10 Things You Didn't Know About Buc-Ee's Beloved Brisket

Gas station cuisine doesn't always have the best reputation. Unfortunately, rubbery hot dogs and suspicious sushi tend to be the norm (and they're both items you should never buy at a gas station). However, there is one gas station chain known for its fresh Texas barbecue: Buc-ee's.

Buc-ee's brisket is beloved by the masses, and many barbecue aficionados will make the pilgrimage to the gas station and travel center specifically for its brisket sandwiches. Sure, they're rich, smoky, and delicious, but there's more to Buc-ee's barbecue brisket than meets the eye.

Read on to learn about everything from the pitmaster heading up the iconic chain's barbecue operation to the breakfast item that'll satisfy your brisket craving. These 10 fascinating facts might just inspire you to hit the road in search of your nearest Buc-ee's or, in the very least, all this talk of barbecue will have your mouth watering. Let's dig in.

With many Food Network TV stars boasting careers as restaurateurs and cookbook authors, it might be surprising to learn that a "Chopped" competitor went on to work for a gas station. However, Randy Pauly from the second season of "Chopped Grill Masters" is now the pitmaster for Buc-ee's.

The Texas native heads up the mega-convenience store chain's barbecue operations. Having earned eight world championship titles by the time he competed in "Chopped," Pauly is certainly qualified for the job.

Pauly grew up cooking with his father. During his teenage years, a neighbor brought Pauly onto the barbecue competition scene, and he thrived at the weekly county cookoffs. Unfortunately, Pauly was eliminated from "Chopped" in the first round of the competition, but that didn't stop him from having an ultra-successful career in barbecue. Now, everyone who stops by a Buc-ee's can get a taste of that delicious brisket Pauly helps create.

If you're on the hunt for some quality barbecue, a gas station probably wouldn't be the first place you would think to look. However, Buc-ee's takes pride in the barbecue tradition of the Lone Star State and uses special methods, as well as a long cook time, to ensure the flavor and quality of its brisket.

Each brisket is cooked low and slow, Texas style. They're seasoned with salt, pepper, and a special spice blend, and then smoked for between 12 and 14 hours at a central facility. Buc-ee's doesn't disclose where exactly that smokehouse is located, but it'll ship out whole briskets to the various travel center locations each and every day.

Pitmaster Randy Pauly told TCPalm that thanks to the chain's dedication to Texas barbecue techniques, customers will find that the quality is comparable, but the experiences starkly contrast each other.

For the uninitiated, a Buc-ee's brisket sandwich might just look like some saucy chunks of meat on a soft hamburger bun. While that's not technically incorrect, there's actually a lot more nuance to making the gas station and travel center's iconic sandwich.

There's two different cuts to the brisket: the point and the flat, each representing a different muscle. The flat is the leaner part of the brisket, while the point is moister due to its higher fat content. The carving station staff at Buc-ee's starts by separating the point and the flat. Then, they take the cuts of meat and look for the grain, making sure to slice against it to help break down the muscle fibers and make the meat more tender. All the while, they're trimming just a bit of the fat, but keeping some around in order to help lend the sandwiches more flavor. From there, the meat is then either sliced or chopped and ready to be assembled into a sandwich.

As a hunk of Buc-ee's barbecue brisket thuds onto the butcher block worktop at the central carving station, you'll be sure to hear it. The staff member about to slice into that rich and smokey beef takes a moment to call out, "Fresh brisket on the board!" That booming sentence is then echoed right back at him by the other employees, and it reverberates throughout the mega-convenience store.

This ritual not only keeps the carving station staff informed about the status of the meat, but it also signals to customers that they should head on over to that center pavilion and take a look at the brisket being prepared. The call-and-response has become so iconic that many loyal Buc-ee's customers make sure they stick around to hear it at least once. After all, no trip to the travel center is complete without a stop at the carving station.

Walk into any Buc-ee's location and the centerpiece will be the same: the carving station. For many folks, it's the star of the show and the primary reason to stop at the gas station and travel center.

The carving station is fully staffed and, like mentioned above, you'll hear when brisket is being sliced or chopped for sandwiches. This announcement signals to customers that they should go take a gander at the cowboy hat-adorned staff members who are preparing the barbecued brisket.

Similar to an open kitchen at your favorite fine dining establishment, the Buc-ee's carving station offers customers an opportunity to engage with the food while also offering a bit of transparency about how the brisket is prepared. You can expect Buc-ee's staff to slice and chop the brisket with some flair, too. They'll chop and sauce the meat with big strokes that'll grab customers' attention before handing it off to be assembled into sandwiches right before your eyes.

You'd think that a quickly expanding company like Buc-ee's might want to boast about its sales numbers to drum up interest, but the gas station and travel center is notorious for keeping that data under wraps. Additionally, that famous barbecue brisket is veiled in secrecy, too.

If you're curious about how many pounds of that rich, smokey goodness Buc-ee's sells annually, you're out of luck; it's considered proprietary information. Furthermore, don't even think about inquiring about how Buc-ee's sources its brisket or trains employees on how to prepare it, because that's all confidential as well.

At any rate, the iconic chain will still tease that its brisket sales are through the roof. "We sell more brisket sandwiches than we do a 69-cent fountain drink," Buc-ee's Operations District Manager Michael Bui told Alabama television station CBS 42 in 2022. Even though Buc-ee's won't reveal the exact number, you can pretty easily infer that's got to be a whole lot of brisket.

The saying "Everything's bigger in Texas" rings especially true for one Buc-ee's menu item — the Big Buckin' Brisket Sandwich XXL. While the chopped brisket sandwich weighs in at a whopping 13 ounces, it's got the hefty price tag to match.

Despite the size of the sandwich, when it was released at the New Braunfels, Texas location in 2023, customers felt some sticker shock. A gas station sandwich? For $12.99? Many folks took to Facebook to share their distaste for pricey product. As the Big Buckin' Brisket Sandwich XXL was unveiled at other Buc-ee's locations the following year, more customers hopped on social media to note that they were similarly displeased at the cost. They hearkened back to the days when the gas station's regularly sized brisket sandwich only cost $6.99.

Nonetheless, there were a few Buc-ee's loyalists who defended the travel center and noted that the sandwich had nearly double the amount of brisket as the standard offering, thus justifying the price. Clearly, barbecue enthusiasts haven't been deterred since it's the Buc-ee's sandwich that has fans opening their wallets.

Chopped and sliced: those are your two options for Buc-ee's brisket sandwiches. If you're a true barbecue connoisseur, you'll probably find yourself gravitating toward the sliced variety. This style features a soft hamburger bun stuffed with slices of the lean brisket flat layered atop one another and finished with the travel center's signature barbecue sauce.

While the sliced sandwich leans more traditional, the chopped brisket sandwich really packs a punch in terms of flavor. The chopped style has both lean and fat from the brisket, and it's all roughly chopped to really meld everything together. Then, the tangy, sweet, and smoky signature sauce is folded into the chopped meat. Finally, a healthy helping of that chopped and sauced barbecue brisket is spread between a burger bun. But regardless of whether you're going for barbecue purity with the sliced sandwich or straight, rich flavor with the chopped version, you're sure to be in for a treat.

If you stop by a Buc-ee's before 10:30 a.m., you unfortunately won't be able to get your hands on one of those famous brisket sandwiches. On the plus side, the travel center whips up some brisket breakfast tacos that are certainly worth snagging.

Starting bright and early at 4 a.m., Buc-ee's starts churning out its breakfast items. On the menu are a variety of breakfast tacos, and while you can go for classic flavor combos like bacon, egg, and cheese, picking up a tender, smoky brisket breakfast taco will be worth your while. Who says barbecue isn't a breakfast food?

The brisket breakfast taco comes with a healthy helping of that iconic barbecue brisket along with fluffy scrambled eggs, and it's all wrapped up in a soft flour tortilla. It's the perfect way to kick off a long road trip or, heck, even your morning commute to work.

Sometimes, a sandwich or breakfast taco simply is not enough to satisfy your Buc-ee's brisket craving. While buying up a bunch of sandwiches and stashing them in your fridge is certainly an option, there's actually a better way to stock up on the beloved barbecued meat – buying it in bulk.

Yup, you can buy large portions of that delicious brisket. Whether you're hosting a party and need an entree that's sure to be a crowd-pleaser or just working it into your weekly meal prep, Buc-ee's has options for buying a whole brisket or brisket by the pound. If you're looking to buy a whole barbecued brisket, go in with an idea of how much you need since they'll naturally vary in size. The price for a 9-pound brisket will be a whole lot different than that of a 13-pound brisket.

If a whole brisket sounds intimidating, you can also get the meat chopped or sliced — just like the two sandwich options. In late 2024, the chopped brisket was going for $22 per pound, while the sliced brisket came in at $26 per pound.