Hutchins BBQ
Hutchins holds its brisket and beef ribs on rotisserie smokers for as long as eighteen hours, and D Magazine says the brisket comes out so tender
the mere threat of a fork makes it fall apart.32
Why go
The business started in 1978 in Princeton under a different name and moved to McKinney, and Zack Hutchins, the founder's grandson, runs operations now.13 A New Year's Eve fire did more than a million dollars of damage to the McKinney kitchen and roof and shut it for eight months, and when it reopened in 2021 the family brought in John Mueller, grandson of Louie Mueller, to run the pit.4 The smoke is oak and pecan and the Frisco room is built out of wood, walls diners write their names on and long picnic tables.2 Texas Monthly calls the chicken and sausage here some of the best chicken and sausage in the state.
1 D Magazine's judged panel places the room tenth in North Texas.6
Order this / avoid
- Order: the brisket and the burnt ends. Both are what the room is judged on.2
- Order: the chicken and a link of sausage, which is where Texas Monthly puts the room's statewide case.1
- Order sides properly:
garlicky mashed potatoes, bacon-infused mac and cheese, and pinto beans that taste like brisket soup.
1 - Order: the Texas Twinkie, the stuffed jalapeño Texas Monthly says inspired Hurtado's.1
- Eat in for the peach cobbler, which is free if you do.2
- Avoid: driving to Trophy Club by mistake. The Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque there is a separate family business.6
What locals & experts say
- Texas Monthly, 2021:
The sides steal the show at the Frisco location of Hutchins BBQ,
andthe folks in the sometimes very long line are there for the Hutchins brothers' smoked meat.
1 - John Mueller, on joining the pit in 2021 after three decades of running his own shops:
I've owned barbecue businesses for 30 years. I'm ready to not own anymore but keep doing what I love.
4 - Diana Spechler, D Magazine, 2026, on the Frisco room:
regulars cite infatuation with everything from the burnt ends to the peach cobbler, which is free if you dine in.
2 - The Dallas Morning News's readers gave it Gold for Best BBQ in 2025, and it
received the most votes of any single business featured across all subcategories.
The vote is the readers'.5
Good to know
- Mueller brought his own sausages, peach habanero, blueberry maple and hot gut, to both the McKinney and Frisco rooms.4
- There is a newer and much larger room on Interstate 30 between Dallas and Fort Worth, opened in March 2026, where the eighteen-hour hold was described.3
- The two Hutchins family businesses were once in court and have settled.3
Verdict
should-visit — A 1978 family pit that hired John Mueller off the Louie Mueller line and holds its brisket on rotisserie smokers for the better part of a day, with sides good enough that Texas Monthly says they steal the show. Order the brisket and the burnt ends, take the chicken and a link of sausage, and eat in so the cobbler is free.