Sides are the weakest part of the Pappas Bar-B-Q menu, and it is worth saying so plainly. There is nothing here on the level of the creamed corn or baked-from-scratch sides at the Southern chains. What Pappas has instead is a fries section that escalates alarmingly in both price and calories, and two genuinely Texan items nobody else on this site sells.
Pappas Bar-B-Q prices at a glance
The prices referenced on this page, collected up front. They vary by location and change without notice.
| Side | Price |
|---|---|
| Sides (standard, each) | from $2.95 |
| Gluten Free Sides | from $2.95 |
| Tamales | from $3.45 |
| Gluten Free Fresh Cut French Fries | $3.45 |
| Fresh Cut French Fries | $3.75 |
| Cheese Fries | $5.75 |
| Tossed Salad (small) | $5.75 |
| Jalapeño Cheese Bread | $5.95 |
| Chili Cheese Fries | $8.95 |
| Chopped Beef Fries | $10.95 |
| Tossed Salad (large) | $11.95 |
| Chef Salad | $13.95 |
The full side list with prices
Ranked, best to worst value
- Jalapeño cheese bread, $5.95. The best thing in this section and the most Texan. It is roughly 420 calories, so it is not an afterthought, but it is the one side that would be missed if it vanished.
- Tamales, from $3.45. No other barbecue chain covered on this site sells tamales at all. They belong on the table in Houston and they are cheap.
- Standard sides, from $2.95. Basic, competently done, correctly priced. Order two and stop thinking about it.
- Fresh cut french fries, $3.75. Fresh cut rather than frozen, which is more than most chains manage. Fine hot, poor after ten minutes in a bag.
- Small tossed salad, $5.75. Overpriced against $2.95 sides, but the only genuinely light option on the board.
- Cheese fries, $5.75. Two dollars over plain fries for cheese. Marginal.
- Chili cheese fries, $8.95. Now you are into main-course money for a side.
- Chopped beef fries, $10.95. See below.
The chopped beef fries problem
Chopped beef fries cost $10.95 and run about 1,100 calories — the heaviest item on the entire menu, listed as a side. That is more than the $10.95 hamburger, more than the pulled pork plate at $12.95, and only a dollar less than the $11.95 sausage plate. They are not a side, they are a meal, and ordering them alongside a plate is how a Pappas visit quietly becomes a 2,000-calorie lunch. The Pappas nutrition breakdown has the rest of the numbers.
The gluten-free anomaly
Here is something unusual: the gluten-free fresh cut french fries are $3.45 and the standard ones are $3.75. The gluten-free version is thirty cents cheaper. Gluten-free sides also start at $2.95, exactly matching the standard sides. Pappas runs a full parallel gluten-free menu at parity pricing, and on the fries it accidentally undercuts itself — see the allergen guide for how that menu works in practice.
Salads, and whether they count
Three options: small tossed at $5.75, large tossed at $11.95, and a chef salad at $13.95. The chef salad is priced against the plates — a dollar less than the $14.95 turkey breast plate — so it is a main course rather than a side. There is also a gluten-free chef salad at the same $13.95.
What to actually order
Two standard sides at $2.95 each plus one jalapeño cheese bread to share across the table. That is $11.85 for a group and it covers everything the fries sections are trying to do at half the price and a third of the calories. If you are ordering for a crowd, the Pappas catering packages bundle sides in rather than pricing them separately, and the full Pappas Bar-B-Q menu lists everything else.