The Most Iconic Dish from Every Southern State

The Runner-Up: Boiled Peanuts
State’s Best Dessert: Lane Cake

Bob Gibson of Decatur, Alabama is credited with creating this mayonnaise-based sauce all the way back in 1925. Most folks like to serve Alabama white sauce with smoked or grilled chicken, but this Southern condiment goes with just about anything, in our opinion. 

Recipe: Alabama White BBQ Sauce

The Runner-Up: Cheese Dip
State’s Best Dessert: Chocolate Gravy

Because in this state, you'll find Fatman’s Original Fried Dill Pickles. These fried pickles are the first of their kind. And while many (even us in the South) think that chocolate gravy is just a myth, it's not. In fact, it's to be served with warm, flaky biscuits. 

Recipe: Fried Pickle Chips

The Runner-Up: Vinegar Fries
State’s Best Dessert: Peach Pie

A creamy, gravy-like white sauce rehydrates dried beef, and the dish is served over plain white toast. You'll still see this recipe as a breakfast item on many diner menus, but it originally started as a U.S. Military staple. (And yes, Delaware is, in fact, considered a Southern state, y'all.) 

Recipe: Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast

The Runner-Up: Conch Fritters
State’s Best Dessert: Key Lime Pie

The Cuban sandwich became a South Florida mainstay after being popular in the communities of Cuban workers located in Key West and Tampa during the 1800s. 

Named after the small Key limes you'll find throughout the Florida Keys, Key lime pie can only be considered real-deal when topped with sky-high fluffy meringue. 

The Runner-Up: Red Rice
State’s Best Dessert: Peach Cobbler

Brunswick stew is a free-for-all. Each Southern cook has a secret combination of ingredients, but most agree that corn, butter or lima beans, and tomatoes are essential. 

Recipe: Chicken-and-Brisket Brunswick Stew

The Runner-Up: Kentucky Hot Browns
State’s Best Dessert: Apple-Bourbon Pie

The old saying puts it best: “If it walked, crawled, or flew, it goes in burgoo.” Meet Brunswick stew's Kentucky cousin, the burgoo. 

Recipe: Harry Young’s Burgoo

The Runner-Up: Red Beans and Rice
State’s Best Dessert: King Cake

Gumbo is one of those dishes that real Louisiana cooks can conjure with heart and whatever's on hand—and King Cake might be the most festive Southern dessert of all time. 

Recipe: Shrimp and Okra Gumbo

The Runner-Up: Steamed Crab
State’s Best Dessert: Smith Island Cake

This coastal state knows crab. Like, really knows it. So if you're served a Maryland crab cake, count yourself lucky. The Smith Island cake originated on an island along the Chesapeake Bay, and each slice has thin yellow cake layers held together with chocolate icing. (The cake gets stacked anywhere from 8 to 12 layers high.)

Recipe: Best-Ever Crab Cakes with Green Tomato Slaw

The Runner-Up: Biscuits and Gravy
State’s Best Dessert: Mississippi Mud Pie

Frying up fresh catfish is something Mississipians do when feeling frisky—or just whenever. To do it right, serve it on a plate with pickled vegetables, cornbread, and greens.

Recipe: Classic Fried Catfish

The Runner-Up: Hot Salami Sandwich
State’s Best Dessert: Gooey Butter Cake

This state hosts its fill of tangy and sweet sauce-glazed ribs and thin-sliced brisket. Tip: Be sure to get "burnt ends" and a side of BBQ beans. And if you've had gooey butter cake before, you already know it deserves a spot on this list. 

The Runner-Up: Sweet Potato Casserole
State’s Best Dessert: Scuppernong Pie

The finished pork you'll find at the famed Lexington Barbecue is served chopped, sliced, or “coarse chopped”—cut into medium-size chunks—and dressed with the region’s signature vinegar-based sauce. The locals refer to it as “dip,” and it’s tinged red with tomato ketchup.

North Carolina also happens to be the nation's top supplier of sweet potatoes, and the scuppernong is the state fruit.

Recipe: Lexington-Style Grilled Chicken

The Runner-Up: Fried Okra
State’s Best Dessert: Fried Strawberry Pie

Just ask Ree Drummond—who happens to live on a bonafide cattle ranch in Oklahoma. This state is the place to get a steak. Whether at a restaurant or by the campfire, a cast-iron "cowboy" steak is the way to go.

Fried okra resides on the state's official meal (who knew?), and Oklahoma has been famous for its fried pies for over 100 years. 

Recipe: Cast-Iron Cowboy Steak

The Runner-Up: She-Crab Soup
State’s Best Dessert: Coconut Cake

South Carolinians in the Lowcountry came up with the genius idea to combine creamy grits with fresh shrimp. Consider us indebted. 

And even though Charleston’s Peninsula Grill wasn't the first to serve coconut cake, it certainly serves the ultimate one. How ultimate, you might wonder? Try 12 layers of moist, buttery cake held together with fluffy coconut filling.

Recipe: Southern Shrimp and Grits

The Runner-Up: Memphis-Style BBQ Ribs
State’s Best Dessert: Apple Stack Cake

It all started in Nashville in the 1930s with Thornton J. Prince III cheated on his lover. In response, she decided to teach him a lesson by making an incendiary version of fried chicken that she hoped would burn up his mouth. He took one bite and loved it. The rest is a fiery-mouthed history. The orangish red, crispy, incredibly juicy chicken is traditionally served on top of white bread and garnished with dill pickle slices. 

The Runner-Up: Frito Pie
State’s Best Dessert: Texas Sheet Cake

This heavenly chicken-fried creation deserves to be dubbed the national treasure of Texas. As for the runner-up, Frito Pie is like a walking Tex-Mex taco that pays homage to the state's signature chili. 

Recipe: Traditional Chicken-Fried Steak

The Runner-Up: Brunswick Stew
State’s Best Dessert: Chess Pie

Virginia is known for its salty cured hams, and a bowl of this soup will tell you why. A variation of this hearty ham-and-bean soup has been on the menu in the Senate’s restaurant every day since at least 1903.

And funny enough, Brunswick County, Virginia, challenges Brunswick, Georgia, for ownership of Brunswick stew. We're staying mum on the matter. 

Recipe: Senate Bean Soup

The Runner-Up: Pepperoni Rolls
State’s Best Dessert: Shoofly Pie

This is how you know someone is an Appalachian: Ask about soup beans. Because it's no soup, and if they think so you've found a phony. Soup beans are pinto beans that have been simmered with water, salt, pepper, and—if desired—ham. In those parts of the South, it's given that soup beans are served with cornbread and chow chow. 

Recipe: Ben Mims' Perfect Cornbread