25 Delicious Sides and Desserts You Can Cook on the Grill

Chef Chris Cosentino is known for adventurous dishes like this one, a meet-up of mild grilled calamari (squid), fresh produce, and exciting seasonings. He grills the calamari over almond wood plus regular charcoal briquets; for the home cook, he recommends easy-to-find mesquite hardwood charcoal. To make the dish as fiery as Cosentino likes it, use 2 tbsp. black pepper and 2 tsp. Aleppo pepper, and don’t seed the serrano chile.

Dousing super-fresh produce in fish-sauce-infused scallion oil will make an appetizer that is crunchy, sweet, and salty all at the same time. You can use these techniques to blister pretty much any vegetable in your garden.

Time: 1 1/4 hours. If you’re serving these vegetables with grilled ribs, grill the vegetables first. They’re good eaten at room temperature.

Grilling in-season peaches and nectarines brings out the fruits’ sweetness even more.

Sweet corn only gets better smeared with one of these easy, flavorful toppings: herb; BBQ sauce, bacon, and cheddar; cilantro-lime; and soy furikake. Each makes enough for 4 ears of corn.

Tomato water requires you to plan a day ahead, but the mixture adds another layer of tomato flavor to this pretty grilled salad.

The bitterness of the charred radicchio is balanced with a generous drizzle of spicy-sweet honey and wisps of salty cheese. If you can’t find Treviso, use any kind of radicchio, hearts of romaine, endive, or escarole. More is more with this salad so go to town with the toppings.

Grilled Yukon gold potato halves combine with a mixture of tomatoes, capers, oregano, olives, and anchovies for a Mediterranean-style potato salad side dish.

Sure, you could just griddle or grill purchased pita, but these pillowy-­soft flatbreads are worth the lovely labor.

“On 19th Street you can get this with okra or lotus root, but here I use an Ojai ingredient!” says Ojai-based, Burmese-born chef Saw Naing.

In the heat of summer, you want a salad that won’t wilt. Sweet papaya and earthy kale pick up smoke on the grill. Smaller, tender bunches of kale work best. L.A. chef and recipe developer Charles Olalia keeps the papaya slices and kale leaves whole to minimize prep work when camping, but you can cut them into smaller pieces after grilling if you are cooking at home. Leaving the skin on the papaya keeps it from falling apart on the grill.

Umami­-rich artichokes are the mainstays of so many springy Italian dishes, but admittedly a pain to prep. Reframe it as a seasonal ritual: Paired with briny pecorino and sweet and bracing mint, this dish is freshness on a plate.

Grilled corn sprinkled with crunchy, spicy Salsa Seca is going to be your new favorite summer party food.

This dish is an easy way to jump-start the week—and cook outside on a summer night. Prep everything the night before to make it come together even more quickly, and serve with warm, crusty bread. This also makes a great communal first course for a party.

Wow guests at your next barbecue with vegetarian kebabs of juicy peaches and the Indian cheese called paneer, marinated in yogurt and spices. (Though not traditional, tofu subs in beautifully for the paneer.) Chaat masala spice blend adds a tangy, smoky, intriguingly sulfurous flavor, but the dish is great without it too.

Crisp-tipped, juicy, and tender, these spears are great with lamb or fish. Opt for fat asparagus—the spears will be tender but not mushy when the tips are crisp. Lemon zest, versus juice, gives a lot of flavor without too much acidity or moisture.

If you’re looking for a guest-worthy main-dish salad, stop right here. This one delivers a blend of firm and tender textures and sweet-spicy flavors, plus make-ahead options and a time-saving method for browning shallots in the microwave. Tip: The leftover shallot oil can be used for a second salad.

Jennifer Jasinski, chef and co-owner of Rioja in Denver, makes her salad with fresh Colorado peaches and a Spanish blue cheese, but it’s also good made with many Western blue cheeses.

Everything’s better with everything bagel seasoning, including on grilled sugar snap peas. Crunchy, nutty fried shallots add earthy notes while lemon zest makes the whole dish sing. Note: Instead of grilling, you can also sauté the snap peas in a very hot cast-iron skillet on the stovetop.

When it is warm outdoors, the last thing you want to do is heat up the house with the oven. Try baking on the grill using indirect heat. Assemble the simple crisp featuring two types of apples, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith, top with the buttery crust and bake.

This not-to-sweet torte is equally good for dessert, a late-afternoon treat, or even breakfast. Almond flour gives it a rich, buttery texture; almond extract and sliced almonds heighten the flavor.

You’ll need 32 bamboo skewers (each 8 in.); there’s no need to soak them before they go on the grill, because they won’t char with such a short cooking time.

This simple dessert cooks in the oven, but you could make it on the grill—cook the pineapple until grill marks appear and lightly toast the angel food cake. Whichever way you go with this dessert, the cinnamon whipped cream is delicious, and a scoop of ice cream wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

This dish is a great alternative to super-sweet desserts. If you can’t find Turkish Urfa biber chiles, which have a lovely sweet and smoky flavor, substitute red chili flakes. Bonus: The leftover syrup makes the base for a peach cooler!

Pineapple holds up to skewering, doesn’t fall apart on the grill, and makes an elegant, surprising dessert—especially when drizzled with a simple-to-make caramel sauce. You’ll need 16 wooden skewers for this recipe.