Delicious and super easy Italian Grilled Vegetables that will go with all of your favorite grilled meats. To make these easy grilled vegetables, marinade some zucchini, yellow squash, mushroom, onions, and peppers before cooking it on the grill. Finish these grilled vegetables off with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese while still hot. These delicious, smokey grilled vegetable will be a perfect addition to any BBQ.
ITALIAN GRILLED VEGETABLES
It doesn’t matter if we’re just grilling some burgers and hot dogs for dinner or having a big barbecue party, I always stock up of vegetables. Grilled vegetables go with any meats that come off the grill and it’s easily flavored with any marinade you choose.
I love these Italian grilled vegetables because I jump at any chance to grate some Parmesan cheese on top. But really, the flavors of the marinade and cheese on the vegetables is fantastic and all that is finished with a hint of smokiness from the grill. This side dish is so good, you won’t even need the meats next to it.
You can easily throw these veggies together with marinade in the morning and be able to grill them by lunch. I’ve even let the vegetables sit in the marinade overnight and the flavors only got better. If the vegetables sit in the marinade overnight, all the tasty herbs, garlic, and lemon gets soaked in and infuses the veggies.
When the grill is ready, the vegetables can easily be grilled on skewers or if you have to, use a grill basket. I prefer to grill vegetables on skewers because every piece gets cooked evenly and you get a little char on the outside from direct contact with the grill.
If using a grilling basket, make sure that it is big enough so that the vegetables are not too packed in there and stir it every 5 minutes or so. Otherwise, use skewers to make vegetables kebabs.
WHAT GOES INTO THE MARINADE
Olive Oil – choose better quality olive oil because it can affect the flavor of the vegetables. If olive oil has bitterness to it, the vegetables will too.
Lemon Juice – of course, freshly squeezed is the best. Pick out a ripe lemon so that you get the best tasting and the most lemon juice out of it.
White Balsamic Vinegar – white balsamic vinegar is the best because or its milder, fruitier flavor. If you need to substitute, use white wine vinegar instead.
Garlic – press garlic into the marinade to release all those aromatic oils.
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes – adds a touch of spiciness to the vegetables. You can easily adjust how spicy it is by adding more or less crushed red pepper flakes.
Italian Seasoning – if you don’t have Italian seasoning on hand, you can substitute with herbs you most likely have in the pantry already. The most important ones are basil and oregano.
HOW TO SUBSTITUTE ITALIAN SEASONING
If you don’t have Italian seasoning on hand, don’t worry because you can easily substitute it by mixing individual herbs together. Even if you don’t have all of them, it’s okay.
Most Italian seasonings on the market have the same general mix of basil, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, and sage. I also like to add parsley and thyme. So grab as many of these herbs as you have in your pantry and mix them about 1/2 tsp each. Although, I find rosemary a bit overwhelming so I add less rosemary than others. (Increase amount of each if you don’t have them all.)
CAN I MAKE GRILLED VEGETABLES AHEAD?
You can definitely prep vegetables ahead, it is actually recommended that you do. I would not grill veggies ahead of time because the outside will get soggy. Reheated grilled vegetables are not as good and fresh off the grill.
Prepping veggies in the marinade will save you a lot of time. All you will need to do is skewer vegetables and cook them on the grill when ready.
HOW TO REHEAT GRILLED VEGETABLES
First of all, before we get into how to reheat vegetables, I would like to point out that it doesn’t necessarily need to be reheated. Cold leftover grilled vegetables will be divine mixed into salads. You can mix grilled veggies into leaf salads for dinner of mix it into a pasta salad to create another side dish.
To reheat grilled vegetables, you can simply do so in a cooking pan over medium heat just until heated through. Cooking it in the pan as opposed to a microwave will help keep vegetables less soggy.
SOME MORE RECIPES TO TRY
Bacon Grilled Caramelized Onions
Lemon Pepper Grilled Chicken Wings
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Italian Grilled Vegetables
Italian Grilled Vegetables is marinaded zucchini, yellow squash, mushroom, onions, and peppers cooked on the grill and finished with grated Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1 medium yellow squash
- 1 red onion
- 1 large red bell pepper
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 lemon juice only
- 2 tbsp white Balsamic vinegar can substitute white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes more can be used to make it more spicy
- 2 tbsp Italian seasoning**
- salt
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese to top grilled vegetables
Instructions
Note: leave yourself time to marinade the vegetables. Marinading can be as fast as 1 hour or as slow as overnight.
Cut vegetables into even pieces so that it cooks easily. Place cut vegetables into a mixing bowl.
In a small bowl, combine pressed garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, salt, crushed red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning. Whisk together until thoroughly combined.
Pour the marinade mixture all over the veggies and mix to coat the veggies evenly.
Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. (You can also marinade the vegetables overnight.) Try to mix veggies from time to time.
Skewer vegetables onto metal skewers, alternating the veggies evenly so each skewer gets even amount of different veggies. (If using wooden skewers, make sure to soak them first.)
Use some cooking spray to spay the grill with oil and place vegetable skewers on the grill.
Cook vegetables, turning 1/4 of the way around every 4-5 minutes. Cook time highly depends on the size of vegetables cuts and how soft you like the vegetables.
Take cooked vegetables off the grill and grate some Parmesan cheese over the top right away.
Recipe Notes
**Check the post above for substituting Italian seasoning.
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation.
LINDA says
I DID THIS VERY DISH WITH A BURGER. IT WAS THE FIRST GRILLED MEAL OF THE SUMMER. DELISH! I THINK I’LL DO IT AGAIN SOON. HAPPY GRILLING!
WISHES FOR TASTY DISHES,
LINDA @ TUMBLEWEED CONTESSA