For summer grilling season and backyard BBQs, meat dishes don't always have to play the starring role. Vegetables, legumes, and plant-based staples take on incredible depth and smoky character over the fire, making them more than just sidekicks. Consider these 11 ideas to please vegans, vegetarians, and vegetable lovers. Your meat eaters may enjoy them too.
A vegan BBQ isn’t about what’s missing. It’s about discovering just how versatile the grill can be. From classic bean burgers to makeshift 'chicken', these recipes prove that summer cookouts are for everyone at the table.
Jump to:
- Vegan BBQ Chicken
- BBQ Kidney Bean Burgers
- BBQ Walnut and Chickpea burgers
- Grilled Tofu Gyros
- Grilled Portabella Mushroom Steaks
- Grilled Carrots with Za’atar
- Sesame Ginger Grilled Tofu
- Grilled Onigiri Rice Balls
- Vegan Yakitori
- Vegan Grilled Caesar Salad
- Grilled Veggie Quinoa Bowl
- Bonus: Other Easy Ideas
- Field Roast Sausages
- Helpful Vegan BBQ Tips
Vegan BBQ Chicken
Did you know you can make your own vegan chicken? The process involves making seitan with wheat gluten, the main protein in wheat. Seitan is typically used in Asian cuisine, but you can make the dough, season, and shape it into something that looks and tastes like chicken.
In this recipe, wheat gluten is mixed with oat milk, onion powder, garlic powder, vegan Worcestershire sauce, vegan chicken seasonings, and silken tofu. The dough is then cut into strips or cutlets, boiled in water to set, then topped with bbq sauce and grilled.
BBQ Kidney Bean Burgers
Everyone loves a good burger at a BBQ. You could use Impossible Meat or another faux ground beef meat to make some vegan patties for the grill.
You can also make homemade burger patties using a can of kidney beans and some rolled oats. Blitz in a food processor and season with bbq sauce, liquid smoke, and garlic powder. Add cooked rice for texture and shape into patties. Cook on the grill and serve in whole wheat buns with lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles.
BBQ Walnut and Chickpea burgers
Instead of walnuts, these vegan burger patties use chickpeas, rolled oats, walnuts, onion, vegan bbq sauce, chia seeds, fresh garlic, and olive oil. Blitz together in the food processor, shape into patties, and grill.
Grilled Tofu Gyros
By marinating the tofu is some Middle Eastern spices, you can transform a block of plain tofu into a filling worth of a classic gyro. Press out the excess water from a block of tofu, slice, and coat with a marinade of olive oil, low sodium soy sauce, tomato paste, mustard, garlic powder, cinnamon, black pepper, coriander, cumin, and dried oregano.
Then grill the tofu on the edge of the grill, rather than the center, where it’s not as hot. “Low-and-slow helps make the tofu a little chewier and crispier.”
Lay the grilled tofu into pita bread and top with lettuce, tomato, and hummus or tahini sauce.
You can also make a dairy free tzatziki sauce made with a plant based yogurt (such as coconut or almond), olive oil, grated garlic, white wine vinegar, and fresh chopped dill. For an extra for bonus, add some french fries to the gyro, just like they do at some restaurants.
Grilled Portabella Mushroom Steaks
Turning large portobello mushroom caps into a “steak” is a classic option for the grill. The key is to marinade those mushrooms, so they infuse the mushroom with lots of flavor.
This marinade is made with balsamic vinegar, tamari, vegan worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke (or smoked paprika), garlic, and granulated onion. Serve with a side of asparagus and potatoes just like you would with a regular meat steak.
Grilled Carrots with Za’atar
Grilling carrots may seem unusual, but it actually caramelizes their natural sugars, tenderizes their toughness, and adds a soothing smokiness to their sweet flavor. Top the grilled carrots with a lime mayonnaise (made with vegan mayo or vegan yogurt), toasted pinenuts, fresh mint, minced chili, and za’tar seasoning.
Instructions are also provided for making your own za’tar seasoning with salt, dried thyme, sesame seeds, and sumac.
Sesame Ginger Grilled Tofu
For an Asian twist on grilled tofu, you can make a savory glaze by reducing tamari, agave, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, sriracha sauce, vegetable broth, and cornstarch together in a small pot.
Sear the pressed tofu on the grill on both sides before applying the thickened glaze that will lend a rich mahogany color to the tofu.
Grilled Onigiri Rice Balls
If you want to try a classic Japanese street food dish, put your rice onto the grill! Shape cooked short grain rice into traingular patties or balls, grill on both sides, then coat with soy sauce or teriyaki sauce.
Grill a bit more so that the sauce caramelizes and lends a little extra crispiness to the rice.
Vegan Yakitori
This is a vegetable skewer but packed with umami and protein. Yakitori means grilled chicken in Japanese, but the dish can be easily adapted for vegans using mushrooms and chunks of tofu.
First the yakitori sauce is made by reducing soy sauce, mirin, sake, brown sugar, rice vinegar, garlic, green onion, ginger, and black pepper. Strain the sauce and brush onto to mushroom tofu skewers for a savory, sweet treat.
Vegan Grilled Caesar Salad
Did you know you can grill lettuce? The thick stems of romaine lettuce will withstand the heat of the grill and add a smokey twist for an atypical caesar salad. Dress with a vegan caesar dressing made of vegan mayonnaise, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, soy sauce, black pepper.
While chicken might be the usual topping for a traditional caesar salad, topping with some crispy chickpeas is colorful and protein packed. Fry the chickpeas in little bit of olive oil, garlic salt, and Italian herb seasoning.
Grilled Veggie Quinoa Bowl
One way to make grilled vegetables a little more hearty is to add them to a quinoa bowl. Quinoa is actually a seed rather than a grain and is a complete protein. Like meat, it has all 9 essential amino acids packed into its tiny round seeds.
In this recipe, red potatoes, corn, bell peppers, and onion are mixed with a chimichurri sauce, and then cooked over the grill in a foil basket.
Instructions are provided to make your own chimichurri sauce by mixing parsley, red wine vinegar, garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a food processor. Once the vegetables are cooked, spoon over quinoa and top with sliced avocado.
Bonus: Other Easy Ideas
Field Roast Sausages
I took these to a summer BBQ potluck, since I was in charge of providing the vegetarian/vegan grilling option. Even the meat eaters were amazed and thought these tasted good and similar to meat.
They come in multiple flavors: Italian, chorizo, frankfurters, and smoked apple and sage. I like using the chorizo flavor and crumbling it into a freshly grilled corn tortilla for a plant based taco.
Note they are made out of wheat gluten so are not suitable for gluten free diets.
Smoked Shishito Peppers
Shishito peppers are a small, thin skinned and shriveled one bite wonder you hold by the stem to pop in to your mouth just like a cherry. They can be spicy, but more often than not, they are mild.
This appetizer seems to show up in the summertime in countless farm to table restaurants on the West Coast, and they're very easy to make on the grill.
Toss with olive oil and grill for 30 seconds to 1 minute per side. Season with sea salt.
Helpful Vegan BBQ Tips
- If there are vegan/vegetarians, remember to reserve a portion of the grill for non-meat items only. Separate tongs/utensils for vegan dishes would be best practice too.
- Vegetable skewers are always a default grilling item. Shishito peppers, vegan sausages, and BBQ portabella mushrooms can satiate your vegans/vegetarians and even omnivores.
- A burger bar requires a relatively simple setup. You can easily provide meat and plant based burger patty options with all the fixings for everyone to build their own burger.
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