Sides at Dickey's Barbecue Pit come two ways: scooped from the steam line at $4.50 small and $7.50 medium, or fried to order at a flat $4.50. That $3.00 step up to a medium is the single most consequential decision on this part of the menu, and most people take it without doing the math.
The ranking
- Mac & Cheese — the one to order. Heavy at roughly 330 calories in a small, and the base of the Brisket Mac Stack, which tells you the kitchen takes it seriously.
- Onion Tanglers ($4.50) — thin, tangled fried onion. Best thing in the fryer, and the reason the Pork & Tangler Baker exists at $15.00.
- Jalapeno Beans — the beans worth paying for. Same $4.50 and $7.50 pricing as the plain BBQ Beans with actual heat.
- Baked Potato Casserole — richest thing on the line. Effectively a Giant Baker in scoop form.
- Bacon & Onion Green Beans — the only green side that does not feel like a compromise.
- BBQ Beans — competent, sweet, the default. Fine, not memorable.
- Cabbage Slaw — around 140 calories in a small and the lightest thing on the menu. Order it for the vinegar cut, not for pleasure.
- Fried Okra ($4.50) — good hot, dismal cold.
- Potato Salad — mustard-forward, divisive, sold in the same small and medium sizes.
- Waffle Fries and Hand-Cut Fries ($4.50) — the hand-cut are the better of the two.
- Asiago Cheese Creamed Spinach ($4.50) — genuinely unusual for a barbecue chain, and it also tops the Chicken, Spinach & Cheese Baker at $15.00.
- Frito Lay Chips ($2.50) — a bag of chips. Included here because it is the cheapest side and, in a Fritos Pie Stack at $12.25, the best use of it.
Also on the board: Side of Chicken Nuggets at $5.00, which is a kids' item that adults order more often than they admit.
Small versus medium
| Size | Price | Realistically feeds |
|---|---|---|
| Small | $4.50 | One person |
| Medium | $7.50 | Two, or one greedy one |
| XL Sides | $38.00 | A group order |
Two smalls cost $9.00 and one medium costs $7.50, so if two of you want the same side the medium saves $1.50. If you want two different sides, buy two smalls — the medium is not big enough to split across flavors.
The plate math nobody does
This is where the money is. A Pulled Pork Sandwich is $9.75 and the Pulled Pork Sandwich Plate is $15.75 — a flat $6.00 for two sides. Individual smalls are $4.50, so the plate charges you $3.00 each. That is a real saving if you actually want two sides.
If you only want one, the sandwich plus one small side costs $14.25 and beats the plate by $1.50 with the same food on the tray. And if you want no sides at all, the Brisket Mac Stack at $11.00 has mac and cheese built into the bowl, which is why it keeps appearing as the best value on the Dickey's Barbecue Pit menu.
Which sides survive the trip home
- Hold well: BBQ beans, jalapeno beans, potato salad, cabbage slaw. All of them are fine cold or reheated.
- Hold acceptably: mac and cheese, baked potato casserole, creamed spinach — they set up firm but reheat.
- Do not hold: onion tanglers, fried okra, hand-cut fries, waffle fries. Twenty minutes in a closed bag and they are soft. Eat them in the restaurant or skip them.
For a catering order this matters more than taste. The fried sides are the first thing to drop from a large order — see the Dickey's catering breakdown for the packs and the XL Sides option at $38.00.
Are they made fresh?
Honest answer: it depends on the location. Dickey's runs roughly 380 franchised restaurants, and how much is prepared in-store versus delivered varies more here than at any other chain covered on this site. The fried items are cooked to order everywhere. The steam-line sides are held hot through the day, so a 12:30 scoop of beans is a different thing from a 20:45 one. If the line looks tired late in the evening, take the slaw — it is the one side that does not degrade with time on the counter.