Grilled Vegetable Grazing Board

The following recipe was created in collaboration with Lauren Schulte. To see more of her bites and meals, visit her Instagram @TheBiteSizePantry.

Food boards are all the rage nowadays! This summer, make outdoor and indoor entertaining extra beautiful and delicious with a grilled vegetable grazing board featuring Heinen’s incredible assortment of Midwest grown produce .

How to Choose The Best Vegetables

When choosing vegetables and dips, it’s important to keep the selection fun and exciting. Add bright pops of color with ripe red tomatoes, red bell peppers, yellow summer squash, vibrant green zucchini and asparagus, purple eggplant planks and golden ears of sweet corn. I also recommend adding assorted varieties of mushrooms, because they’re pretty fun-guys.

It’s also important to choose vegetables that can handle the heat of the grill. Yellow summer squash and zucchini are both vegetables that stand up to heat if cut into thicker planks. I like to slice them into various shapes to give the board more texture and detail. I recommend leaving vegetables like red onion, asparagus, bell peppers, mini sweet peppers and sweet corn whole to cook on the grill and slicing them into shapes after they are cooked.

How to Grill Vegetables

When grilling any type of vegetable, I always use Heinen’s avocado oil spray. Avocado oil has a high smoke point and can stand up to the heat of the grill without smoking or burning. Spraying down the grill grates with avocado oil first helps the vegetables to not stick. I also like to give the vegetables a good spray too.

When grilling items like baby potatoes and cherry tomatoes (stems intact), it’s best to place them in an oven-safe dishes, covered with tin foil, rather than placing them directly on the grill grates. For the best flavor, drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil, place a dollop of butter on top of the potatoes and sprinkle both with salt and fresh rosemary prior to grilling. They cook really nicely along with the vegetables and go deliciously well with the assortment of dips.

In terms of temperature, I set the grill to 400˚F. It’s important to remember that some vegetables will have to be turned more than once while cooking and removed before others.

There’s clearly a lot that goes into grilling produce, but don’t fear! To make things easier, I’m breaking the cooking instructions down by item!

• Tomatoes: Place in an oven-safe baking fish and drizzle with 2 Tbsp. of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and cover with tin foil. Place directly one the grill and close the hood. Cook for 15 minutes until they blister and pop.
• Rosemary Butter Potatoes: Fill an oven-safe dish with a layer of baby Yukon gold potatoes. Drizzle with 4 Tbsp. of olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and tuck two sprigs of fresh rosemary in between the potatoes. Add 3 Tbsp. of thinly sliced butter. Cover with tin foil and place directly on the grill. Cover the hood and let cook for 25 minutes.
• Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash: Spray both sides with Heinen’s avocado oil spray and place directly on the grill grates. Close the hood or leave it open, depending on your preference. Cook for 2 minutes on each side.
• Red Bell Peppers: Spray with Heinen’s avocado oil spray and place whole on the grill. Close the hood or leave it open, depending on your preference. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (4 sides total).
• Mini Sweet Peppers: Spray with Heinen’s avocado oil spray and place whole on the grill. Close the hood or leave it open, depending on your preference. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (2 sides total).
• Red Onion: If leaving whole, do not spray with avocado oil. If cutting in half, spray both sides with Heinen’s avocado oil spray and place on the grill. Close the hood or leave it open, depending on your preference. Cook whole onion for 10 minutes, turning several times throughout. Cook halved onion cut-side-down for 3-4 minutes until grill marks form.
• Sweet Corn: Shuck the corn and clean off the hairs. Spray generously with Heinen’s avocado oil spray and place directly on the grill grates. Close the hood or leave it open, depending on your preference. Cook for 10 minutes, turning throughout.

How to “Grill” Vegetables without a Grill

If you don’t have a grill, don’t worry! You can use a gas flame stovetop to char the peppers and onions and then bake the rest of the vegetables in the oven, using the broil setting to get the same charring affect that the grill creates. For the gas flame stovetop, set the burner to medium-high. Balance the peppers and onion on top of the metal grates, one at a time, and watch them closely as they will cook faster over an open flame than on the grill. Turn them once the skin begins to blister. They will only need a few minutes on each side. Once blistered on all sides, they are done.

If baking the zucchini, squash and corn, preheat the oven to 400˚F. Line a baking sheet with tin foil, spray the tin foil and vegetables with Heinen’s avocado oil spray and bake the zucchini and squash for 10-12 minutes and the corn for 20 minutes, turning everything halfway through.

How to Assemble the Grazing Board

When assembling this grazing board, try to maximize the use of different layers and textures. Start by placing two or three bowls for dips in the shape of an obtuse triangle. This will create an aesthetically pleasing geometric shape, which will help guide where to place the vegetables. It will also direct your guest’s eyes around the board, allowing them to access the full experience.

For the dips, I chose two flavors of Heinen’s premade hummus and made my own light and creamy buttermilk ranch dip and avocado yogurt dip. Heinen’s has a wide range of deliciously blended hummus. It’s hard to pick just a few. I opted for the roasted garlic and original varieties and added my homemade olive tapenade on top, but you could also add hot sauce, meat, infused oils and herbs.

When placing the vegetables on the board, I like to lay the larger varieties in the center, in between the three dip bowls. Now add the smaller items, like the potatoes and tomatoes, around the dip bowls and work your way out to the edges of the board. With so many neutral hues, it’s nice to add sprigs of fresh herbs to break up all the brown. Adding fresh parsley, dill and lettuce can also help fill in any gaps.

Lastly, set out festive plates and napkins for your guests that compliment the grazing board and enjoy!