It’s barbecue season, and you will be ready for it. These vegan barbecue recipes are the non-negotiables, the foods that have to be at that barbecue in order to even qualify.
Growing up in Brooklyn, our cookouts were Prospect Park affairs. Blankets in the grass, adults playing whiffle ball (sometimes letting the kids play), boomboxes everywhere. The food we brought traveled in coolers, sat in the sun for an hour, and got eaten standing up off a paper plate while we took turns burning the burgers.
Whether you have a backyard to grill in or you’re hauling foil trays and Tupperware to the park, these ten vegan BBQ recipes are essential to the cookout. They travel, they hold up, and most importantly, guests will eat them no matter where the table is.
These are recipes for what goes on the grill and what goes on the plate next to it. Sometimes you even mix them together. Main dishes meet the side dish and all is right at the vegan BBQ.
Also, included: a shopping list and the equipment that gets it all done are at the bottom because I don’t want you to forget that tin foil. And don’t worry, I will link to a few easy desserts to bring to the BBQ, although this list is all about the savory.
Happy barbecuing!
Vegan Barbecue Recipes <3
Smoky Vegan Hot Dogs
Real homemade vegan hot dogs with snappy skin and deep smoky flavor. They take grill marks beautifully and load up under a mountain of toppings. These are easy to make and seriously so much better than store-bought so just lose yourself and make vegan hot dogs from scratch already.
Veggie Burgers For The Grill
Lentils, walnuts, and mushrooms in a sturdy patty that does not crumble on the grill. These are easily made gluten-free if you use gluten-free breadcrumbs so do that thing. I love these vegan burgers with a scoop of potato salad piled right on. Why can’t summer last forever? Oh, right, because I get really bad sunburn.
BBQ Tofu
Marinated tofu slabs grilled until they get grill marks, then glazed with Almost Bottled BBQ Sauce until everything turns charred and lacquered. The marinade goes inside, the sauce goes outside, and the grill does the rest. The vegan answer to backyard barbecue, not that anyone was questioning it. Beats jackfruit at the grill every time.
Chickpea Salad Sandwiches
You need a cold, savory sandwich filling option. Mashed chickpeas in a creamy mayo dressing with celery, red onion, and a hit of mustard. The picnic sandwich you make once and end up making forever. Makes ahead, travels easy, eats cold from the cooler. Put it on a hot dog bun or a burger bun, don’t sweat the bread.
Eggplant Skewers With Chimichurri
Eggplant was born for the grill, the most reliable of all the grill vegetables. Cube it, marinate in herby chimichurri, and grill it to high heaven, basting along the way. So deliciously charred and juicy and fresh all at once. Then more chimichurri spooned over it. The garlickiest thing on the table. Make extra of the sauce because you need to chimichurri everything. I love when a little gets into the potato salad.
Eggy Vegan Potato Salad
Creamy, crunchy, classic potato salad that actually tastes like there are eggs in it. Tofu, turmeric, and kala namak black salt do the eggy work. Made with russet potatoes and lots of celery and topped with fresh herbs. What I want on every cookout plate, and also at midnight with a spoon.
Creamy Vegan Macaroni Salad
Brooklyn deli style mac salad with a creamy peppery dressing and just enough sweetness. The macaroni salad of your childhood corner store memory. Let some barbeque sauce seep into it. Dunk your hot dog into it. Eat it like nobody’s watching. The cookout pasta salad that actually gets eaten.
Cheater Baked Beans
Smoky, saucy baked beans made from pantry ingredients you already have. Comes together much faster than the traditional all-day version. The hot side every cookout plate can’t live without and this version is absolutely killer.
Cookout Coleslaw
This is the coleslaw I make when I want all the textures at once: light, tangy, crunchy. Hold the mayo. Hand-cut green cabbage, ribboned carrots, and shredded radishes in a bright vinegary dressing with a glug of dill pickle brine. No mayo means you can load up on extra potato salad. It’s just math. Bring it cold and pile it high.
Sanctuary Ranch Dip
Cool, herby vegan ranch dip made with cashews and tofu for thick, lush creaminess. The cookout appetizer that disappears first. Calling out for a potato chip, red peppers or baby carrot sacrifice. Ranches are sad places. Sanctuaries are not.
Not Recipes But Corn On The Cob And Watermelon
Grilled corn on the cob. Don’t overthink it. I like to cut my corn into thirds. Brush with oil. Grill over medium-high heat, turning every couple of minutes, until you have good char marks on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Butter, salt, chives, eat. My secret weapon is grated lime zest in the butter.
Sliced watermelon. Cold wedges with flaky Maldon salt sprinkled on top. The sweet salty combo is undefeated. I also like to squeeze on some lime and sprinkle on some chili flakes but plain old watermelon never fails.
The Vegan Barbecue Shopping List
Beyond the recipes, the cookout plate needs its accoutrement. None of these require cooking instructions or a separate recipe, but the spread sucks without them. Here’s what to grab at the store the day before.
Buns and bread
Burger buns. Nice and thick ones that hold up on the grill and yes you should warm them up.
Hot dog buns. I love Dave’s Killer brand, and toast these, too.
Gluten-free stuff. I don’t think you need gluten-free everything, but buns or wraps for the burgers (if you make those gluten-free) and then chickpea salad.
Condiments
Three kinds of mustard at the very least. Yellow (like a normal person), spicy brown because you’re fancy, and a sweet one, like maple dijon. And if you want 5 more mustards that’s fine.
Two kinds of relish. Sweet relish, the green one, for hot dogs. Dill pickle relish, the briny one, for everything else and the hot dogs too.
Ketchup. Yes, on hot dogs too, I don’t make the rules.
Vegan mayo. Mayo people will make a store run for it so don’t make them.
Two or three hot sauces. Sriracha and then everything else. Don’t forget a green one. And a weird one, like pineapple coffee habanero.
BBQ sauce. Even if you’ve made the Almost Bottled homemade bbq sauce recipe in this list, you will run out.
Toppings And Veggies
Sauerkraut. Bubbies is my favorite brand but any kraut will do.
Sliced raw onions for the burgers. I like red ones. Everyone else will, too.
Sliced tomatoes. Go for it and get those heirloom tomatoes from the farmer’s market and slice them thick.
Lettuce. Here is where I get controversial. Go iceberg! Or romaine. Crunch city.
Pickles. Spears and slices. Dill and bread & butter.
Sliced vegan cheese for the burgers. Maybe it will melt, maybe not. The point is, you tried. I like Field Roast Ciao slices, they sometimes melt.
Snacks and chips
Tortilla chips. In case guac appears, and it probably will.
Ridged potato chips. Just plain. No flavor. And I cannot stress ridged enough. The ranch dip is begging for it.
A bag of pretzels. Someone wants them plus you have all that mustard.
Crudité. All the carrots! And cucumbers. I’m not a celery person. But if you are that’s fine. Also, a bunch of cherry tomatoes still on the vine. They will find their way into mouths.
Fresh fruit. Sliced strawberries, peaches in season, an extra watermelon. Cold from the cooler, ready to go.
Cookout Equipment And Tips For The Vegan Barbeque
The cookout doesn’t run on food alone. Here’s the equipment that earns its place every time, plus the things you don’t think about until the day-of.
For the grill
Long-handled tongs. The kind that keep your hand four feet from the flames.
A steak fork or whatever that two-pronged thing is called. It looks cool, you need it.
A thin grill spatula. Gets right under there and preserves the grill marks.
A grill brush or scraper. Clean grates equal no sticking.
Heavy-duty foil. For corn, for tenting, for transporting leftovers home. You just always find a use for foil.
A small brush for basting BBQ sauce. A spoon also works.
Heat-resistant gloves. They exist! I never used them and my hands show it.
Wooden skewers. Soak them in water first so they don’t burn. I don’t know what all is getting skewered just yet but just in case. Call them just-in-case-kebabs, if you must.
The things you forget
Serving spoons. A lot of them! Big ones.
An apron and a backup apron.
A million spoons and forks. Not the disposable ones, just ones for mixing and picking.
A few huge mixing bowls. You don’t know why yet, but you will need them.
Extra garbage bags, plural. You will fill them.
A roll of paper towels, plural. Yes, you will have napkins, I don’t care, they serve different purposes.
A pile of napkins. Aforementioned.
Sunscreen and bug spray. Your future self thanks you.
Hand sanitizer. And wipes in general.
Citronella candles. If mosquitoes find you.
Backup lighter and big wooden strike-anywhere matches. Not for drugs, for the grill.
