Grilled Vegetables

Grilled until they're lightly charred outside and tender within, these leeks are terrific served with a spicy twist on the classic Spanish almond sauce. Here, the romesco is made with grilled shishitos and crushed red pepper so it has multiple layers of heat.

“If it were up to me, I would throw everything on the grill,” says Tim Love. Case in point: He cooks tomatoes and scallions over a hot fire for a simple salad flavored with a little lime juice and crumbled cheese.

Instead of toasting walnuts in the oven, use a grill: Wrap the nuts in foil before placing them in the coals or on the grate.

In Mario Batali’s riff on the traditional antipasto of prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, he wraps spears in pancetta (which, unlike prosciutto, becomes nicely crispy when cooked) and grills them. Adding a bit of tanginess is the citronette, a marvelously bright-tasting mustardy-orange dressing.

“Butter is not the villain it once was,” says Michel Nischan, who adds a little bit to roasted garlic to create a rich, creamy spread for corn on the cob.

Bobby Flay makes this delightful grilled asparagus salad with sweet grape tomatoes, briny kalamata olives and sharp white cheddar. Each bite brings out a different combination of ingredients.

The only way to grill tomatoes without losing their delicious juices is in a foil packet. Flavor the tomatoes with any fresh herbs or aromatics, then use them in a briny summer clam chowder or crostini.

Much more than the sum of its two parts, Sara Simpson’s side dish of beefy grilled portobellos with herbed butter is satisfying enough to be a vegetarian main course.

Grilling concentrates the sweet flavor of fresh baby carrots. (Bagged “baby” carrots will never taste the same.) Bryce Gilmore marinates them, then tosses them with a wonderful and unusual dressing he makes by cooking butter until brown, then pureeing it with marcona almonds and sherry vinegar.

As the peppers blister, the cheese mixture tucked inside turns warm and gooey.

There’s plenty of room for experimentation here. We've used grilled eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, and onion sandwiched in crusty rolls with a little pesto. Fennel, endive, or mushrooms would make fine vegetable substitutes; sun-dried tomatoes or white-bean puree can replace the pesto; or omit the condiment altogether and top the sandwich with whole fresh basil or mint leaves.

Grilling zucchini and summer squash ribbons on skewers is terrific because the edges become wonderfully charred and crisp, while the insides stay tender and juicy.

Amanda Cohen tosses herb fettuccine with pickled squash blossoms and grilled zucchini. This simplified recipe features squash that’s pickled and then grilled, plus freshly sautéed squash.

In this unorthodox recipe, chef Nate Appleman quickly grills whole fava beans, tosses them with a crushed red pepper dressing and serves them hot. They can be eaten whole—the tender pods develop a lovely charred flavor on the grill—but it's also easy to eat them in the traditional way by popping the beans out of their pods and outer skins.

This side dish has a great porky flavor from the pancetta, which gets simmered in water before frying to make it extra crisp.

If you’ve never tried grilling broccoli, you are definitely missing out: The vegetable becomes tender and deliciously charred. Tossing the broccoli with a butter flavored with lime zest, honey and smoky chipotle Tabasco makes it luscious.

About 15 slender baby carrots—grilled until charred, then tightly rolled inside a tortilla with poblano-spiked sour cream—make for a superb vegetable wrap.

Chef Joshua Skenes showcases various brassicas (plants in the mustard family, like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and rutabaga) and toasted grains in a delightfully frothy bonito-kombu (seaweed) broth.

“Grilling over an open flame is my favorite way of cooking,” says Charlie Parker. “It gives food so much flavor without the need for butter.” Here, he serves lightly charred broccoli and ciabatta cubes in a twist on an Italian bread-and-tomato salad.

Chef Mark Broadbent upgrades the standard lemony arugula salad by topping it with grilled asparagus, butter-fried eggs—duck eggs, when available—and freshly shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Fresh bread crumbs are an underrated way of adding fabulous crunch to recipes. Here Francis Mallmann uses bread crumbs tossed with fresh basil and lots of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to create a great topping for tender grilled vegetables.

In this incredibly easy recipe, Michael Chiarello brushes endives with olive oil, grills them until lightly charred and super-juicy, then dresses them with olive oil. The endives can be grilled while the roast is just starting to cook, then set aside, since they’re terrific at room temperature or chilled.

After peeling the charred outer layers, Tony Mantuano advises dipping these softened onions in a vibrant romesco sauce, which he makes with sweet red bell peppers.

Classic Andalucian gazpacho combines raw vegetables like tomatoes and onions with red wine vinegar for a little kick. Kerry Simon transforms the recipe by using grilled vegetables brightened with a blend of vinegar, orange juice and lemon juice.

“When I was a kid, my mom would marinate cucumbers, red onions and canned potatoes in jarred creamy Italian dressing,” says Jamie Bissonnette. “I’m not saying she was a great cook, but creamy Italian dressing is still my favorite. I make a version of it for this salad.”

Grilling kale gives it a toasty flavor; the smartest way to prepare kale for grilling is blanching it so it becomes tender and doesn’t burn.

Both residents of barbecue-mad Kansas City, Judith M. Fertig and Karen Adler are the authors of The BBQ Queens’ Big Book of Barbecue. Even when they’re grilling vegetables, as for this hearty salad drizzled with lemon vinaigrette, these BBQ Queens prefer using a gas grill with lots of power—at least 40,000 BTUs.

Dr. Andrew Weil believes cooked mushrooms are more nutritious than raw ones, so F&W’s Grace Parisi developed this vegetarian entrée of grilled mushrooms filled with smoky chiles.

This vegetarian sandwich is terrific warm, but for a shortcut, use jarred olive tapenade instead of homemade and serve the sandwich cold.

Chef Nate Appleman swears by coating vegetables with a mayonnaise-based marinade; it creates a beautifully blistered crust when grilled. Here he offers a marinade for asparagus that is also fabulous on broccoli and fennel.

To stuff his vegan involtini, chef Sean Baker re-creates the flavor of ricotta by combining pureed raw cashews with nutritional yeast, which has a very savory, almost cheese-like flavor and is available at well-stocked specialty and natural food stores.

Jeri Ryan’s favorite sandwich stuffing is a mix of crumbly cheese, crispy bacon and charred red onions. She likes the savory combination so much she’s turned it into a salad with tender new potatoes. It’s incredibly good as a side with grilled beef tenderloin or steak.

Spicy, fresh and satisfying, these make a spectacular vegetarian main course.

New York City chef Andrew Carmellini blanches and then grills broccoli rabe so it's tender and slightly charred. He serves it with a killer sun-dried tomato and roasted red pepper sauce that gets an appealing kick from pickled hot peppers.

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 often salt.