Bread, chicken and beef burgers, but please, no aubergine steaks: Britains favourite BBQ foods
Chicken skewers, bread rolls and chicken breast are the most liked BBQ items, but sausages are the most loved by Britons
It's been a temperamental summer, but there's still been lots of perfect weather for a BBQ and no doubt many Brits have taken the opportunity to fire up their grills. But which of the items commonly found on a BBQ spread do Britons really like – what are their favourites, and what are they merely tolerating?
Britain’s BBQ god-tier – items liked by more than eight in ten Brits who have tried them – is unsurprisingly dominated by staples of the garden table. Chicken skewers, bread rolls, chicken breast, pork sausages, beef burgers, garlic bread and baked potatoes are the seven items that every BBQ must have to ensure happy guests.
What comes out on top overall, though, very much depends on how you are defining most popular. Chicken skewers, bread rolls and chicken breast can all claim to be most broadly popular overall, liked to some degree by 82% of Britons who have tried them, with bread rolls the item that fewest people outright disliked (only 4% of Brits).
But when it comes to the most loved part of a BBQ, it is pork sausages that more Brits (58%) say they ‘like a lot’ than any other item, although beef burgers (57%) and chicken breast (56%) come in a very close second and third.
Most other BBQ classics sit a little lower, but are undeniably still top-tier and enjoyed by more than 70% of Brits. Steak is liked by three-quarters of Britons (74%), while coleslaw, potato salad and corn on the cob are enjoyed by seven in ten of us (71-72%).
The mid-tier contains a diverse array of grub, from chicken thighs (69%) to halloumi (63%) through crudités (67%), ribs (66%) and pasta salad (66%). Lamb is clearly a bit mediocre in the public view, with both lamb skewers (67%) and lamb chops (63%) sitting decidedly mid-table.
Populating the low-tier, though still enjoyed by a majority of Brits, are the dips – hummus, guacamole and tzatziki – as well as baked sweet potato, prawn skewers and chicken wings. The latter are perhaps a surprisingly divisive entrant, especially considering the placement of some other chicken items, but for the 59% of Brits who say they like wings, there are 28% who dislike them.
It’s vegetarian alternatives, though, that are by far the least popular. Veggie burgers (liked by just 44%), vegetarian sausages (40%) and aubergine steaks (31%) are the three items polled that sit clearly in Britons’ crap-tier.
Will everybody be satisfied by the spread?
But not all BBQ foods are as equally beloved by all parts of the public. Meat options, particularly red meat, are consistently more popular with men than women – steaks, for instance, are god-tier among men (liked by 81%), but sit in the higher mid-tier with women (68%). Ribs similarly divide opinion, with 73% of men enjoying them compared to only 59% of women.
The rest of the spread tends to find more favour with women – including sides like green salad, which are favoured by 83% of women and just 70% of men, and vegetarian alternatives like vegetable skewers, appreciated by two-thirds of women (68%) and just over half of men (53%). It is crudités that show the biggest gender gap of all – enjoyed by three-quarters of women (75%) and just 57% of men.
These differences of opinion also lead to different foods sitting at the top of the table for men and women. Beef burgers are men’s favourite item, liked by 86%, while baked potatoes clinch the title with women, liked by 84%. When it comes to least popular, though, there is no disagreement – aubergine steaks are the least popular item polled among both men and women.
As is often the case, there are some age divides, but also many items that are able to successfully unite the generations. Items like beef steaks and beef burgers are widely liked on a similar level by all age groups, while between two-thirds and three-quarters (69-75%) of all generations like to see corn on the cob at the BBQ table and garlic bread consistently musters support from eight in ten Britons (79-81%) across the ages, it is, after all, the future.
Vegetarian alternatives tend to find more favour among younger Britons – veggie burgers, for instance, are liked by 56% of 18-24 year olds, but only 38% of over 55s – but so do chicken wings, which are enjoyed by 69% of 18-24 year olds against 52% of over 55s.
But it’s far from as simple as a meat-vegetable divide. Baked potatoes, potato salad, green salad and coleslaw are all clearly more popular among older Britons than younger generations, suggesting they are falling a little out of fashion. Coleslaw, for instance, is a god-tier BBQ food for over 55s (liked by 80%), but sits in the low-tier among 18-24 year olds (57%).
If there’s one thing all generations can agree on, though, it’s that aubergine steaks are their least favourite of the items polled.
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Photo: Getty
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