How to Make the Perfect Grilled Vegetables. Easy Cooking, Best Results

As a side or main dish, grilled vegetables are one of summer’s delights. They get done faster than meat and offer a much wider palette of tastes. This is how to make the perfect grilled vegetables.

Oil them

Vegetables dry out when they hit the heat without a little oil. Before they hit the grill, toss them with a light coating of oil. Don’t use too much—it not only adds unnecessary calories, but dripping oil causes flare-ups and off flavors. Plus tossing them in oil helps your seasoning stick more uniformly.

Cut them accordingly

How you prep your vegetables dictates how they will cook. Cut them into smaller pieces if you want your vegetables to cook more quickly (and use a skewer to keep the on the grill). Cut round vegetables like onions or eggplant into thin rounds—you’ll get more surface area, which allows for a crispier outside, and because they’re thin, they’ll cook quickly.

Let them cook

Some vegetables take a minute or two to cook and others take longer. Denser vegetables like potatoes will take the longest to cook. Keeping them over too high a heat for too long will char them on the outside while keeping them raw on the inside. To prevent burning, sear vegetables over high heat, then move them to a cooler part of the grill to finish cooking. Or precook them and just give them a few minutes on the grill to get some color on the outside.