With the first 100-degree day in the rearview mirror and months of searing summer temperatures ahead, now’s a great time to head outside and grill in the Grand Canyon State.
In Arizona, that go-to meat choice is the same as many of the state’s neighbors.
BetArizona.com, which provides complete coverage of Arizona sportsbooks, utilized Google Trends to determine the most searched main meal for cookouts in each state.
The following meals were included once the top 5 most popular cookout foods were determined, based on search history in the summer — wings, hamburger, hot dog, ribs and grilled chicken.
After completing the trends over the past five years (from April 1 to Sept. 1 each year), we were able to average out the results to get the top cookout foods for each state.
Favorite Cookout Meal By State
- Ribs (19 states): Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming
- Hamburgers (10 states): Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico and Oklahoma
- Hot Dogs (10 states): Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia
- Wings (6 states): Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania
- Grilled Chicken (5 states): Hawaii, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota and Vermont
Ribs Are an Arizona Favorite
In the 48th State, the consensus favorite when it comes to grilled meats is a nice rack of ribs slathered with whatever sauce the average Arizona resident prefers.
Overall, ribs beat out other BBQ mainstays, such as hamburgers, hot dogs, wings and grilled chicken. Arizona joined 18 others, including neighboring states California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah in preferring ribs over the other meat options.
New Mexico, on the other hand, went with hamburgers as their grilling choice. In total, ribs were the most popular choice by total state count at 19 — one favorite you can’t find on Arizona betting apps — followed by hamburgers and hot dogs (10 apiece), wings (6 states) and grilled chicken (5 states).
It’s safe to say the Grand Canyon State has good company in residents’ choice for cookout foods, with Arizonans toeing the popularity line by going with a slab of ribs as their barbecued meat of choice.
Author
Christopher Boan is the lead writer at BetArizona.com after covering sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
