How to Grill Vegetables For Max Flavor
Summer is for fresh vegetables and grilling! As your veggie experts, we’ve compiled a Grilled Vegetables guide, complete with grilled vegetable recipes to help you make the most of summer cookouts.
What are the best vegetables to grill?
When planning a summer meal, there are so many delicious veggies to choose from. But when it comes to deciding which to put on the open fire, some take the heat better than others.
Our favorite veggies to grill include: tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and asparagus. These classics are a griller’s go-to. Not only do they hold their shape well, but there’s something about a grill’s smoke that makes these particular veggies develop uniquely sweet and savory flavors. Corn-on-the-cob also gets sweeter when charred on the grill, and eggplant develops a unique and sumptuous texture.
How To Grill Vegetables—Ideas and Recipes
Grilled Veggie Skewers
You can make veggie shish-kebabs with any of the above vegetables! Just wash, cut into large cubed or quartered pieces, and assemble them on grill skewers in alternating color patterns (or you can do one vegetable type per skewer, up to you!). Then simply place them on the grill, turning a few times for even cooking. If you’re unsure how long to grill vegetables, remember that they’ll develop some blackened edges when close to done, and that grilled vegetables are usually firmer than roasted vegetables. That’s part of how they keep their fresh, unique flavor.
You could also include broccoli florets on your veggie kebabs, which we’ve already prepped for you at the perfect skewering and grilling size. Skewer some cauliflower while you’re at it—or maybe even some rainbow cauliflower if you’re feeling fancy!
And of course, you can add cubes of meat, like chicken, steak, or lamb, between the vegetables to make a well-rounded and easy-to-prepare total meal. Serve alongside rice or other side dishes.
For an innovative touch that includes even more fresh greens, you can place your freshly grilled and blackened veggie kebabs on top of a salad, like we did on our Asian Chopped Salad With Grilled Teriyaki Kebabs.
Grilled Green Beans
Green beans are delicious when prepared just about every way, which means they’re also delicious on the grill. They’re thin, so they quickly develop a rather fully blackened skin, get softer, and a little bit more robust in flavor. Grill them on a layer of aluminum foil to keep them from falling through the grate.
Enjoy them as is next to the rest of your meal, or toss them in a teriyaki sauce for an exciting side dish, or dip them in a creamy dip as an appetizer. You could also use grilled green beans instead of roasted for a summery twist on our French Onion Green Beans Roast Kit.
Grilled Potatoes
Grilled potatoes and sweet potatoes are a favorite, too. You can either cube them and coat them in olive oil and cook them in a grill pan or grill wok, or you can cut the potatoes into medallions and cook them directly on the grill until the edges are blackened. (Grill marks look extra artistic!)
Grilled Corn on the Cob
If you haven’t put your corn on the cob on a grill yet, well…it’s time to! It develops a more sweetened flavor that’s then balanced perfectly by the charred taste of grill-blackened kernels. Although, if you want to avoid any blackening but still just have fun cooking corn on the grill, you can grill corn with the husk still on.
Grilled corn is especially delicious if you’re making an elote dish, topping it with queso fresco, cotija cheese, chili, and lime. The fresh-off-the-grill smokiness gives it a fresh street food vibe. By the way, if you’re looking for elote flavor but don’t have time to grill, just make our Mexican Style Street Corn Chopped Kit.
You can also make a delicious grilled corn salad by cutting grilled corn kernels off the cob. The sweet kernels of grilled corn are a treat next to meatier flavors like spinach and coleslaw. Pro-tip: you can grill bread, too, to make croutons!
Brussels Skewers
That’s right: try Brussels sprouts on skewers on the grill. The way roasted Brussels sprouts develop a semi-burnt, crispiness to them, grilled Brussels sprouts will do the same. Marinate them thoroughly in olive oil and salt before placing them on skewers and over heat. Note that Brussels sprouts are thick, so they might take more time than other veggies to cook through. They’ll make an amazing appetizer when served with a chilled yogurt-based dip.
Grilled Tomatoes
Grilled tomatoes develop a tasty charred skin and a super soft interior when heated on the grill. For a gourmet touch, add grilled tomatoes instead of chilled tomatoes to any chopped salad kit. Top it with a grilled protein, and it’ll all be so fresh and good you might wonder if you shouldn’t also grill the lettuce… but let’s just stop here for now.
Enjoy those grilled vegetables!
