Grilled Vegetables (3 Ingredient Marinade)

These assorted grilled vegetables are made with a simple 3 ingredient marinade of olive oil, salt, pepper. Topped with a herbaceous Mediterranean balsamic vinegar dressing, it’s an easy veggie-forward recipe that makes the perfect summer side dish!

Why We Love These

When it comes to summer meals, the less complicated the better. And these easy grilled vegetables come together with a marinade that couldn’t be simpler; it’s just olive oil, salt, and pepper.

The veggies get tossed with that easy marinade and then charred on the grill until they are cooked through with some gorgeous grill marks.

From there, we dress them with a simple (optional), Mediterranean inspired balsamic sauce and they’re ready to serve.

The veggies go well with just about any protein or entree, and especially well with other grilled, Mediterranean or Moroccan recipes like these ground beef kefta, grilled lamb chops, shrimp skewers.

They’re also really tasty served with a variety of different sauces, like this romesco sauce or cilantro lime sauce.

Ingredients

Here’s all you will need to make these simple grilled veggies:

For the Veggies:

• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• portabello mushroom (or cremini mushrooms)
• zucchini (yellow, green)
• sweet mini peppers (or bell peppers) or tomatoes on the vine
• eggplant
• asparagus (about 1 lb)
• broccolini
• garlic scapes or green onions

For the Dressing (Optional):

• garlic, minced
• fresh oregano, minced
• fresh rosemary, minced
• fresh basil, minced 
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• red pepper flakes

Keep in mind you can make this recipe without the dressing and enjoy the grilled veggies on their own.

See recipe card for quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

Reminder: You don’t have to use the dressing, but it adds a great balance of spicy and tangy flavor to the veggies.

Veggie Cook Times

As mentioned above, cook times for the vegetable will vary. Here’s a rough guide for how long each will take:

• Garlic Scapes or Green Onions: 3 ish minutes
• Eggplant: 5 ish minutes
• Zucchini: 5 ish minutes
• Bell Peppers & Tomatoes: 8 ish minutes
• Asparagus & Broccolini: 8 ish minutes
• Portabello Mushrooms: 10 ish minutes

Keep in mind this will vary depending on the size of your veggies, so keep an eye on them and pull them off the grill as soon as they’ve developed grill marks all around and before they char too much.

What to Eat With Grilled Veggies

This recipe goes great with grilled proteins, summer sides, appetizers, salads. Here are a few favorite from the blog:

Vegetable Variations

Because the seasonings and directions in this recipe are so simple, you can really use any of your favorite vegetables that are in season and accessible to you.

Here are some alternative ideas:

• Whole Onion – If you’re not into green onions and/or garlic scapes, try throwing some sliced onion rings on the grill. You can do yellow, red, or sweet onions.
• Green Beans & Halved Artichokes – The char on these veggies with balsamic is a really tasty recipe in itself, and goes well with the other veggies.
• Corn – Feel free to throw an entire ear of corn on the grill, or chop into thirds and grill in smaller sections.

You can also use carrots, assorted peppers (once pepper season rolls around), mushrooms and eggplants.

My favorite way to get inspired here is a trip to the farmer’s market!

Storage

These grilled vegetables serve a crowd of 8, making it the perfect dish to share at summer potlucks, BBQs or parties. You can also pick and choose your favorite veggies and scale it back to serve less, or enjoy the leftovers.

These veggies will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Store in an air tight container.

If you plan to have leftovers, keep the dressing served separately so that any leftover vegetables stay crisp.

Top Tip

Take a moment to prep and make the herb balsamic dressing while the grill heats, so that it’s ready to serve as soon as the veggies come off the grill.

And remember if you’re in a rush, you can also skip the dressing altogether and serve the veggies as is. They are delicious on their own with the simple olive oil, salt, and pepper marinade.

Happy Grilling,

Print