When it comes to cooking vegetables, it's hard to beat the smoky, concentrated flavor that results from using the grill. Marinate them first, like in Halloumi and Vegetable Skewers with Pomegranate-Tahini Sauce, or rub them in spiced oil, as for Spicy Jerk Vegetables with Yogurt-Scallion Sauce. Enjoy them straight off the grill, or take things a step further and use the charred veggies as your key ingredient in a dish like Grilled Summer Squash Casserole. No matter which route you choose, the grill is sure to maximize the taste of whatever peak-season vegetable you have on the menu.
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Spicy Jerk Vegetables with Yogurt-Scallion Sauce
Spicy, fresh, and satisfying, these veggies make a spectacular vegetarian main course. The yogurt sauce comes together in a snap with just four ingredients. Be sure to serve with plenty of grilled bread.
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Soba Noodle Salad with Pesto and Grilled Eggplant
"Buckwheat and basil actually work really well together," chef Bill Kim says about his unlikely match-up of Japanese and Mediterranean flavors. This chunky salad has a great mix of textures, too: velvety grilled eggplant, crunchy radishes, and juicy cucumbers.
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Halloumi and Vegetable Skewers with Pomegranate-Tahini Sauce
Pomegranate molasses is the secret ingredient in this simple marinade. Its punchy, sweet, earthy notes add long-cooked depth of flavor to cheese and vegetable skewers in just 30 minutes of marination, with pleasantly bitter tahini rounding things out. The pomegranate-tahini marinade goes the extra mile as a final drizzle for the skewers; thinned with fresh orange juice, it supplies the perfect, sweet-savory finish to the dish.
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Cheese-Stuffed Grilled Peppers
Sommeliers Robert Perkins and John Lancaster love making this snack at backyard barbecues using all types of medium-sized peppers: As the peppers blister, the cheese mixture tucked inside turns warm and gooey.
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Grilled Squash, Corn, and Kale Salad with Sunflower Seed Vinaigrette
The creamy sunflower seed dressing for this hearty summer salad is flavored with za’atar, the classic Middle Eastern spice mix that often includes thyme, oregano or marjoram, sesame seeds, tangy sumac, and salt.
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Grilled Eggplant and Tomatoes with Parmesan-Basil Crumbs
Fresh breadcrumbs are an underrated way of adding fabulous crunch to recipes. Here, chef Francis Mallmann uses breadcrumbs tossed with fresh basil and lots of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to create a great topping for tender grilled vegetables.
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Grilled Pepper and Onion Panzanella with Peperoncini Vinaigrette
Cookbook author Molly Stevens' panzanella uses grilled sweet peppers and onions in place of tomatoes as the centerpiece of this dinner salad. The charred vegetables are tossed with cubes of grilled bread, drizzled with a peperoncini vinaigrette, and topped with creamy feta and crisp slices of peperoncini, which add pops of flavor and contrasting texture — all in 40 minutes.
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Grilled Corn with Cotija and Quicos
Hot off the grill, charred sweet corn gets slathered in tangy lime mayonnaise and topped with extra-large crunchy quicos, or corn nuts, in this elote recipe from chef Traci des Jardins. For a plated version, cut the kernels from the cobs and toss with lime mayo and quicos, then scoop and serve.
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Masala Grilled Vegetables with Spicy Mint Chutney
Grilled summer produce meets a chile-spiked herb dressing in this bright dish. Using a blender or food processor to prepare the chutney safeguards the color by instantly cutting and coating the herbs with oil, locking in the green.
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Creamy Cucumber and Grilled Potato Salad
The potatoes in this chunky salad are boiled and then grilled, so they're smoky on the outside and creamy within, a lovely contrast to the crisp cucumbers.
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Grilled Hen-of-the-Woods Mushrooms with Sesame
"Hen-of-the-woods are often shredded and sautéed, but when you cook them whole, they become crispy outside and meaty and moist inside," says chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten of his preferred method of preparing the coral-like mushroom. "I'm a purist when it comes to beautiful ingredients, so serving the mushrooms in big clusters keeps them the way they grow in the woods."
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Grilled Corn Salad with Coconut-Peanut Chaat
Make sure you grill corn for this salad before summer ends. It combines sweet, lightly charred fresh corn with a topping that stars ingredients including flaked coconut, curry leaves, and peanuts. It's a side dish or main that's bursting with flavor and texture — salty, nutty, crunchy, juicy, sweet, savory, and crisp.
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Grilled Eggplant with Summer Marinara
An excellent way to make use of the abundance of summer vegetables, this combines grilled eggplant with a silky tomato sauce.
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Grilled Vegetable Flatbread with Smoked Almond Muhammara
In addition to turning heads at your cookouts, this vegetarian wonder is packed with make-ahead options and smart shortcuts. Make the Smoked Almond Muhammara up to three days in advance and stash it in the fridge; skip a step and substitute jarred roasted peppers for the grilled bell peppers.
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Grilled Broccoli with Chipotle-Lime Butter and Queso Fresco
If you've never tried grilling broccoli, you're definitely missing out: The vegetable becomes tender and deliciously charred. Tossing the broccoli with a butter flavored by lime zest, honey, and smoky chipotle Tabasco makes it luscious.
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Grilled Okra, Corn, and Tomato Salad
This next-level summer salad turns heads with its punchy charred jalapeño and herb-spiked dressing and a palate-perking topping of toasted crunchy coriander and cumin seeds.
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Smoky Mushroom Skewers with Labneh and Salsa Verde
Thick-stemmed king trumpet mushrooms grill up meaty and tender, while feathery oyster mushrooms get nice and crispy. Both are great options for these quick-cooking kebabs. Piled into warm pitas with a smear of tangy labneh and a drizzle of intensely herby salsa verde, this dish is a fun, fresh way to enjoy mushrooms.
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Slow-Grilled Cauliflower with Tahina and Zhough
Maydān, Rose Previte's Washington, D.C., restaurant and wood-fired homage to Lebanon, is justly famous for its massive hearth, where this whole marinated cauliflower is cooked. We've adapted the recipe to slowly grill-roast the cauliflower over indirect heat with an oak or hickory log at the center of the grill, alongside lit coals before lightly charring over the coals to finish. Simply put, this is one of the most delicious dishes we've ever grilled at home.
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Grilled Summer Squash Casserole
Traditionally called malaiwala, "the one with cream," this casserole is a Punjabi twist on a ratatouille-style summer side. Chef Cheetie Kumar suggests making this a main dish by adding cubed paneer, a firm Indian cheese.
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Open-Face Grilled Eggplant Sandwiches
For this smoky version of eggplant Parmesan, Dogfish Head Brewery founder Sam Calagione looked for a beer that could stand up to the grilled eggplant without overwhelming it, finally opting for Guinness.