Welcome to Bus Stop BBQ

Recipes, gear guides, and real-deal how-tos for the grill, smoker, and griddle. We're talking classics like pulled pork and smash burgers right alongside smoked lasagna and grilled desserts — because if you can cook it outside, it belongs here.

Recipes

Essential Tools

Grill Comparisons

Unexpected BBQ

FROM THE GRILL

Fan favorites and backyard hits

SEE ALL RECIPES

GAME DAY CHILI

The ultimate lineup for the big game - new chilis coming every week!

Roasted Pumpkin, Kale & Turkey Chili: The Game Day Chili Series

Roasted pumpkin gives this turkey chili its body, but the ancho chile powder and homemade guajillo adobo set the direction. Ground turkey, Great Northern beans, onion, carrot, bell pepper, and jalapeño make a hearty pot, with kale stirred in toward the end and lime juice added just before serving. The pumpkin goes in soft and mashable, rather than puréed or neatly cubed. Some dissolves into the broth, while some stays in loose pieces, making the chili thick without losing all

Chorizo Sweet Potato Chili: The Game Day Chili Series

This chorizo sweet potato chili brings together a pound of chorizo, black beans, sweet potato, poblano peppers, and bell pepper in a beef broth base. A spoonful of homemade guajillo adobo pulls everything together, adding another layer of chile flavor alongside cumin, chili powder, and garlic. The sweet potato softens into tender chunks that balance the seasoned chorizo. Black beans give the chili substance, while the peppers and onion build flavor into the broth. Avocado and

Guajillo Adobo Butternut Squash Chili: The Game Day Chili Series

This one is another entry in the Gameday Chili Series, where we're making a different chili for football each Sunday. Instead of building this version around meat, the squash and beans do most of the heavy lifting. Butternut squash probably isn't the first ingredient that comes to mind when you think about a pot of chili, but that's exactly why it works here. The squash adds a subtle sweetness and hearty texture alongside black and pinto beans, tomatoes, peppers, and a homema

Why I Cook on a Kamado: One Grill That Does Everything

I’ve cooked on a lot of different grills. Cheap charcoal grills. High-end gas setups. Offset smokers. I’ve owned some. Borrowed others. Cooked on plenty. But the kamado sits in the best spot on my patio. That is not an accident. Once upon a time, my stepdad said to me, "I would like to buy you a BBQ. Choose one that's around $1,000." Challenge absolutely accepted. I spent hours and hours reading blogs, looking at product reviews, having stress dreams about choosing the wrong

Essential BBQ Tools: The Gear You Actually Need (And What's a Waste of Money)

You can spend $2,000 on gadgets nobody uses. Or you can buy the things that solve 90% of every cooking problem. Let me save you money and cabinet space. The Non-Negotiables These are the tools I’d buy first. Not because they’re flashy. Because you’ll use them constantly. 1. Meat Thermometers This is the difference between guessing and knowing. A good thermometer keeps you from undercooked chicken, overcooked steak, and brisket panic. You don’t need three different lectures he

Blackstone Essentials: The Flat Top Starter Kit

There’s a moment when you realize a flat top grill changes the game. It’s usually sometime between your first smash burger and your first full breakfast cook where you’ve got eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and pancakes all going at once… and nothing is falling through grates, nothing is flaring up, and everything is cooking exactly how you want it. A flat top isn’t just another grill. It’s a different style of cooking entirely. If your smoker is for slow, low-and-steady cooks, and

The Essential Kamado Toolkit: Everything You Need to Start Smoking

A kamado grill is the best backyard cooking machine you can own. It can smoke low and slow. It can sear like a tiny ceramic volcano. It can roast, grill, bake, and generally make you feel like you’ve unlocked some ancient charcoal-powered side quest. Oh, and it can also morph into a pizza oven. But here’s the thing: the grill itself is only half the setup. If you want to actually enjoy using a kamado, especially for smoking, you need the right starter kit. Not a garage full o

Types of Wood to Smoke With (and When to Use Them)

Smoke is the soul of BBQ. Most people think wood is interchangeable. It’s not. There’s a real difference between hickory and apple, between oak and cherry, and once you start paying attention to it, you won’t go back. Get it right and your food jumps a level. Get it wrong and everything starts tasting like you grilled it inside a chimney. Here’s how to think about it. Hickory: The Workhorse If BBQ had a default setting, it would be hickory. When I’m doing brisket, I’m almost

Every Type of Grill Explained: Charcoal, Gas, Pellet, Kamado, and More

Walk into any big box store during grilling season and you’ll see a wall of metal, ceramic, propane tanks, side burners, pellet hoppers, and price tags that make you briefly reconsider indoor cooking. Charcoal. Gas. Pellet. Kamado. Flat top. Offset. Some weird hybrid grill that looks like it was designed during a committee meeting. It’s a lot. The good news is that most grills are not “better” or “worse” in some universal way. They’re just built for different kinds of cooking