Call them best supporting actors. Call them MVP sideliners for taking your tailgating party over the top. You’ve mastered brisket and ribs, and your burgers are the stuff of legend.

But without killer side dishes, your barbecue will lack gravitas required to establish you as a true pro.

The Big Three Tailgating Side Dishes Everyone Loves

I’m talking about the big three: baked beans, potato salad, and coleslaw.

Of course, I could tell you how to make all three in your kitchen—no lighting of your grill or smoker required. They’d be good—even excellent. But they wouldn’t be barbecue.

No, to make side dishes that will, er, smoke the competition, they need to be kissed with fire.

First up, baked beans, which have been part of American culture since before there was an America. That’s right, long before the arrival of the Mayflower, the Iroquois, Abenaki, and other Algonquian peoples boiled beans in clay pots, with bear fat to make them rich and maple syrup for sweetness.

And long before the arrival of Pizarro, South Americans in the Andes Mountains cultivated hundreds of varieties of potatoes. The proto-American potato salad may well have been papas a la huancaina, a Peruvian potato salad flavored with piquant amarillo (yellow) chiles and salt queso fresco cheese.

As for coleslaw, our word comes from the Dutch kool, cabbage, and sla, salad—both favored by the early Dutch settlers of Manhattan.

Pro Tips for Adding Smoke Flavor

My baked beans get a double blast of smoke flavor—first from the addition of bacon (and brisket or pulled pork, if you have any extra in your refrigerator). Then from a long slow cook in your smoker.

To make coleslaw, I smoke the cabbage—just long enough to flavor it, but short enough to keep it crunchy and raw.

I also smoke the potatoes for my potato salad, adding pimenton (smoked paprika) to reinforce the flavor.

Yeah, it takes a little extra time, but you can smoke the vegetables at a previous grill session. Serve them, and your next cookout will win you access to the tailgating hall of fame.

Got your own favorite twists on game day sides? I’d love to see them! Share your creations and tag us on social—we’re always looking for new ideas to try (and cheer for).

Check out our 1000+ Recipes section here on Barbecue Bible.Com

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