7 Biggest Trends in Grilling BBQ We’ve Seen This Year

Almost everyone around the world loves barbecue. No matter what country you go to, the country’s culture and its cuisine will have a method of cooking that involves cooking meats and vegetables over fires and coals. Though the technology to do just that has long since developed, everyone around the world still seems to prefer the unique flavors that you can get from lightly charring food over flames. 

As new technology gets developed for barbecue use and more people are sharing their cultures’ cuisines, many new trends are starting to show up. New and more interesting trends are appearing for the barbecue lovers to try out, creating a massive range of unique options that no had thought up of before. As much of a staple simple burgers, steaks and hotdogs are, these new recipes and ingredients only serve to make them even better, greatly improving what makes barbecuing so entertaining. 

Many shops are now selling all sorts of seasonings and accessories, both at brick-and-mortar stores and at online stores like this website: https://dicksonbbq.com/

Barbecue manufacturers are innovating and improving the tech they put into their grills, increasing the types of trends we can see when it comes to barbecuing.

More plant based and vegan barbeque options

With how many restaurants and food companies around the world are developing more vegetarian and vegan friendly alternatives to some of the most well-known dishes, so has many of the world’s barbecue enthusiasts. 

Today, there are many more plant-based options and recipes that a barbecue lover can toss onto their grill, many of which have even been said to taste just as good as their meat-based counterparts. With the right seasonings, a good barbecue and even some great smoking chips, cauliflower steaks and mushroom burgers can become a delicious dinner for everyone.

Fusion flavors from around the world

All over the world, both professional and home cooks are beginning to incorporate new flavors and cuisines into their own. Recently, this has started to extend into barbecue culture and the seasonings that people use. Many have found that Asian, South American and Middle Eastern flavors have become particularly popular, introducing unique tastes to the barbecue staples. This has opened people up to dishes like chimichurri-barbecue turkey legs and thai curry ribs.

Ground and skewered kebabs

In addition to different cultural seasonings for their meat, many barbecue enthusiasts have also begun using different methods of cooking. One of the most popular types of grilling this year has been kebabs. Though the term used to initially refer through parts of North America to individual chunks of meat and vegetables put onto skewers to cook, the Middle Eastern and Indian style of kebab have started becoming well known. 

Combined with international seasonings and flavors, people are starting to add their own preferences to barbecued Turkish adana kebab and India’s seekh kebab. Even Japan’s tsukune and togarashi spiced chicken skewers have slowly been becoming popular in North America.

St. Louis style barbecuing 

As the birthplace of the St. Louis rib cuts and the city that made the first bottle of barbecue sauce, St. Louis itself has since developed a range of different specialties and recipes, including dishes like pork steaks and turkey ribs. 

The city’s style of barbecuing has since spread across both the United States. Canada is likely soon to join the trend, since St. Louis style ribs have become just as popular.

Baking on the grill top

With how some barbecue grills are gaining all sorts of new accessories, it was only a matter of time before barbecue enthusiasts started the trend of adding baking to their repertoire of barbecue knowledge. 

Since many barbecue lovers have already begun to see their grills as an outdoor part of their kitchen – some even creating an entire kitchen setup out on their patios – adding a method of baking was only the next step.

This isn’t limited to just baking breads or casseroles on your grill either. With a good thermometer and the appropriate type of wood chips – or lack thereof – more people are grilling up some chicken or steak for pizza toppings right before starting on baking the pizza itself. 

You can even whip up a batch of brownies or your favorite pie for dessert, all without the need to turn your grill off!

Newer, more unusual vegetables

While tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini and even potatoes have become something of a typical vegetable that you can put on your grill, a new trend has recently appeared that has only increased the creativity of barbecued dishes. 

Some people highly recommend seasoning and grilling slices of sweet potatoes, while others prefer to try grilling some salted brussels sprouts. Whatever the vegetable is, you can absolutely try barbecuing it, regardless of how dry or how large it is. 

Out of the box cuts of meat

Some people might have already heard of this trend that’s shown up recently. Different and more unusual cuts of meat are being seasoned for the barbecue, some of them coming from across the world as well. Barbecue lovers are now trying out slightly different pieces of meat, like pork steaks and tri-tip to add a flair of interest to their barbecue parties. 

Some are even trying more unique cuts, like beef tongue and pork snouts. Even wagyu has become more popular, thanks to American and Australian wagyu being cheaper than the original Japanese. If you’re willing to try them out, you might even start to like them.  

Takeaway

There are many more trends that have become more well-known this year, and these are only some of them. More people are opening themselves up to new flavor profiles and different types of seasonings they haven’t tried before, adding and developing on some of the staple dishes that many have loved for so long.

However, these new trends may not disappear so quickly, much like the different types of fusion cuisine we have across Canada. With these new trends, there might just be new, intriguing and delicious types of barbecued food to come and even more reasons to keep our grills fired up.