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What's good to cook on a propane grill?
I've gotten into an unexciting rut of mostly cooking burgers and hot dogs on there, occasionally getting adventurous with some chicken.
What kind of interesting things have you cooked on there lately?
Kebabs are great for the grill, and recently I've been making fajitas. So much better than the stove top!
Just get some skirt steak, cut some (but not all) of the fat off, season/marinade overnight, and then grill it up the next day. From there, you can get some salsa and make some tacos!
I have a Kamado grill, but some fun things you can make regardless of the grill type are:
Invest in a grilling basket/mat for smaller things that would otherwise fall through the grates.
Anything where you wanna taste the meat and not the heat! Jokes aside, literally anything. Steaks, burgs, brots, fish/shellfish, go nuts! The world is your oyster and you can shuck and cook that too!
Sweet corn in the husk. It's a cheap summer staple for us.
Same here. I find that it helps if I remove some of the outer husks, so that there's really only one or two layers of husk when I grill it. That gets it a little bit of smoky taste when the outer part chars a bit, and keeps it from just steaming.
Alternatively, what I do when camping (but can easily be done on a propane grill):
Take the husk off, butter/salt it, and wrap it back in tinfoil and then cook it over the heat. Roasting it in the butter is just something else to bring out the flavors.
Noted! My next trip I'm going to try and do a tin-foil-food-only run anyway.
If you're feeling adventurous, try it without the husk (and no foil either). Just shuck, butter, salt & pepper, then grill over medium heat for 12 minutes or so, rotating them every 2 minutes. We started doing corn this way about 5 years ago and never looked back.
Salmon & steak are my go tos but, meatloaf &/or Kufta is so good on the grill I basically don't cook either unless they're grilled.
Important tip: for the meatloaf or Kufta you'll wanna wrap it in foil until it's cooked through, then you'll open the foil up so the top and 4 sides are exposed to let the excess moisture escape & let the meat crisp up a little on the outside for the ideal texture. The flavor and texture is so much better than in the oven.
Grill veggies with simple guacamole & Halloumi on warm naan bread. Add whatever meat looks good at the store. Had this tonight.
The Veggies:
Chop up onions, red peppers, zucchini into larger pieces.
Season how u like
(Example: add olive oil, half a squeezed lemon, fresh garlic, basil, oregano, rosemary, taragon, sumac, salt, pepper)
We sometimes add hatch chilies and/or eggplant
Put tin foil down, throw veggies on top and grill.
Simple guacamole:
Avocado, lemon/lime juice, salt
Grilled Halloumi Cheese:
Grill half a lemon.
Cut up the Halloumi in 6-8 even pieces and grill it on the tin foil.
Squeeze the grilled lemon over the cheese. (Optional: do the last step with the cheese in a Grill HOT cast iron pan so the juices from the lemon sizzles into the cheese)
Naan bread warmed up on the grill.
Take the nana bread, spread guacamole on it add the Halloumi cheese, meat and veggies. Sooo good.
On my propane grill, I’ve recently done a cedar plank salmon. I like to season the salmon with Chef Paul’s salmon magic.
I’ve also done grilled cod to put on fish tacos with a mango avocado salsa.
I also enjoy the chicken souvlaki recipe from the American Test Kitchen Mediterranean cookbook. I haven’t made it recently but am planning to make it again soon.
You can never go wrong with a couple of links of kielbasa! Just slice up the surface of the sausage and grill until hot.
Pork belly slices. If you live near a Korean market you can pick this up fairly easily, and depending on where you live Costco might have bulk packages of sliced pork belly as well.
All the greatest of bacon without the nitrides and stuff.
I've taken some thin pork belly slices, basted them with bulgogi sauce and caramelized them on a grill and it was incredible. Made bibimbap with it. Bulgogi sauce in general is a good friend to grilled beef and pork imo!
Replying to op, flank steak tacos are a favorite as well. I marinate a flank in lime juice with a little honey, chili powder, salt, pepper and a little cumin for a minimum 6 hrs. Then throw it on the grill until you get a little char on the outside. Slice across the grain and serve on tortillas. I also make a cabbage and cilantro slaw to go on top.
Couple of things, I have a rotisarrie, a cast iron flat top, and a bunch of fun tools. You can use your grill for anything your oven can do (pizza is often better in a grill because it can get hotter), and with a $30 lodge griddle you can also do anything your stove can do. I like to do eggs, bacon, and hash browns on the grill, I just did a kicking chicken parm on the grill this evening. Corn bread is another fun one for the gas grill.
It's also really good for reducing sauces to glazes (better than anything else I have found for speed), and of course it is the perfect vehicle to cook steak, or double baked potatoes.
So many options to cook on the grill. Steaks are always a great option. I highly recommend learning how to control the heat of your grill and how to use the different zones. If you can set your grill and maintain a low temp around 225-250F, then you can start using it as a smoker. Just turn on the burners on one side of your grill and put the meat on the side where the burners aren’t on. You can also grab some wood chips, place them in some tinfoil, poke some holes in the tinfoil, and put it on top of the flavor bars on the side with the heat. This will give you a little bit of that smoke flavor you’d get from a real smoker. Once you learn how to do this, it’ll open up so many opportunities for you. I’d recommend starting with ribs and following what they call the 3-2-1 method. This is a modified version of the 3-2-1 that is actually better if you wanted to try it.
Grilling is a ton of fun and there are so many things you can do with your gas grill. Once you learn to properly control your heat, you have so many opportunities! To help improve your game, I’d pick up a proper set of themometers. Start with an instant read like the Thermopen , which is currently on sale. Then grab yourself a good leave in thermometer (I’d recommend something from Thermoworks as they’re usually the best). This will help you ensure you’re cooking your meats to the right temp and help you not overcook or undercook them!
Brisket.
It takes about 12 to 16 hours plus a bit of work, and some will argue that you can't truly smoke with propane grill, but the end result still be amazing regardless. Smoke some potatoes and a head cauliflower with it in the last few hours, then grill some corn while the roast is resting, and you've got a nice full meal.
Brisket is one of those meats that unless you know what you’re doing, you should stay away from until you’re experienced with setting up your grill for an off-set cook. For OP, who only has experience with hotdogs, burgers, and some chicken, I’d recommend starting easy with something like ribs or maybe even a reverse seared steak. Get used to cooking low and slow with something a bit easier and then start moving up to the brisket game. Propane also isn’t usually ideal for brisket anyways due to how long it takes to cook and the risk of running out of propane mid-cook. Can it be done? Absolutely, but definitely not something I’d recommend for a beginner griller.
Brisket is really not that difficult. The key is just to put one burner on low and see what temperature it gets up to, then adjust it until the temp reaches 250f. Put a good dry rub on the brisket, even just salt and pepper will work well. Wrap it up in tin foil really well, put it on the side with the burner off, close it and walk away for 12 hours. Read the internal temperature with a probe thermometer, then up the temperature a bit and let it go longer if it hasn't hit 200 yet. You don't need to smoke it if you don't want to, and you don't have to smoke it the entire time if you don't want to either. At absolute worst, finish it in the oven if you run out of propane. I've done it at a rented cottage with half a tank of propane. Brisket is really forgiving, you just need patience.
Edit: you also don't have to cook a whole brisket if you don't want to. You can buy smaller cuts of a brisket and just cook it for 8 hours if that's all it takes. As long as the internal temperature reaches 200f and you let it rest for 2 hours in the tin foil, it'll turn out incredibly tasty.
I’m not one of those crazy obsessive pizza people so keep that in mind but man pizza on the grill is so good.
Set your grill to the highest settings and preheat it for a while. Make or buy some dough, stretch it out. Wipe the grates down with some oil on a paper towel then plop it on the grill for like a minute or two. Flip it, put your toppings on, close the lid and cook for another minute or two. It comes out so good. The hardest part is the initial plop of the dough.
The only downside is I don’t get very good browning on top but out of all the ways I’ve tried this is the best way to make pizza.
Strong second. Hands down the best homemade pizza ever. I don't even miss the browning on top because that flame grilled crust is so good.
I put the cheese on before the other toppings, so it helps it melt.
What I said verbatim last time I made it ha!
Go down the path of grilling sweet potatoes. I slice them like wagon wheels and put them on the top rack or in a basket with a bit of olive oil.
Also, grab some wood chips (mesquite is an easy one) and put some in a tinfoil packet. Throw the packet on the grill 5 minutes before you start and then boom, you have smoked meat, veggies, etc. I've found it works well for chicken breast, bacon cheeseburgers, pork chops, and steaks so far.
How big is your grill? Does it have a well insulated cover on top with a thermometer? I work as a tech with professional kitchen equipment; i often have to change baking stones from pizza ovens, many times i have cut and gifted the broken ones to friends with grills. If you put them in your grill, you can start baking cookies, cakes and pizzas; just keep in mind to preheat them well :)
This is a cool idea, it does have a thermometer in the lid.
Not sure how well I would be able to keep it at any particular temperature for very long, but worth playing with for sure.
Is it a gas grill with a burner or is it charcoal? In the first case it will hold temp like a champ, in the second you will need to preheat the stone for a good hour. Temp should be at least 200/250°C for a decent pizza with low/medium hydrated dough. Good luck!
Nürnberg sausages! Also peppers and overall vegetables. Cheeses like oštiepok are great too.
I tried bacon-wrapped asparagus on the grill recently. It was a really nice finger food to share at a party.