Grilled Veggie Skewers With Herby Yogurt Sauce

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One of many great side dishes for summer cookouts is grilled veggie skewers, consisting of brightly colored produce packed with a variety of flavors and nutrients. The crowd-pleasers are extra tasty when the heat caramelizes the natural sugars. Those who don't have an outdoor grill won't have to miss out on the classic dish with recipe developer Michelle Bottalico's version of grilled veggie skewers, served with a herby yogurt dipping sauce and made on a cast-iron grill pan to develop the signature smoky flavor and charred lines.

This recipe calls for a mix and match of vegetables of different textures, colors, and tastes, prepared in similar sizes for even cooking and seasoned simply. There's no need for a strong marinade here as the grilling adds so much sweet, savory flavor. Furthermore, the creamy dip that is the yogurt sauce complements and completes the dish. This easy-to-make recipe can bring the feeling of summer to your home at any time of year.

For this recipe, you'll first make a yogurt sauce. For that you will need plain yogurt, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, fresh mint, fresh parsley, salt, and black pepper. And, of course, you'll need to gather an assortment of vegetables for the skewers, specifically a medium zucchini, a small ear of corn on the cob, a red bell pepper, medium cremini mushrooms, medium cherry tomatoes, and a small head of cauliflower. Finally, have avocado oil or another neutral, high-heat cooking oil on hand as well as salt and black pepper for seasoning. 

Shorter skewers are needed for this recipe to fit inside the indoor grill pan. Bamboo skewers can be cut to size if metal ones are too long.

To make the yogurt sauce, in a bowl, stir together the yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mint, parsley, salt, and pepper until well combined. Set aside in the refrigerator.

Moving onto the skewers, if using bamboo skewers, presoak them in water for 30 minutes to prevent burning. Then thread the vegetables (one of each on each skewer), skewering similar-sized vegetables together.

Lightly brush oil on all sides of the veggie skewers and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Preheat a cast-iron grill pan for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat.

Add 3 of the skewers to the pan without them overlapping or touching.

Cover the pan with a lid and cook the skewers for 15 to 20 minutes, turning the skewers with tongs every 3 to 4 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and lightly charred.

Repeat with the remaining skewers.

Serve warm with the yogurt sauce.

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The biggest tip for cooking your grilled veggie skewers evenly lies in the prep work: Cut the vegetables carefully to make sure they're all around the same size in diameter. For example, this recipe calls for a medium zucchini and a small ear of corn, which have a similar diameter. That is why we cut the bell peppers into 1 ½-inch squares to match. The vegetables in this recipe all cook at about the same rate, but if you use more robust vegetables that take longer to cook, like sweet potatoes, you can cut them thinner than the ½-inch-thick slices in this recipe. On the contrary, vegetables that cook faster can be cut thicker.

You can also pay attention to how you assemble the vegetables on the skewers. Group similar-sized pieces together and thread them without gaps in between because gaps will appear when they shrink as they cook. Watch for this and press them back together with tongs so the pieces don't fall off and burn. Finally, follow the recipe directions for turning the skewers. Instead of just flipping them once, they should be rotated several times for even cooking. Think of the skewers as having four sides, with each getting its time on the direct heat of the grill pan.

Although this recipe is for grilling vegetables on an indoor stove in a cast-iron grill pan, it can easily be adapted for cooking on an outdoor grill. First of all, you can use larger skewers since you'll have more space when using an outdoor grill. The larger skewers will hold twice the number of vegetable pieces as the ones in this recipe, so be sure to scale up the recipe if needed. 

Metal skewers can get extremely hot, so don't touch them without tongs or a protective mitt. If you do use bamboo skewers, soak them for 30 minutes first so they don't burn. If you're vegetarian or vegan and concerned about cooking veggies on a grill used for meat, you can place them in aluminum foil packets — with or without skewers — to keep them from touching the grates.

Preheat your outdoor grill to 350 F and place the prepared, seasoned skewers or aluminum foil packets on the grates. Close the lid to trap the heat inside the grill. Open the lid and rotate the skewers as directed in the recipe about every 3-4 minutes, closing the lid after each time. The skewers will be ready in about 15 to 20 minutes once the vegetables are tender and lightly charred on all sides.

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