7 Food Items To Buy Your First Time At Buc-Ee's

The first thing you need to understand about Buc-ee's is that it's so much more than a gas station. It was founded and is still headquartered in Texas but has locations in the South, West, and Midwest. The still-growing chain is known for three things: immaculately clean bathrooms, huge gift shops stocked with all manner of beaver-themed merch, and aisles upon aisles of food, glorious food, ranging from fresh barbecue sandwiches to large-portioned road snacks. 

The food at Buc-ee's is an essential part of the experience. But if it's your first time making a pilgrimage, you're almost certain to be overwhelmed by the number of options available. To help guide your first visit to Buc-ee's, I made a list of some of the items that you should make a point to try. I personally selected each of these based on my own experience shopping and dining at Buc-ee's locations across the country. Items were selected based on their taste, novelty, and centrality to the Buc-ee's experience.

Even if you may have never set foot into a Buc-ee's, you have probably already heard of Beaver Nuggets. This is one of the chain's most popular and iconic snacks. The puffed corn bites have a similar size, shape, and texture to Cheez Doodles, but are flavored instead with a sticky-sweet maple coating.

You'll either love Beaver Nuggets or hate them (they are ranked among the chain's most underrated snacks), but the only way to find out what side you're on is to try them. Personally, I was apprehensive about them — I have a general distaste for puffed corn — but I loved them so much I bought a second bag to take home. They're very sweet, but not sickly sweet, with just a little hint of salt for balance. The puffs themselves are perfectly crispy, and the coating sticks to your teeth in the best way.

If you're stopping at Buc-ee's, you're almost certainly in the middle of a long drive, which means it's time to stock up on snacks. With their balanced, salty-sweet flavor and crispy texture, Beaver Nuggets are the perfect thing to pass around the car. Just make sure to get the original Beaver Nuggets in the clear bag; skip the flavored ones like Cinnamon Sweet, and don't confuse these with the savory Nug-ees.

I know what you're thinking: Barbecue? From a gas station? But you really can't go wrong with a Buc-ee's sandwich. They're always piled high at the hot food counter and come with your choice of meat — sliced brisket, chopped brisket, turkey, or pulled pork — slathered in a sweet and tangy house barbecue sauce. Although its custom-made sandwiches have been discontinued, you can also grab onions and pickles from the self-service tubs to make this sandwich your own.

If you're looking for something more substantial during your Buc-ee's stop, you have to go with the chopped brisket. The tender chunks of meat lend the sandwich a lot more texture than the sliced version, and the sauce has a lot more surface area to cling to. If you're really hungry, you might want to pick up the extra-large version (also known as the Big Buckin' Brisket Sandwich), which contains a whopping 13 ounces of meat.

Pro tip: listen for a chorus of voices crying out "Fresh brisket on the board!" from the food counter. This means a hot, newly smoked chunk of meat has just arrived, and is about to be cut up and made into sandwiches. If you hurry over to the sandwich station, you can get your brisket while it's fresh. I, however, am not ashamed to admit I'm impatient enough to usually just grab one from under the heat lamp.

The jerky wall at Buc-ee's is like an eldritch being: so big it defies comprehension. At every location I've visited, it's significantly taller than all but the tallest human beings, and at least as wide as four of us standing side-by-side, including every flavor you can imagine and then some.

There's an ongoing debate about which of Buc-ee's jerky flavors is the best. To each their own, I say, but for me, it has to be the teriyaki jerky. It's coated in a powdered seasoning that blends soy sauce, brown sugar, and apple cider vinegar, and for me, the balance of sweet and savory makes this one of the finest car snacks Buc-ee's has to offer.

Feeling your own insignificance in the presence of the jerky wall is a core part of your first Buc-ee's pilgrimage. If you're overwhelmed by the options available and don't know what to get, get teriyaki. But at the end of the day, the flavor you pick is less important than the selection process itself. Just don't skip the jerky wall.

Buc-ee's has a lot of nuts on offer; depending on the location you visit, you'll almost certainly find half an aisle dedicated to all sorts of nuts coated in all sorts of seasonings. But I say skip the ones in the snack aisle and head straight for the hot bar, where you'll find a collection of paper cones sitting under heat lamps.

There, you'll find Buc-ee's glazed pecans, available in plain and cinnamon varieties. My advice is to spring for the cinnamon; you can't go wrong with that extra hint of warm spice.

Buc-ee's candied pecans aren't all that different from the ones you might get from holiday markets or stalls on the street. They're sweet, salty, crunchy, and perfectly poppable. But they're a must-buy because they're the perfect snack for long-distance drives, as there's something so comforting about the way the cinnamon smell fills the car before you even rip open the bag.

Similarly, if you're looking for a bag of chips at Buc-ee's, you should skip the snack aisle and head to the hot bar. There, you'll find Buc-ee's version of a fresh-fried potato chip: Beaver Chips.

And yes, these are just potato chips at the end of the day, but if you've never had a fresh potato chip before, you're missing out. It's a whole different experience; these chips are much more flavorful, and that earthy potato flavor really shines through. Beaver Chips are a little thicker-cut than your average Lays or Pringles, too, which gives them an extra bit of crunchy texture. Sometimes, you get one that's been ever-so-slightly undercooked, and it's just a little bit crisp in the middle, like a piece of al dente pasta.

If you can, try to grab the freshest batch of Beaver Chips possible for extra warmth and flavor. The employees won't call it out like they do the brisket, but you can still pull it off if you time it right.

Kolaches, which were originally brought over by Czech immigrants to the United States, have since become a Texas staple. So it only makes sense that the Texas-born Buc-ee's would stock its own version of these doughy, yeasty pastries. But be warned: Some kolache flavors may only be available in the morning and are likely to be pulled from shelves around 10 a.m.

Buc-ee's has a few different varieties of kolache, including savory options like sausage and cheese (also available with jalapeño) and sweet fruit varieties. The savory ones are good, but I prefer the sweet varieties, of which strawberry cream cheese is always my first choice. I love the balance between the sweet, jammy strawberry filling and the tang of the cream cheese, which, if the kolaches are kept warm enough, melts in your mouth. And anyway, kolache enthusiasts say the savory ones often miss the mark.

I'm sure there are a million better places in Texas to get kolaches. But if it's your first time at Buc-ee's, there's a good chance it's also your first time trying one of these pastries, and it's as good an introduction as any.

Hear me out on this one. Buc-ee's is pretty well-known for its pickles, with popular varieties including green beans and garlic. These are all pretty good, but for me, the standout is the spicy pickled Brussels sprouts.

The spicy sprouts offer the perfect balance of flavors: funk from the Brussels sprouts, that essential pickle tanginess, a good deal of salt, and just a hint of heat. They're not mouth-burningly spicy, but there's a noticeable tingle. They're also perfectly bite-sized, which, like a lot of things on offer at Buc-ee's, makes them eminently snackable.

Buc-ee's spicy Brussels sprouts also stood out to me because I'd never seen anything like them before; I've tried all kinds of pickled vegetables, but this was my first time seeing Brussels sprouts in brine. (I know now that several other brands exist, but that's only because I'm actively seeking them out.) If you can only try one kind of pickle on your first trip to Buc-ee's, make it the Brussels sprouts. You won't regret it.

Items on this list were selected based on my own personal experience as a Buc-ee's connoisseur. I was first introduced to the chain a few years ago on a trip through Tennessee and haven't looked back since. Whenever I'm in an area serviced by Buc-ee's, I make a point of stopping by, even if it's a little out of the way.

When selecting items for this list, I considered not only the taste of the items but also how unique they were to Buc-ee's. Because shopping at Buc-ee's is more like visiting a theme park, I also included some less unique items that I felt were integral to the Buc-ee's experience (e.g., lots of gas stations have teriyaki-flavored jerky, but only Buc-ee's has the jerky wall).

Because Buc-ee's is, ultimately, a glorified gas station, I prioritized snacks and finger foods — things you can eat on the road — although I included some more hearty options in case you're in for the long haul. I also aimed for a mix of fresh foods and packaged goods so that travelers could pick something to bring back to their friends at home and spread the gospel of Buc-ee's even further.