I asked the Big Green Egg subreddit a simple question recently: what do you cook the most on your BGE?
It ran past 70,000 impressions and picked up more than 80 comments. Go looking for what to cook on a Big Green Egg, and you’ll find recipe lists. This was 55 people naming what they actually make.
Sixty-one people replied. Fifty-five of them named at least one food. The other six were jokes, questions, or someone asking what the rack in my photo was.
Chicken won, and it wasn’t close
Chicken showed up in 44% of the answers. Nothing else broke 20%.
Ribs came second at 18%. Pork butt and steak tied at 16%. Burgers, brats, and hot dogs at 11%.
Brisket and pork chops at 7% each. Pizza and fish at 5%. Tri-tip at 4%.
Then the singles: picanha, turkey, paella, boudin, fajitas, kebabs, stir fry, satay, spatchcock chicken, chicken leg quarters, and one person who said possums. “Absolutely delectable,” they added.
Most of that chicken is thighs. Twelve people named thighs specifically. Eight of those said boneless.
Why thighs win
For me, it’s easily boneless chicken thighs. While it’s not as fun as the all-day smoke, I am grilling up chicken thighs at least once per week.
Everyone who explained their pick gave the same three reasons. Cheap, hard to overcook, and they take any flavour you throw at them. One reply said boneless thighs “by far,” and that they don’t overcook.
The flavour range in one thread: Vietnamese, with cold bun noodles, nuoc cham, mint, cucumber, carrot, cabbage, cilantro, Thai basil, peanuts, and lime. A full Filipino BBQ marinade. Indian, Korean, Middle Eastern, and Mexican.
Yakitori-style skewers with homemade tare. Bone-in, skin-on quarters with what one commenter called “the yellow Mexican pollo dust.”
Same cut, completely different dinner every time.
One person buys boneless thighs skin-on and says they “ruined me for regular boneless/skinless.” Another uses the Egg about six nights a week, mostly chicken breasts or boneless thighs, because “we just never get tired of chicken.”
Price is in there too. One comment was just, “With the price of meat these days!?” Another said bone-in thighs are their biggest protein source right now because beef and pork are way up. That 44% is probably the same story, mostly unspoken.
The weeknight cook and the all-day smoke
People in the thread are answering two different questions, and they know it.
There’s the weeknight cook, and there’s the all-day smoke. Someone said it plainly. They want the gratification of lumpwood charcoal “without investing a full day in the project.”
One person, 15+ years in, split their answer down the middle. Burgers and brats on an average day. If we’re talking smokes, Boston butts and ribs. Someone else splits it by season instead, smoking almost exclusively in winter and grilling on a Kettle or a Masterbuilt.
The thighs crowd and the brisket crowd aren’t disagreeing with each other.
Wings are a season, not a food
Five wing answers, and two of them independently specified every Sunday during football season.
One of them needs a foot-plus of snow to skip it, and feeds family, neighbours, and kids. The other does them on a rotisserie.
Steak got the most shrugs
Nine people named steak, which ties it with pork butt for third. Almost all of them wrote one word. Only one named a method: cast iron, beef tallow.
Not every answer was about food
Someone keeps their Egg in a garage with a six-inch lip. They need ramps to get it out, and it goes back in at night because of bears, so it only comes out for high-value cooks. Another did three years of an elevator, waiting for the thing to cool, and cracks in the sidewalk before moving somewhere with zero-step access.
One answer was just, “Sadly, mold.” Their kids used to love making pizzas on it.
Someone new asked, “Is failure an appropriate answer? I’m new.”
Then there’s me and pizza. One person runs the Egg at 550°F, preheats the stone for half an hour, and pulls a proper crust at around the eight-minute mark. Mine has never once turned out the way I want it to.
If you’re new and staring at your Egg wondering where to start, the thread’s answer is boneless chicken thighs.
One number nobody said: vegetables. In 80 comments, not one person named a vegetable as their main cook. One person said “chicken and veg,” and that was the entire vegetable representation in the thread.
Thanks to everyone who answered. Even the possums.
How about you?
What do you grill the most? Let’s keep the conversation going.
For more Big Green Egg talk or recipes I enjoy, check out my Big Green Egg hub.
