Creative foods to throw on the grill this summer
The burger-and-hot-dog configuration is not exactly wrong. It just has a ceiling. At some point, the combination has been executed so many times that the grill itself becomes an afterthought, a mechanism for producing the same result rather than a tool worth using with some imagination.
The good news is that almost anything responds well to high heat and smoke, and the summer produce calendar is full of things that have no business being as good as they are when you put them over flame.
The sourcing here comes from Food Network’s weekend grilling guide and Food Network’s easy grilling collection.
Oysters
A quick turnover over high heat gently opens the shells, so you can skip the hardest part of eating raw oysters while still getting the experience. Food Network notes the technique: put them directly on the grates, let the heat do the shucking, then add your sauce and return them to the grates until they’re bubbling. It is faster than raw preparation, requires no special tools and produces something that reads as considerably more impressive than the effort involved.
Pineapple as a grilling plank
The thick peel of a pineapple serves as a natural plank that keeps fish juicy on the grate while imparting a subtle sweetness to the flesh beneath. Food Network praises the technique specifically for fish fillets, with the remaining pineapple chopped into a spicy salsa to serve alongside. It solves the delicate fish problem while adding a flavor dimension that cedar planks don’t provide.
Stuffed and rolled flank steak
Argentinian matambre involves stuffing thin flank steak with fillings such as chorizo, green olives, and pickled jalapeños, then rolling, tying, and grilling it. Food Network uses chimichurri as the finishing element. When sliced, the spiral cross-section is visually striking in a way that rewards the relatively modest additional effort over a plain steak.
Grilled pizza
The grill produces a crust that a home oven fundamentally cannot: direct contact with high heat creates char bubbles and a texture closer to a wood-fired result. Food Network documents the method. The key is working fast with the toppings once the dough hits the grate, keeping it simple, and accepting that grill pizza is a different product from oven pizza, rather than an inferior version of it.
Stone fruit
Peaches, plums and nectarines caramelize under direct heat in a way that concentrates their sweetness and adds a smoky char that works both as a savory accompaniment to pork and as a dessert base with ice cream. Food Network’s grilling guide records grilled peach preparations as among the more versatile items on a summer grill. The technique requires almost nothing: halve, remove the pit, lightly oil, then grill cut-side down for three to four minutes.
Caesar salad, grilled
Halved romaine hearts, held together at the base, go directly on a hot grate for 2 minutes per side. Food Network includes it among the summer preparations that consistently surprise guests. The outer leaves char slightly while the interior stays crisp, and the dressing applied afterward picks up the smokiness in a way that makes a familiar salad genuinely different.
The bottom line
The grill is underused as a tool precisely because the default configuration works well enough that nobody pushes past it. The items above all require less technique than a properly grilled burger and produce considerably more conversation. That is the actual benchmark.
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- 0 “healthy” foods that could be causing you to gain weight
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