Quick answer: The Cracker Barrel dinner menu centers on country plates like Chicken n’ Dumplins (about $13), meatloaf, and country fried steak, most priced between $12 and $19 as of October 2026. Dinners come with two or three sides plus buttermilk biscuits or corn muffins at no extra charge. Steaks, fried chicken, and seafood round out the board. Prices vary by location.
Dinner at Cracker Barrel is a sit-down, pass-the-biscuits affair. No counters, no rushing. The menu reads like a church cookbook index: dumplins, meatloaf, fried steak, catfish, greens. If you grew up with a grandmother who cooked on Sundays, half of this will taste familiar in the best way.
Country Plates, the Heart of the Dinner Menu
Chicken n’ Dumplins leads the lineup at around $13, and it has earned the spot. The dumplings are rolled flat and cut in strips, not dropped in puffy balls, and the broth is thick enough to coat a spoon. It is the single most ordered dinner at most stores, and it tastes like somebody’s recipe card, because it basically is.
Country fried steak comes breaded and crisp under a blanket of sawmill gravy, usually a dollar or two above the dumplins. Meatloaf, baked with a tomato glaze, rotates between the regular menu and the Monday special slot depending on the store. Each country plate includes your choice of sides, and the kitchen will happily split a big plate for two light eaters with an extra side order.
Chicken, Cooked Four Different Ways
The weekend star is Southern fried chicken: bone-in pieces with a deeply seasoned crust, fried hard enough to crunch audibly. It headlines Saturday and Sunday as the weekend special, though many stores keep a fried chicken plate on the regular menu too, typically in the $13 to $15 range.
Grilled chicken tenders and fried tenders cover the boneless crowd, and a lemon pepper grilled chicken plate gives the menu one genuinely lighter dinner. Kids at the table tend to claim the tenders within about ninety seconds of the plates landing. Order an extra basket of biscuits and call it strategy.
Steaks and Seafood
Steak options run from a sirloin at the friendly end, usually $16 to $18, up to a ribeye that can pass $21 at city locations. They are cooked to order on the flat top, seasoned simply, and served with the same country sides as everything else. Temper your expectations to “good roadside steakhouse” and you will be happy; this is comfort cooking, not a chophouse.
Seafood means fried catfish most days, shrimp plates at many stores, and the Friday fish fry special when the week turns. The catfish comes cornmeal-crusted with hushpuppies, and it sells out at smaller stores more often than you would guess. If catfish is your plan, do not arrive at 8 p.m. on a Friday and act surprised.
The Sides Lineup
Two or three sides ride along with every dinner, and the list is long: macaroni and cheese, whole green beans, turnip greens, fried okra, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet baby carrots, corn, pinto beans, and the famous hashbrown casserole. Biscuits or corn muffins arrive with the meal at no charge, and yes, asking for both is allowed and common.
Strategy note: the dumplings side, a small bowl of the same dumplings from the Chicken n’ Dumplins, is the insider pick. Mac and cheese runs a close second. Greens with a splash of the pepper vinegar on the table is the move nobody regrets.
How the Plates Are Built (and How to Bend Them)
One underrated feature of this menu is how little it fights you. Swap a side, hold the gravy, put the gravy on the side instead, trade biscuits for corn muffins, trade corn muffins back for biscuits halfway through the meal. The kitchen handles all of it without the sigh you get at trendier places, because these plates were designed as components, not compositions.
Prices bend a little with your choices, mostly in your favor. Dropping to two sides where three are offered sometimes trims a dollar. Adding a premium side like the loaded hashbrown casserole adds a dollar or two. And the shared-plate move, one dinner plus an extra side and an extra plate for two light eaters, remains the single best dinner value in the building. Servers see it nightly and will set it up without being asked twice.
Soups and Salads, the Quiet Corner of the Menu
Every country menu hides a lighter page, and this one is better than it needs to be. The vegetable soup and the soup of the day, often a chicken noodle or a loaded potato, run about $5 to $7 for a bowl and make a fair light dinner next to a shared side. Chef salads and grilled chicken salads sit near $10 to $12, with the fried chicken salad for the person who wants salad in name only. No judgment. We have been that person.
Save Room for Dessert (Seriously, Plan for It)
The dessert case rotates fruit cobblers, seasonal pies, and a double chocolate fudge cake that has a devoted following. Slices usually run $4 to $6, and the cobbler of the day, peach in summer, apple in fall, comes warm if you ask. Half the tables in the dining room order dessert to go and eat it on the porch rockers. Join them.
Grilled Plates for the Lighter Crowd
Not every dinner here is fried, whatever the reputation says. Grilled chicken tenders carry the same seasoning as the fried version without the crust, and the lemon pepper grilled chicken plate is the order regulars use when they are eating here three nights in a row on a road trip. A grilled sirloin with steamed vegetables and a salad starter is a legitimately balanced meal hiding inside a comfort menu.
Vegetable plates deserve more respect than they get. Pick four country sides, say mac and cheese, turnip greens, fried apples, and pinto beans, add the biscuits that come with it, and you have a meatless dinner with real Southern roots for less than most of the meat plates. Old-timers call it a vegetable plate. Everyone else just calls it good.
Kids at the Dinner Table
The kids’ dinner menu mirrors the adult one at roughly half the price and two-thirds the portion: mini chicken and dumplins, small fried chicken plates, mac and cheese with a side, and a little sirloin for the kid who orders like a rancher. Most kids’ dinners land between $6 and $9, drinks often included at participating stores.
One practical note: kids’ plates come out fast here, usually a few minutes ahead of the adult dinners. That pacing is deliberate and every parent in the room appreciates it. Biscuits arriving early help too. Hangry toddlers fear the biscuit basket, because it ends them.
The Shortcut Nobody Should Skip: Tonight’s Special
Before you order a regular plate, ask what the daily special is. Turkey on Thursday, fish on Friday, fried chicken all weekend, and each one undercuts the closest regular plate by a couple of dollars with the same sides and bread included. Half the dinner menu’s best values are hiding on that rotating schedule, and the server will happily walk you through it.
What Dinner Actually Costs for a Table of Four
Four country plates at $13 to $16 each, four drinks, one shared dessert, plus tax and tip lands most families between $85 and $105 out the door. That is the honest math as of October 2026. Shave it by choosing a daily special day, or feed the same crew at home with a family meal for less. For the midday version of this menu, see the lunch and dinner guide, and the full guide list lives on the home page.
Dinner Questions
What is the most popular dinner at Cracker Barrel?
Chicken n’ Dumplins, at about $13, is the longtime leader. Meatloaf and country fried steak trade second place depending on the region.
Do dinners include sides and bread?
Yes. Country dinners come with two or three sides of your choice plus buttermilk biscuits or corn muffins at no extra charge.
How much are the steaks?
Most stores price the sirloin around $16 to $18 and the ribeye near $19 to $22. Steak prices vary more by market than the country plates do.
Is fried chicken available every day?
Southern fried chicken headlines the weekend special, and many stores also carry a fried chicken plate daily. Availability differs, so check your store’s menu board.
Can I get dinner to go?
Every dinner plate is available for takeout, and the family meals are built specifically for feeding a group at home.
Are dinner prices the same everywhere?
No. Prices are set regionally and change with menu updates. The figures here are typical US prices checked in October 2026.
Cracker Barrel Menu Guide is an independent guide and is not affiliated with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. Prices shown are typical US prices as of October 2026 and vary by location.
Cracker Barrel Dinner Menu With Prices: What to Remember
When supper is the main event, this cracker barrel dinner menu with prices guide keeps every plate in one place. Use the cracker barrel dinner menu with prices above to compare country plates, steaks and desserts, then check the official Cracker Barrel menu for your local store before you set off.