Grilled Vegetable Salads - Cooks Illustrated

Published July 1, 2000.

A medium-hot fire and some light dressings turn varied mixes of onions, peppers, zucchini, and eggplant into simple summer salads.

The Problem

Grilled vegetable salads make an excellent warm-weather side dish. The problem for most cooks is figuring how to use the same fire to roast peppers or char onions for salad and then cook chicken parts or tuna steaks.

The Goal

Flavorful and properly cooked grilled vegetable salads that can be easily prepared on the same grill needed to cook the main dish: chicken, fish, or meat.

The Solution

Build the fire, let it die down a bit, then grill the vegetables. Once the vegetables come off the grill, add a handful of unlit coals. While waiting for the fire to heat up, assemble the salad, which can then sit around while you grill the main course. Because the vegetables must be oiled generously before grilling to prevent sticking, use oil sparingly in the dressing so the salad doesn’t taste greasy.

list of recipes

America’s Test Kitchen is a 2,500-square-foot kitchen located just outside of Boston. It is the home of Cook’s Country and Cook’s Illustrated magazines and is the workday destination for more than three dozen test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes until we understand how and why they work and arrive at the best version. We also test kitchen equipment and supermarket ingredients in search of brands that offer the best value and performance. You can watch us work by tuning in to America’s Test Kitchen (www.americastestkitchen.com) on public television.