We describe the relationships between the notion of $q$-deformed rational numbers, introduced in our previous work with Sophie Morier-Genoud, and the theory of dimer models. We show that $q$-deformed rationals can be calculated in terms of perfect matchings of certain bipartite graphs, known as snake graphs, or ribbon tiles, etc. equipped with a certain weight function on the set of edges. We apply some elements of the dimer theory to get more information about $q$-rationals.