How to grill vegetables | The Right Way

We’ve talked about how to grill ribs, steaks, chickens, even fish – now let’s talk about how to grill vegetables. When preparing a delicious meal for your family, the greens should always be represented. What better way to prepare your veggies than grilling them? You don’t know what you’re missing if you’ve never tried grilling vegetables. Grilling vegetables is very easy, healthy and fast. It’s really a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies. There’s just something about freshly grilled vegetables that once you start you will never want to stop. Here are some general tips and guides to learn how to grill vegetables properly.

4 Easy Steps on How to Grill Vegetables

I found this great video on YouTube that does a great job summarizing vegetable grilling thanks to allrecipes.com

Step 1 – Choose your vegetable.

The ones that are best for grilling include bell peppers, zucchini, eggplants, asparagus, onions, corn, mushroom, chili peppers, garlic, tomatoes and potatoes. But there are a lot of other vegetables that you can grill but for this guide I will only be talking about the basics of how to grill vegetables. Now once you’ve decided on what you want to grill we move on to step 2.

Step 2 – Preparing your veggies.

Wash and dry your vegetables first. Some vegetables can be grilled whole like asparagus, mushroom, and corn. But most vegetables are better when cut into pieces. Try to be consistent with how thick you cut your vegetables, that way they will cook quickly and evenly. Cut them to about ¾ to an inch thick. Of course, the smaller you cut your veggies the faster they will cook. Also, keep in mind when portioning sizes that vegetables shrink when roasted.

After this, oil up your vegetable, this will keep the veggies from sticking to your grill and help you create those lovely grill marks. For most people just a simple seasoning of salt and pepper is best and helps bring out that great flavor of the vegetables. Grilling veggies is the best way to preserve the nutrients and really, grilling is the one of the best ways to cook vegetables.

You can also opt to make a marinade for your vegetables for additional flavor. There’s a simple mix of marinade you can use that’s really easy to make – a quarter cup of olive oil, a quarter cup of lemon juice and a quarter cup of mint, fresh herbs, or rosemary and if you love garlic go ahead and put some in and whisk together. Pour this into the bowl where your vegetables are and let it seep for 1 hour.

Step 3 – Prepare your grill.

You should always preheat your grill before grilling anything. For this, you must preheat your grill on medium heat for 10 minutes. Then clean the grates with a wire brush and wipe the grates with oil to prevent sticking.

Step 4 – Grill your vegetables.

If your veggies are sliced a bit big or are whole, you can grill them directly on the grill. To prevent smaller veggies from slipping between the grates, use a grilling basket. This way it will keep all your veggies in place and still grill them properly. Make sure to flip the basket once or twice to grill them evenly. Or you can use skewers to grill the smaller vegetables and make kebabs. Make sure you soak the bamboo skewers in water for 20- 30 minutes prior to grilling to keep them from charring.

If you have a variety of vegetables to grill make sure you grill the longest first like eggplant and onion. I really like grilling potatoes and there’s a bunch of ways to do this. You can slice them into smaller pieces and rub oil on them before putting the potatoes on the grill. You can also cut them into small bits and put it in an aluminum pouch and onto the grill.

And that’s basically it. You can start grilling your veggies and make your family eat healthier and get the kiddies to enjoy their greens. There are a lot of other ways and other grilling techniques when it comes to grilling vegetables but if you get these basic steps down, you should be able to learn the other techniques in no time.

Grilled vegetables make any meal complete and better.