50 Easy Grill Recipes Anyone Can Master (2024)

Home Recipes Cooking Style Easy

Sizzle and speed make these easy grill recipes everyone's smoky favorites.

1/50

Grilled Huli Huli Chicken

This grilled chicken recipe is full of Hawaiian-inspired flavors thanks to the marinade made with brown sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. We like using chicken thighs for this recipe because the higher fat content keeps the meat juicy and moist as it cooks. You can substitute chicken breasts if you prefer, but watch the cooking time to ensure they don’t dry out.

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New to grilling? Here are essential grilling accessories that make firing up the grill even better.

2/50

Jalapeno Popper Mexican Street Corn

Some easy grill recipes are as simple as they are delicious. This corn might be a little messy to eat, but it’s worth it when you take a bite! Charring the corn on the grill brings out its sweet flavors, and the jalapeno provides the perfect level of spiciness. Add in the creaminess of the dressing and the crunch from the panko, and this side dish will be the star of your next cookout.

3/50

Kentucky Grilled Chicken

Move over, KFC! This chicken marinade adds savory, tangy and spicy notes to the chicken, which slow-cooks over indirect heat for about an hour. It’s absolutely worth the wait, and we love doubling the recipe, so we end up with leftovers for easy chicken dinner recipes.

4/50

Grilled Romaine Salad

It might sound a little odd to grill lettuce, but the grill adds incredible depth to an otherwise basic salad. Feel free to customize the recipe to your liking by switching up the toppings or using a favorite homemade salad dressing.

5/50

Dry-Rub Grilled Pork Chops over Cannellini Greens

We’re not sure which is our favorite component of this recipe: the flavor-packed bean salad or the grilled pork chops themselves. They’re both so fantastic! When using the grill, we’ll always recommend going with bone-in pork chops over boneless. The bone helps keep the meat juicy as it cooks.

6/50

Grilled Zucchini Salad with Mediterranean Dressing

Grilled meat often gets all the love, but some of our favorite easy grill recipes revolve around vegetables. This simple grilled zucchini salad tastes fresh, and it’s so easy to make despite being filled with complex flavors. It pairs well with everything, too: meat, poultry or fish.

7/50

15-Minute Marinated Chicken

Most marinated chicken recipes require a few hours (or as long as overnight) to let all the marinade flavors soak in. We shorten that time to a mere 15 minutes thanks to the use of Dijon mustard, a bold-flavored ingredient that infuses a lot of flavor into chicken in a short amount of time.

8/50

Grilled Stone Fruits with Balsamic Syrup

Keep this recipe in your back pocket when stone fruits—like peaches, plums and nectarines—are in season. The grill caramelizes the soft fruit’s natural sugars, and the fruit gets a gorgeous glaze from the addition of balsamic vinegar and sugar. Serve this as-is, or combine the fruit with whipped cream, yogurt or ice cream.

9/50

Grilled Broccoli

Take broccoli to the next level by roasting it on the grill. Using indirect heat here mimics a high-temperature oven, giving the broccoli lightly roasted edges while infusing each bite with smoky goodness. If you find it too difficult to grill the florets directly over the grill grates, try using a grill basket instead.

10/50

The Best Baby Back Ribs

If you’re looking for a recipe to wow guests at your next backyard barbecue, this is the one. We use baby back ribs instead of spare ribs here. They’re leaner and have more meat, so they turn out tender in only about 90 minutes.

11/50

Hawaiian Turkey Burgers

Move over beef; it’s turkey’s time to shine in these sweet-and-savory burgers. Grilling the pineapple slices really takes this burger to the next level. The sugars in the pineapple caramelize, adding a toasted, nutty flavor to the dish.

12/50

Grilled Steak Bruschetta Salad for 2

This recipe can be prepared as an easy grilled appetizer, enjoyed as a light lunch or served for dinner with a couple vegetable side dishes. To save time, look for bruschetta topping at the grocery store in the pasta aisle or in the deli case, or you can make your own garlic tomato bruschetta topping from scratch.

13/50

Grilled Pepper Jack Chicken Sandwiches

Dinner doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming, especially when these chicken sandwiches are on the menu. We season the chicken breasts simply with poultry seasoning before cooking them on the grill, topping them with cheese and bacon and packing them into hamburger buns. No long marinade or cook times; just an easy, delicious dinner.

14/50

Grilled Steak Fajitas

This grilled steak recipe tastes fantastic wrapped up in corn or flour tortillas, or you can go grain-free by serving it in lettuce wraps. If you have time, whip up a flavorful pico de gallo to pair with the steak and peppers.

15/50

Tailgate Sausages

Grilled sausages are an iconic part of summer, and we love showcasing their flavor by serving them simply on a bun. We use Italian sausage here, but feel free to swap in your favorite variety (bratwurst is another excellent option). You should be able to find giardiniera at the grocery store, which is a tangy Italian-style pickle that works well with fatty meats like sausage. If you can’t find it, make your own using our giardiniera recipe.

16/50

Grilled Cabbage

Cabbage wedges are one of our favorite ways to prepare vegetarian “steaks,” but they also make an excellent side dish for meaty mains. Cooking the cabbage in a foil packet over direct heat provides some caramelization on one side of the wedge while simultaneously steaming the cabbage, ensuring that each bite is tender.

17/50

Grilled Angel Food Cake with Strawberries

If you’re not already making dessert on the grill, now is a good time to start! We love how the grill warms the angel food cake slices and gives each side a lightly toasted exterior. It creates a fun, textural contrast to the cake’s soft bite.

18/50

Grilled Brats with Sriracha Mayo

Bratwurst is delicious, and it’s even better when it gets kissed with the grill’s flames. Add in pungent chopped onions, tangy pickle relish and a spicy Sriracha mayonnaise, and the result is the best!

19/50

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken

Teriyaki chicken generally reminds us of woks and stir-fry, but it turns out it’s fantastic when prepared on the grill. The marinade is made from sherry, soy sauce, garlic and ginger, providing a teriyaki flavor without being overly sweet or sticky. Toss some broccoli florets on the grill as you cook the chicken and pair the dish with a side of rice or noodles to create a complete meal.

20/50

Chicken Ole Foil Supper

Wrap-and-cook foil packets are one of the best ways to create a tasty, mess-free weeknight dinner. You can assemble the packets ahead of time and toss them on the grill when you’re ready to eat. When you’re done, toss out the foil and cleanup is finished.

21/50

Easy Grilled Squash

Most of us stick to traditional vegetables when it comes to the grill: zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant and maybe branching out to potatoes or sweet potatoes. This recipe is a delightful change from the norm because it looks so unusual! Cutting the butternut squash lengthwise showcases its fun shape, and the grill accentuates the squash’s sweet character.

22/50

Maple-Glazed Salmon

It’s impossible to have too many grilled salmon recipes, especially when the dish only takes 20 minutes to prepare! This sweet-and-tangy glaze uses grapefruit juice, but orange juice works just as well if that’s what you have on hand. Pair the salmon with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes, or serve it over your favorite rice side dish.

23/50

Grilled Glazed Drummies

Most people think of chicken drumsticks (or chicken legs) when they hear “drummies,” but we’re referring to the meaty drumette part of the chicken wing here. This is a fun spin on a traditional chicken wing recipe, and they cook in a fraction of the time compared to the larger chicken drumsticks.

24/50

Brown Sugar-Glazed Salmon

Pop these protein-packed brown sugar salmon fillets in the oven before whipping up a sweet basting sauce. This tangy entree cooks up in minutes, making it a perfect meal for busy families and unexpected weekend guests. —Debra Martin, Belleville, Michigan

25/50

Steak Sandwich Kabobs

Is it a kabob or a sandwich? It’s both! We thread all the components of a great steak sandwich onto skewers, alternating cubed top sirloin steak, sweet red pepper, onions and focaccia bread. It’s a fun appetizer, but you can also serve it for dinner.

26/50

Easy Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

You only need four ingredients to make this marinated grilled flank steak: barbecue sauce, red wine (or beef broth), lemon juice and flank steak. You can use the marinade on different cuts of steak, like skirt steak or top sirloin, but keep in mind the cooking time will vary.

27/50

Zippy Shrimp Skewers

When it comes to easy grill recipes, It doesn’t get any easier than shrimp. These small, protein-packed bites cook up in a mere five minutes! We love the sweet-heat vibe in the marinade, which is a good complement for most summer vegetable side dishes.

28/50

Shrimp and Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

To be honest, this recipe had us at “hot bacon dressing.” Need we say more? For more of a wilted salad vibe, try lightly cooking the spinach by adding it to the dressing before removing the pan from the heat.

29/50

Grilled Pork and Poblano Peppers

Most recipes with Poblano peppers are stuffed, but this meaty pepper holds up exceptionally well as a simple accompaniment to grilled pork. While the peppers aren’t very spicy, we still recommend wearing gloves when handling them, as the oils can be irritating to the eyes or other sensitive areas.

30/50

Grilled Bruschetta

Toasted bread is good, but grilled bread is exceptional. The bread slices achieve the perfect crunchiness, and brushing the baguette lightly with oil adds a rich element to the dish. If you want to branch out from the norm, try these unique bruschetta recipes that are topped with things like chicken salad or smoked salmon and dill.

31/50

Ginger-Glazed Grilled Honeydew

Most of us have heard about grilled fruit, but honeydew melon probably isn’t the first fruit to come to mind. That may change after you try this easy grill recipe! You might think that a ripe honeydew would become mushy when cooked, but the grill’s high heat sears the pieces quickly to lock in its extra-sweet flavor.

32/50

Saucy Grilled Pork Chops

Sometimes, simple is the best method. Here, that looks like combining equal parts melted butter, brown sugar and lemon juice and using that sweet-tangy-savory sauce to baste pork chops as they grill. The sauce is fantastic for cooking other grilled meats or vegetables, or for serving with anything fresh off the grill.

33/50

Meat ‘n’ Potato Kabobs

Did you grow up in a “meat and potatoes” household? If so, did you ever put the two together on a single skewer? The result is something magical—and filling, too! This kabob is a meal on a stick, and you’ll need little more than a simple side salad to complete the meal.

34/50

Grilled Garden Veggie Pizza

This recipe is proof that pizza doesn’t have to be unhealthy. We pack a prebaked pizza crust with our favorite summer vegetables, including zucchini, red peppers, onions and summer squash. After about five minutes, the crust is a gorgeous golden brown and the mozzarella cheese on top reaches the perfect level of melty goodness.

35/50

Grilled Vegetable Platter

Vegetable platters are a gorgeous way to showcase this week’s CSA box or your farmers market haul. You can make the recipe as written or use our guide to seasonal fruits and vegetables to customize this easy grill recipe for every season.

36/50

This may be an unpopular opinion, but we’ll just go ahead and say it: Burgers can get a little boring, especially if you serve them at every backyard barbecue. Switch things up by stuffing your burgers with a creamy cheese filling, turning bland burgers into a fun-filled Juicy Lucy. Your guests will thank you!

37/50

Bratwurst Supper

Skip the bun and turn sausage sandwiches into a foil-packed bratwurst supper. We generally make one large foil pack containing all the ingredients, but you can separate the ingredients into separate packages to accommodate picky eaters.

38/50

This salad has so much going on. The meaty texture of the grilled peaches, the chewy wild rice, the flavor-boost of the bacon and maple-Dijon dressing, and the contrast between the tangy goat cheese and the spiciness of the arugula. It may be the perfect salad!

39/50

Ginger Halibut with Brussels Sprouts

Halibut is one of our favorite fish to grill. It has a firm, meaty texture and a gentle flavor, so it pairs well with bold flavors like ginger. We love the way it pairs with Brussels sprouts in this recipe, but you can swap in another vegetable if you’re not a fan.

40/50

Grilled Cauliflower Wedges

Cauliflower is one of our go-to options as a side dish, but we also love these cauliflower wedges as a vegetarian main. You might be surprised at how satisfying the tender-crisp texture is as the wedges soften on the grill.

41/50

The Ultimate Fish Tacos

Yes, we’re saying it: These are the ultimate fish tacos! This is one of those easy grill recipes you’ll want to have on hand for warm summer days. Everything can be cooked outside, so you don’t need to heat the house by turning on the stove.

42/50

Contest-Winning Grilled Mushrooms

You can make this recipe with any type of mushroom, from white button mushrooms and cremini mushrooms to Portobello, shiitake and wild-foraged seasonal varieties like chanterelles and morels. Regardless of the choice, make sure to turn the mushrooms frequently so they cook evenly on all sides.

43/50

Barbecued Chicken Pizzas

You don’t need a special baking stone or outdoor pizza oven to make fantastic pizza. All you need is to cook refrigerated pizza dough directly on the grill grates before flipping it over and adding your favorite toppings. Then, close the lid to allow the cheese to melt. It’s as easy as that!

44/50

Cajun Boil on the Grill

The key to these foil-wrapped Cajun boil packets is ensuring all the ingredients cook at the same rate. We use refrigerated potato wedges because raw potatoes take too long to cook—the salmon and shrimp would overcook in the process. For a more from-scratch approach, feel free to par-boil potatoes until they’re fork tender.

45/50

Southwestern Catfish

Catfish is typically cornmeal-crusted and deep-fried, but this grilled version is a fresh take. The fillets are firm enough to cook directly on the grill grates, but you could use a foil pack or a grill grate if you’re worried about the fish sticking.

46/50

Triple Tomato Flatbread

We love serving this flatbread to showcase fresh summer tomatoes. If you don’t have three varieties of tomatoes, don’t fret; it tastes fantastic with any blend of tomatoes, so long as they’re fresh and in season.

47/50

Cheddar Chili Burgers

Have a little fun with burger night by dressing up burgers with a ladle of chili. It’s a great way to use leftover chili, or you can use canned chili with beans if you don’t have any leftovers.

48/50

Peppered Tuna Kabobs

There are so many fantastic creative kabob recipes out there, and this is one of our favorites. Meaty tuna pairs exceptionally well with sweet mango and red peppers, and the corn relish really takes it to the next level.

49/50

Tandoori-Style Chicken with Cucumber Melon Relish

It’s impossible to have too many grilled chicken recipes! You can go spicy by using curry powder or opt for a smokier, earthier profile and use garam masala. The yogurt sauce doubles as a marinade (keeping the chicken juicy as it cooks) and a garnish (providing a tangy, spicy profile to the dish).

50/50

Grilled Zucchini with Onions

This recipe might seem basic, but it shines in its simplicity. This grilled zucchini is exactly the side dish you’ve been looking for to serve with rich beef recipes, spicy chicken entrees or lemony seafood.

Lindsay has been writing for digital publications for seven years and has 10 years of experience working as a professional chef. She became a full-time food writer at Taste of Home in 2023, although she’s been a regular contributor since 2017. Throughout her career, Lindsay has been a freelance writer and recipe developer for multiple publications, including Wide Open Media, Tasting Table, Mashed and SkinnyMs. Lindsay is an accomplished product tester and spent six years as a freelance product tester at Reviewed (part of the USA Today network). She has tested everything from cooking gadgets to knives, cookware sets, meat thermometers, pizza ovens and more than 60 grills (including charcoal, gas, kamado, smoker and pellet grills).Lindsay still cooks professionally for pop-up events, especially when she can highlight local, seasonal ingredients. As a writer, Lindsay loves sharing her skills and experience with home cooks. She aspires to motivate others to gain confidence in the kitchen. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her cooking with fresh produce from the farmers market or planning a trip to discover the best new restaurants.