Pitmaster's Guide
How much meat per person for BBQ? Plug in your headcount and we'll handle the rest — brisket, pulled pork, pulled ham, ribs, wings, and sides, all dialed in by a working pitmaster.
Pitmaster tip
Always cook 10-15% extra. Smoked meat reheats beautifully, and running out is the only true BBQ emergency.
The short answer: plan on about 1/2 lb of cooked meat per adult when BBQ is the main event, 1/3 lb per adult when it's part of a bigger spread, and 1/4 lb per adult for lighter appetites or a big sampler menu. Kids under 12 eat about half that. From there, you back into raw weights using each cut's cooking yield.
Whole packer brisket loses 40-50% of its weight to fat trim, moisture, and bark. Buy 1 lb raw per person to land near 1/2 lb sliced. A 14 lb packer feeds 14-16 hungry adults.
A Boston butt yields roughly 50% after smoking, pulling, and discarding the bone and fat cap. Plan 1/3 lb cooked per person for sandwiches, 1/2 lb for plates. An 8 lb butt makes enough for 12 sandwiches.
A smoked ham gives up about 40% of its weight to the bone and the smokehouse, so start with roughly 1/2 lb raw to land near 1/3 lb pulled. Plan 1/3 lb cooked per person for sandwiches, 1/2 lb for plates. Ham is rubbed, double-smoked, then pulled by hand — and it stretches further than pork, which makes it the safe pick for a big crowd.
A full rack of St. Louis spares serves 2 adults; baby backs serve 2-3. Count on 3-4 spare ribs or 4-5 baby backs per person as a main.
Half a chicken per adult is a generous main. For quarters, plan 1-2 per person. Chicken has a high yield (~75%) since it's mostly water and bone, not fat.
6 wings per person for an appetizer, 10-12 as a main. A 40 lb case is about 400 whole wings — enough wings for 40 people as a main.
Plan ~5 oz of each side per person. Two sides at a typical cookout means about 10 oz of sides per plate — enough to round things out without crowding the meat.
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