15+ ideas for delicious meatless grilling

Imagine your favorite burger but with charred slabs of salty, squeaky cheese, such as halloumi or bread cheese, standing in for the meat. That’s the jumping-off point for a wide variety of halloumi burgers, where the cheese becomes a palette for whatever flavors and colors the toppings impart. Grilled pineapple and sriracha? Sure. Tucked into warm pitas with tomatoes and spicy green zhoug? Why not. (Also: If you don’t want to make your own zhoug, Trader Joe’s makes a tasty one.)

Speaking of halloumi, Lukas Volger has so many excellent veggie burger ideas, and these halloumi burgers — in which the cheese is grated and then folded together with harissa, green peas, and more — are no exception. They can be cooked on a cast-iron skillet on the grill, or on the stovetop if you can’t bear to leave the house (so, too, can these halloumi, arugula and tomato sandwiches, a vegetarian play on the BLT that hits the same salty-unguent, juicy-fresh notes as the original).

Tofu burgers

Bear with me here — we’re not talking the bland, pallid hippie patties of yesteryear. Again, today’s tofu burger is about celebrating what it is (a versatile, flavor-thirsty plant protein), not what it isn’t (meat). Try the Bulgogi Tofu Burgers from Bon Appetit or use J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s tofu grilling tips to make crispy-edged, tender-centered burgers flavored with whatever marinade you like.

People are wild for Superiority Burger’s crispy fried tofu sandwich, which is a spin on fried chicken but with tofu instead. The original recipe requires deep-frying, but if you have an air fryer (which has the added benefit of emitting no perceptible heat), you *could* try to approximate it by making air-fried tofu and tucking that into toasted soft potato rolls slathered with mayo, drips of hot sauce and a mound of shaved cabbage and dill pickles. Just saying.

Skewers

Whether you spell them kabobs or kebabs, foods on sticks are equally delicious. There are lots of ways to skewer up meatless versions. This recipe from Heidi Swanson combines unexpected vegetables — artichoke hearts, mushrooms, onions and rounds of fresh corn — with salty paneer, then slathers them all in a tangy spiced yogurt marinade. Yum. 

If you have some halloumi leftover from your halloumi burgers (above) and a surplus of summer watermelon, try interlacing cubes of each on some skewers, charring them and drizzling them with minted basil oil, as in this recipe from How Sweet Eats. The watermelon, once cooked, transforms into something toothsome and, dare I say it, meaty. 

These grilled eggplant tahini satay kebabs from Nicole Malik at Oh My Veggies are vegan, gluten-free and nut-free — and make a satisfying meal alongside a crisp slaw and some chewy bread. She serves her spiced fig and mushroom kebabs with pita and hummus (and you can cook them indoors on a grill pan if you wish).

Vegetable sandwiches, on the grill and off

On the grilling end, think thick slabs of zucchini and eggplant grilled until tender-crisp, then layered on ciabatta rolls spread with herby Boursin cheese. Or take those same grilled zucchini and eggplant slices, and top them with thinly sliced provolone or mozzarella at the last, then once the cheese has melted, make them into heroes topped with tomato sauce (from a jar or homemade — whatever’s the lowest lift) and for crunch.

For cold sandwiches that can be prepped in the barefoot comfort of a cool, dark kitchen, look to your garden or farmers’ market. You could layer cukes, thinly sliced, onto toasted rolls, then top them with goat cheese, arugula, avocado, lemony vinaigrette and spoonfuls of pesto (nod to The Vegetable Eater cookbook for this inspired creation).

Or take those cucumbers in an English teatime direction: Shingle them onto soft white sandwich bread spread with whipped cream cheese, and chill them in the fridge until you’re ready to eat. Few foods are more summery and less likely to make you overheat. (NB: If you have small kids wrung out and cranky from a day outdoors, treat them to an indoor picnic: Spread a blanket on the floor and serve these sandwiches with ridged potato chips and cold lemonade; follow immediately with ice pops and fresh berries. P.S. Cranky grownups tend to love this, too — especially since it comes with an excuse to eat lying down.)

While we’re on the no-cook classics, a reminder that the number 1 Sandwich of Summer is the tomato sandwich. Thick slabs of perfectly ripe tomato. Toasted white bread. Mayo (I like Hellman’s). Flaky salt and cracked black pepper. Serve on a chipped plate. Add a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Top photo credit ricka_kinamoto