecue dish in his book Memphis Barbecue: A Succulent History of Smoke, Sauce, and Soul (2014). Its inventor was Brady Vincent, who left his job as a railroad cook and opened a barbecue restaurant called Brady & Lil’s, where he perfected the recipe. He taught that recipe to Frank and Hazel Vernon when they bought the restaurant in 1980.
The Vernons later moved Brady & Lil’s to Madison Avenue and renamed it the Bar-B-Q Shop, but the barbecue spaghetti is still made using Vincent’s recipe. The Vernons are tight-lipped about the specifics of the formula, but they will reveal that it uses a different sauce from the one served with ribs and pork sandwiches and they cook the base in the restaurant’s charcoal-fired brick pit to give it a rich layer of smoke.
Barbecue spaghetti can now be found in restaurants around the city, both as side dishes and as full-sized entrées. Tangy, smoky, and filling, it’s an essential part of Memphis’s unique barbecue style.
These recipes were created in US Customary measurements and the conversion to metric is being done by calculations. They should be accurate, but it is possible there could be an error. If you find one, please let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page
Barbecue spaghetti
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Place of origin
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Memphis, Tennessee, US
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Created by
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Brady Vincent
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Main ingredients
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Spaghetti, barbecue sauce, pulled or smoked pork
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Ingredients generally used
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green peppers, onions
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Similar dishes
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Cincinnati chili, Filipino spaghetti
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The Secret History of Pasta
FAQ
Where did BBQ spaghetti originate?
Who invented the first BBQ sauce?
Where does barbeque sauce come from?
What is Barbecue spaghetti?
Barbecue spaghetti can be made with pulled pork or shredded smoked pork. The sauce is “half marinara and half barbecue sauce”, sometimes with onions and peppers included, and is simmered before adding the pork; the consistency is close to that of barbecue sauce. The spaghetti is cooked until soft, then tossed in the hot sauce.
Who invented the barbecue dish?
The dish was invented by former railroad cook Brady Vincent, who opened a barbecue restaurant called Brady and Lil’s. In 1980 Frank and Hazel Vernon bought the restaurant and renamed it The Bar-B-Q Shop.
What’s a ‘Bobby spaghetti’?
Perhaps the city’s most unusual creation is barbecue spaghetti. Note that it’s not barbecue d spaghetti (the noodles aren’t cooked on a pit) but rather barbecue spaghetti—a fusion of two popular dishes. And there’s more to it than just tossing a little pulled pork into a pot of spaghetti sauce.
Who invented Memphis barbecue?
In Memphis Barbecue: A Succulent History of Smoke, Sauce, and Soul (2014), Craig David Meek dug into the history of this local icon. It was invented by Brady Vincent, a former railroad cook who opened a barbecue restaurant called Brady and Lil’s.