Enter your guest count and appetite level to see roughly how much total cooked and raw BBQ meat to plan for.
This is a general planning tool for a barbecue with multiple meats (brisket, pulled pork, ribs, chicken, etc. combined), rather than a single specific cut. Standard catering guidance is about 1/2 pound of cooked meat per person for a lighter spread, up to 3/4 pound per person for a hearty one, split across whatever meats you're serving. Raw purchase weight is estimated using a typical average 30% cooking shrinkage across smoked and grilled barbecue meats — use one of the specific per-person calculators (brisket, pulled pork, ribs) for a more precise number on any single cut.
Source: Based on general barbecue-catering guidance widely used by event caterers of about 1/2 to 3/4 pound of cooked meat per person when serving a mixed barbecue spread.
For a mixed spread of multiple meats, plan for about 1/2 to 3/4 pound of cooked meat per person total, split across whatever you're serving.
No — this is a general planning estimate for a mixed spread using an average shrinkage rate. Use the dedicated Brisket Per Person or Pulled Pork Per Person calculators for a more precise number on a single specific cut.
You can often plan slightly less per meat when offering several options, since guests naturally sample smaller portions of each rather than a full single-meat serving of everything — but keep the same total cooked weight per person as a safe overall target.
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