5 Italian Grilled Vegetable Recipes for Summer

A hot grill is the simplest thing you can do with summer vegetables — it concentrates their sweetness, adds smokiness, and takes almost no time. These five recipes show how far that logic goes: a classic mixed vegetable platter, a pasta, a panino with tuna and stracciatella, a scamorza salad, and skewers with a parsley and caper sauce.

Grilled Vegetables keep things classic and no-fuss. A colorful mix of vegetables hits the grill, where the high heat preserves their character and concentrates their flavor into a light, versatile side you can pair with almost anything.

Pro tip: serve this platter just warm or at room temperature with a drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon to brighten the smoky vegetables.

Pasta with Grilled Vegetables turns smoky zucchini, peppers, and eggplant into a satisfying main. The grill gives the vegetables a crisp, charred edge that brings a laid-back, summery spin to a comforting bowl of pasta.

Pro tip: after tossing the pasta with the grilled vegetables, splash in a bit of the starchy cooking water and a thread of extra-virgin olive oil to help everything come together silky and well-coated.

Tuna, grilled vegetable and stracciatella cheese panini pack bold flavor into gluten-free mini baguettes. Grilled spring vegetables, tuna in oil, creamy stracciatella, and a quick parsley sauce come together for a rich and satisfying handheld meal.

Pro tip: lightly toast the insides of the baguettes on the grill before filling so they stay crisp and stand up to the juicy vegetables, tuna, and cheese.

Salad with Scamorza and Grilled Vegetables is a fresh, flavorful main dish for warm days. Grilled vegetables meet soft, melty Scamorza cheese in a salad that balances smoky notes with a tender, creamy bite.

Pro tip: let the grilled vegetables cool just slightly before tossing with the Scamorza so the cheese softens gently without completely losing its shape.

Grilled Vegetable Skewers make a light, colorful appetizer. Zucchini, eggplant, peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes are threaded onto skewers and grilled, then served with a bright parsley and caper sauce.

Pro tip: cut the vegetables into similar-sized pieces so they cook evenly on the skewers and soak up more of that zesty parsley-caper sauce in every bite.

The skewers and platter are the quickest — both on and off the grill in 20 minutes. The panino is worth the extra step of toasting the bread on the grill before filling. Make the pasta last, while the grill is still hot, and dinner is done without touching the stove.