Weekly Spotlight: Grilling Tips for a Successful Plant-Based Cookout!

Welcome to grilling season!! Here’s our guide on how to have the most successful cookout this season! If you’re thinking that you can’t grill if you’re plant-based, think again. You can grill veggie burgers, veggies, and even fruits! The grill opens up a whole new flavor profile for your foods that are perfect for summer!

We also highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App  — with over 20,000 delicious recipes, it is the largest meatless, vegan, plant-based, and allergy-friendly recipe resource to help you get healthy! And don’t forget to check out our Weekly Meal Plan Archives! 

This week, we’re bringing delicious, fully vegan, and plant-based ways to have a successful grilling season!

Our Top Guides to Cookouts:

Source: Marinated Tofu Veggie Kebabs

These guides will inspire you with recipes for every single angle of cooking out. From drinks to desserts to mains and side dishes, we’ve got you covered! If you’re unsure where to start, simply start with our ultimate guide! If you’re looking for other grill ideas, check out this ultimate roundup!

• Ultimate Guide to Vegan Memorial Day Recipes
• Refreshing Summer Drinks to Enjoy this Memorial Day!
• 15 Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookout Recipes for Memorial Day!
• 15 Plant-Powered Side Dishes to Bring to Your Memorial Day Cookout
• 15 Plant-Based Skewers and Kebabs to Make on Memorial Day!

Understanding Your Grill

The best tip for grilling is to know your grill. If you’ve never used it before, that’s okay! If you have, knowing where the hottest parts are can be helpful when it comes to what you’re going to grill. Also, having a plan of what you’re going to make for your cookout helps you to know where and how things will be cooked. For instance, if you’re doing veggie skewers and tofu, having both prepped ahead of time and a plan on how you’ll cook them is key.

Also, seasoning your grill grates (rubbing them with oil) can help create a nice, non-stick surface. You don’t need to season your grill every time you use it; usually doing it once before grilling season and once after is enough. If you use your grill year-round, aim for about every four months.

General Grilling Tips

After understanding your grill, there are a few more tips that can help you have a smooth-running cookout. First, make sure you’ve got a few grill tools to use. This includes a spatula, tongs, and a brush to keep the grates clean. Grills sometimes include these tools, but if you’re looking for tools that you already have on hand, make sure they’re sturdy and are made of a material that won’t melt. Grill tongs are usually longer to protect your hands from the heat of the grill and sturdier to handle heavier pieces of food.

If this is your first time grilling, keep it as simple as possible. Do one protein and a veggie and make some awesome sides and you’ve got a beautiful cookout! You can also have friends and family help, too! Ask them to bring an item so you can both learn together and try new foods and flavors.

Grilling Tofu

Source: Tofu Kebabs With Grilled Mango Sorrel Salad

The. best tip when it comes to grilling tofu is to prep your tofu ahead of time. Because you’ll want to be able to turn and work with your tofu on the grill, use extra firm tofu so it holds up on the grill. Also, press your tofu so that it has the least amount of water possible, and then marinate it overnight so it soaks up the maximum amount of flavor. Don’t be afraid to make extra marinade; it’ll be excellent to brush the tofu after it as it grills or after it comes off the grill. No worries if you forget to marinate it overnight;  you can do a quick marinade for 30 mins to an hour instead.

Also, make sure your tofu is cut into triangles or rectangles rather than smaller cubes that you’d use for nuggets. The bigger pieces will fit on the grill much better and will be able to achieve a more even cook.

Here are some recipes to get you started and inspired!

• Balsamic Grilled Tofu Crostini by Marta Ansaldo and Mimma Sangiorgio
• Grilled Tofu Tikka Kebabs by Pavani Nandula
• Nicoise Salad With Grilled Orange Tofu by Johanne Rosenthal
• Grilled Tofu Steaks With Orange Ginger Glaze by Sheil Shukla
• Tofu Kebabs With Grilled Mango Sorrel Salad by Maya Popovich

Plant-based Burgers

Source: Heart-Healthy Burger

When you’re grilling plant-based burgers, the best tip is to have them sturdy enough to make sure they’ll grill well. If your homemade plant-based burgers are too mushy, they won’t cook well on the grill. Like the tofu, you don’t want to have something that’s got a lot of moisture on it on the grill. (For fruits, it’s a bit different because their juice creates a delicious caramelized flavor). For plant-based products, check the package for instructions on how to grill it best.  To know when a burger is done, check to make sure the internal temperature is 165°F.

This Heart-Healthy Burger by Julie Zimmer is a great burger to make as it can be baked or grilled! These Black Bean Burgers by Katherine Henderson are also great to make and throw on the grill!

Grilling Fruits and Veggies

Source: Grilled Pound Cake With Berries

It might sound odd that you can grill fruits, but don’t knock it til you try it! Grilling fruits and veggies is fun and creates a delicious caramelized flavor. The key to grilling these is that you want them to cook evenly. Cutting the pieces you want to grill into the same size pieces helps the veggie or fruit cook more evenly. Below are a few grilled recipes to get you inspired to grill fruits and veggies!

• Grilled Pineapple and Vegetables Rice Noodle Bowl by Rini Desai
• Smashed Lentils with Grilled Vegetables by Elsa Brobbey
• Grilled Vegetable Farro Bowls by Wholesome LLC
• Grilled Pound Cake With Berries by Pavani Nandula

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
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• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!

Lead Image: Shutterstock.com/Fortyforks