Fire up the grill! 🔥 10+ Recipes to get you inspired for summer ☀️😎

Fire up the grill! 🔥 10+ Recipes to get you inspired for summer ☀️😎

It’s summer and the temperatures are rising, so what better time to get outside and get cooking? If you’re like me, you probably have your go-to recipes when it comes to grilling: steaks, burgers, ribs, or franks, you know your stuff. But why not try something new this year and surprise your friends and loved ones with some new and delicious variations on the classics! No matter what you love to grill - Cookpad has you covered.

The Basics 🥩

BBQ is mainly about meats (although vegetarian and vegan options are more numerous than ever), so we’ll start off with the four basic food groups of grilling: beef, pork, chicken, and sausages!

Want a change to your usual steak cuts? Try this recipe for Tomahawk ribeye:

Smoked Tomahawk Ribeye
Smoked Tomahawk Ribeye⏱ 2 hr 10 minsalt, pepper, Your favorite steak seasoning, tomahawk ribeye

Ribs are always a winner - this author made them for Mother’s day but they’d be perfect for your outdoor grill this summer!

Mother's Day Ribs 2024
Mother's Day Ribs 2024rib rub 2024, pork spare ribs

Fancy more bite-size mains? Kebabs and hotdogs are quick and easy on the grill, and great for feeding hungry kids!

Left: Add some color to your grill with Catherine Njoki’s Chicken kebabs - Right: Can’t get more classic than hotdogs! Try these Grilled Red Hots by swimmerjs

Fire and water 🐟🦞

On a grill they DO go together! While fish can be tricky, as it tends to flake on a grill, a little bit of care (and choosing the right fish to grill) can go a long way! As for other seafood, long time favorites in America’s backyards are shrimp, prawns, and lobster tails.

Left: Scrumptious Blackened Cod, courtesy of B’s Messy Kitchen – Right: a taste of the exotic! Jess’s Grilled Honey Prawn Skewers, Bali style

Talk about surf and turf! This author does it all with steak, shrimp, and lobster tails on a Ninja Foodie Grill - perfect if you want the summer taste of grilled food but don’t have a backyard.

Steak, lobster, shrimp (date night series)
Steak, lobster, shrimp (date night series)⏱ ? · 📸 1steaks, Lobster tails, Frozen bag of shrimp, Steak seasoning, Melted garlic butter for shrimp and lobster

Burgers & Buns 🍔

Would you be happy at a BBQ without burgers? Neither would we! So, we searched our Cookpad database to find some juicy, plump, delicious patties sandwiched in the most enticing buns. What we found left our mouths watering!

The Smokehouse Bacon Burger
The Smokehouse Bacon BurgerFor the burger:, ground beef, brioche buns, sweet onion, finely chopped, jalapeños, finely chopped
BBQ Pork n’ Cheddar Burger
BBQ Pork n’ Cheddar Burger⏱ 35 minutesGround Pork, Potato Buns, (6) Yukon Gold Potatoes, Mayonnaise, Chipotle Power (add more to taste)

Left: Go fish! with these delightful Salmon Burgers, by Kitchen Sounds – Right: Batch it up with these Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders, by Taustin Kaste

Veggie Options 🌿

Don’t eat meat? There’s quite a collection of vegetarian and vegan burgers as well! Just take a look:

Grillable Veggie Burger
Grillable Veggie Burger⏱ 30 mins · 📸 3cans beans (kidney beans work well, but try others too), rolled oats (uncooked), cooked brown rice, liquid (ketchup, spicy salsa, bbq sauce, pasta sauce, go crazy), garlic powder
Quinoa and cannellini bean burgers
Quinoa and cannellini bean burgers⏱ 1 hrdrained rinsed cannellini beans, cooked quinoa, lemon zest plus juice of half lemon, corn (canned or thawed frozen), finely diced red bell pepper
Vegan Mushroom Barley Burger
Vegan Mushroom Barley Burgerminced mushrooms, minced red onion, minced parsley, cooked pearl barley, miso paste

These are just a few ideas to get you fired up as the grilling season gets under way. What do you put on your BBQ? Let us know by sharing your favorite grilling recipes & Cooksnaps! 📸

Looking for a sweet treat to cool down? Check out our blog post for homemade ice cream 🍨


⚠️ Matters of safety ⚠️

When grilling, please remember that, in a way, you’re playing with fire. So, keep the following common sense safety tips in mind:

  • Lighter fluid, propane, and charcoal SHOULD NOT be stored inside buildings.
  • When grilling, ensure that the grill is positioned safely away from nearby buildings (unless you want to set off your smoke alarms)
  • When grilling with charcoal, pour lighter fluid on the coals a few minutes before lighting the grill, to allow the coals to soak up the fluid.
  • Once the charcoal has been ignited, never pour lighter fluid on the hot coals to get more flame: fire can follow the lighter fluid stream back to the bottle causing it to burst into flames, causing severe injuries.
  • Flare-ups can be controlled by gently spraying water, e.g. with a water bottle.  Always have a water source nearby when grilling.
  • If grease drippings cause the fire to get out of hand, you may need to use a fire extinguisher to put the fire out. Pouring water on a grease fire will only spread the fire and make things worse.