The best grilling recipes are often easier than you think. Combine the right ingredients for the sauce, seasoning, or marinade and you've got a winning dish to serve during grilling season for years to come. Simple side dishes and vegetable mains can be the star of the show with the perfect sear. We've rounded up plenty of quick and easy recipe options for your grilling pleasure. Read on for some of our favorites.
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Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Lemongrass-Lime Aïoli
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Sweet, mild grilled mahi-mahi harmonizes with an aïoli featuring lemongrass and lime. The creamy aïoli comes together in seconds using an immersion blender, resulting in a silky texture that's less likely to break. It adds richness and zest to a classic summer meal that's ready in 25 minutes.
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Grilled Shrimp with Oregano and Lemon
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The sauce for this shrimp is a simple version of Italy's salmoriglio, typically made with lemon and herbs in a mortar. The sauce is also delicious spooned over grilled swordfish or any other meaty fish.
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Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Thyme
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A bold mixture of red pepper flakes, garlic, thyme, lemon juice, and olive oil serves as a spicy marinade for bone-in chicken breasts. If you want your chicken spicier still, increase the red pepper or leave the breasts in the marinade for an hour or two.
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Grilled Pepper and Onion Panzanella with Peperoncini Vinaigrette
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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 Red Curry Chicken
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Roasting a whole chicken takes about an hour, but cut out the backbone and flatten the bird and it will grill perfectly in just 30 minutes. We like to rub the chicken all over with a very simple, Thai-inspired mix of red curry paste, coconut milk, and brown sugar.
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Sausage Mixed Grill
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Three types of sausage plus peppers and radicchio make for a fun assortment of flavors to pile on your plate. Be sure to prick fresh sausages all over before grilling to release the excess fat.
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Spicy Apricot Wings
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The apricot-based sauce that's brushed on these chicken wings before grilling provides plenty of zingy flavor, and the extra sauce is good for dipping. A refreshing wheat beer or fruity Pinot Gris would be a superb complement to the wings.
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Celery, Grilled Grape, and Mushroom Salad
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"Celery is a vegetable people either love or hate, and we try to get people to love all their vegetables," says chef Amanda Cohen. She balances out the celery's bitterness and crunch with meaty oyster mushrooms and grapes that have been grilled until almost bursting.
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Grilled King Salmon with Meyer Lemon Relish
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Floral and lightly acidic salsa brings out the buttery, rich flavors of grilled salmon. Salmon is meaty enough to stay intact on a grill and gets meltingly tender as it cooks. Save the leftover salsa to serve with grilled lamb, chicken, or pork.
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Grilled Pork Chops with Honey Garlic Glaze
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A simple glaze made from sticky-sweet honey, savory soy sauce, and fresh garlic drenches each perfectly grilled pork chop in this recipe. For the most evenly cooked pork, with delicious char and grill marks, flip the pork frequently over high heat for the first several minutes of cooking, then finish the meat on lower heat.
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Skillet Brownies on the Grill
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Dessert deserves a place on the grill, too. These brownies take on a deliciously smoky flavor on the grill from "baking" in a skillet set over hot coals. Just remember to butter the skillet generously.
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Grilled Corn on the Cob with Calamansi Mayo
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Chef Sheldon Simeon's recipe for a Hawaiian twist on Mexican elote features grilled corn slathered in a creamy, cheesy calamansi mayonnaise, which gets its acidic twang from a sour citrus fruit native to the South Pacific (you can substitute Key limes in a pinch). Ichimi togarashi (Japanese chile flakes) add heat; aonori (dried seaweed) flakes add umami oomph and island style.
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Grilled Shrimp and Lettuces with Charred Green Goddess Dressing
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In a salad that's anything but boring, this grilled shrimp gets an extra boost from the green goddess dressing. Charring the dressing ingredients before making it lends a smoky depth to the whole dish.
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Grilled Oysters with Chorizo Butter
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No shucking necessary: Once the oysters open on the grill, simply top them with chef David Kinch’s smoky, tangy butter.
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Crispy Grilled Lamb Pitas with Radish-Watercress Salad
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The robust, fatty lamb here needs a fresh, zippy counterpoint, so it's served with a salad featuring three types of radishes: watermelon radishes for their gorgeous magenta hue, green daikon for softer color but more pungent bite, and cherry radishes for their crisp, juicy texture. This trio gets tangled in a pile of also-peppery watercress and dressed with the simplest combo of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
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BLT Hot Dogs with Caraway Remoulade
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Of course, classic hot dogs are never a bad idea on the grill, but if you're looking for an easy upgrade, this is it. These "BLT" hot dogs are topped with crispy bacon, fresh tomatoes, and crunchy lettuce dressed with creamy caraway-pickle mayonnaise.
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