5 Tasty Southern Foods You Should Try Eating

Fried, smoked, and perfectly paired with beers—it's no secret that Southern food is synonymous with comfort food. From the region's African-inspired grubs like hot chicken to Texas barbecue, the South certainly has a lot to offer. Southern food is food that comes from the culinary tradition of the American South. The blanket term Southern food has a wide spectrum including foods that are deep fried, slow-roasted, and smoked in a wood-burning pit. They usually come with slowly developed flavors that give you spine-tingling feelings. These are foods that taste, as cliché as it sounds, like home! Southerners know how to make their food right, it's a no-brainer. Whether you grew up in the South or you are someone who wants to immerse themselves in the Southern culture, there are plenty of choices to explore. You can scour the South to find the establishments that put a modern twist on the classic Southern dishes, and you just might find a kitchenful of delicious favorites.

Nashville Hot Chicken

Crispy, fried, and blazingly hot—hot chicken is, without a doubt, the cornerstone of Southern cuisine. This Southern food, which hails from Nashville, has turned into a national staple food after winning over so many taste buds nationwide. Every year, food connoisseurs flock to Music City Hot Chicken Festival to celebrate this succulent staple food. There are many ways to reinvent the dish; you can douse it with a hefty dose of spice and delicious condiments then tuck it into a toasted bun. It has many qualities that make it the perfect dish including crunchiness, golden crispiness, and a complex flavor that slowly hits you at your core.

Barbecue Burger or Southern Burger

Burgers have a long-standing reputation as the best fast food for a tailgate party or game day. If you want to take a break from firing up the grill and kick it up a notch with some gourmet burgers, look no further than this Dad Bod Burger. Available for pickup, catering, and food delivery, Big Deal Burger puts a Southern twist on the classic burgers by incorporating all things Southern. And by Southern, we meant barbecue burgers. And we are not talking about ladling some barbecue sauce over it or grilling the meat. A true barbecue burger can only be slow-smoked in a wood-burning smoke pit for a long period of time. Barbecue makes up one of the four basic south food groups. If you want to get a taste of Southern burgers, then head on over to Big Deal Burger.

Texas Toast

The Lone Star State is the only state with its very own toast. It can be perfectly paired with other Southern foods like barbecue or eaten as a stand-alone snack. The golden crisp, crackly crust on the outside and the pillowy texture on the inside make it a perfect appetizer to munch on. What is Texas Toast? It's basically a thick white bread buttered on both sides and then grilled (well, it's Texas baby), rather than toasted, to a light-golden brown perfection. The extra thickness of Texas Toast gives it greater softness than what you usually get from a regular French Toast.

Barbecue Chicken Wings

As mentioned, barbecue continues to remain the key element of Southern cuisine. While Nashville Hot Chicken is a popular Southern dish in the chicken category, Barbecue wings are equally worth mentioning. There's nothing quite like the combination of legit Texas Barbecue and Buffalo Wings. Barbecue wings are crispy, rich, and perfectly paired with an ice-cold drink, which makes them the best game day snacks. With NFL season kicking off, Wing Boss is adding some items to their menu in conjunction with The Dallas Cowboys.

Tater Tots

While tater tots were created in Northern Oregon, they are the perfect side dish to complement a Southern cook out. The crispy, tiny, bite-sized golden treats are delicate enough to bring to a tailgate party or a church potluck. They are also the perfect grab-and-go snacks for camping festivals or picnics too. Trailer Birds offers Tater Tots with Nashville Hot Chicken sauce and other delicious dips.