Imagine all of your favourite vegetables cooked on the grill, tossed together with arugula, and maple balsamic vinaigrette, then topped with goat cheese. That sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Well, that is exactly what I am going to show you how to make today. This Grilled Vegetable Salad is the perfect accompaniment to grilled chicken, steak, pork, or even fish. It screams summer, and it tastes amazing. Are you ready to see how it’s made? I know I am! So, let’s get to it.
Grilled Vegetable Salad Recipe
Before we jump into things, there is something I want to mention. I recently took ads off Chef’s Notes because I found them annoying, and if I felt that way, I’m sure other people did too. One other thing that I find annoying about this blog and most others is that when you want a recipe, you have to scroll through so much text to find it. Well, luckily, I have the power to change that, at least on this site. So, moving forward, all new posts will have the recipe published after the introduction. That way, if all you want is the recipe, you can find it instantly. If you want more detailed instructions, tips, and fun anecdotes (I hope they’re fun at least), you can keep scrolling.
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Ingredients
Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 1 tsp Mustard Powder
- 1 tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/2 cup Oil Canola or Grapeseed
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Salad
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 1 Green Bell Pepper
- 1 Red Onion
- 1 med. Zucchini
- 3 small Sweet Potatoes or 1 large
- 24 Cherry Tomatoes
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 4 cups Arugula
- 1/2 cup Crumbled Goat Cheese
Instructions
Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
- In a medium mixing bowl combine the mustard powder, maple syrup, and balsamic vinegar.
- Whisk a few drops of the oil into the mixture. Once the oil has been incorporated, whisk in a few more drops. Repeat this three to four more times, then add the remaining oil in a slow, steady stream while constantly whisking.
- Once all of the oil has been incorporated, taste the dressing and season with salt and pepper as needed. Use the Vinaigrette right away or store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Prepping The Vegetables
- Cut the top and bottom off of the red and green bell pepper. Make a slice down one side of each pepper, then using your knife, cut the seed pod away from the pepper and discard. Cut the peppers in two.
- Cut the onion into 1/4-inch rings. Remove the peel and thread the onions onto 2 10-inch metal skewers. If you use wooden skewers, soak them in water for 30 minutes first.
- Cut the zucchini in 4 lengthwise.
- Peel the sweet potato and cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch strips.
- Thread the cherry tomatoes onto 2 10-inch metal or wooden skewers. If you use wooden skewers, make sure to soak them for 30 minutes first.
- Place all the preparred vegetables on a sheet pan and drizzle with the olive oil. Season on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Grill the vegetables on a preheated grill on medium-high heat until cooked. It is hard to give an exact time, but some things like the tomatoes will take 4 to 5 minutes, and other things like the onions and sweet potato will take 10 to 15 minutes. As things cook, remove them from the grill.
- Once the tomatoes are cooked, take them off the skewers and add them to the vinaigrette to cool. The other cooked vegetbles can be returned to the sheet pan until it is time to assemble the salad.
Assemble the salad
- Place the arugula in a large mixing bowl.
- Cut all the cooked vegetables into bite-sized pieces and add to the arugula.
- Pour the dressing and tomatoes onto the salad and toss.
- Plate the salad on one big platter or in 4 small salad bowls.
- Top with goat cheese and serve.
The Vegetables
The vegetables I used for my salad are red and green bell pepper, red onion, zucchini, sweet potato, and cherry tomatoes. What’s great about this salad is that you can use anything fresh and in season. Other vegetables like squash, eggplant, and asparagus all work really well in this. So, use what you like.
Prepping The Vegetables For The Grill
Bell Peppers
First things first, the vegetables have to be prepared for grilling. We’ll start with the peppers. Cut off the top and bottom and set them aside. Stand the pepper up and make a slice down one side of it. Place the pepper on its side and put your knife inside the slice you just made. Keeping your knife tight against the inside of the pepper, cut and roll. The idea is that you are cutting the inside ribs to release the seed pod without making a big mess of seeds. When you’ve gone all around the pepper, the seed pod should be free, and you should have one long strip of pepper. Cut the pepper stirp in half and move on to the next vegetable.
Red Onions
Next up, red onion. The easiest way I’ve found to grill onions is to slice them into fairly thick rounds (about 1/4 of an inch) and put them on a skewer. So, that is exactly what we’ll do. Slice the onion into thick rounds, remove the peel and put the rounds on a skewer. To ensure that the onion holds together while grilling, the skewer must be threaded through the middle of the onion.
Cherry Tomatoes
As with the onion, the easiest way to grill cherry tomatoes is to put them on a skewer. There’s isn’t really a trick to this. Just skewer them. I’m using fancy metal skewers because I’m cool like that, but if you use wooden ones, soak them for at least 30 minutes before putting them near a fire.
Zucchini
The second to last vegetable to prep is the zucchini. Cut it into long thick strips (again, about a 1/4 of an inch thick). That’s all you have to do. I like to cut vegetables like zucchini and the sweet potato, as you’ll see in a minute, into strips rather than rounds when grilling because I find they are less likely to fall between the grate of my grill. If you want to risk it and cut them into rounds, go for it.
Sweet Potato
I had three tiny sweet potatoes, but you can obviously use one large one instead if you have it. Peel it, and cut the sweet potato into thin strips. Becasue the sweet potato will take longer to cook than anything else, you want to cut it thinner than everything else. This will help ensure that everything cooks in about the same amount of time.
Grilling The Vegetables
The vegetables are all cut up, some are on skewers, and now it’s time to get grilling. Wow! Wait a minute there speedy. We have to season and oil the vegetables first. Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over the vegetables and season them on both sides with a little salt and pepper. Okay, now we can hit the grill.
Even though I didn’t mention it before, your grill should have been preheating on medium-high heat for the last 15 minutes. Throw the vegetables on the grill. Close the lid and let them cook. How long it takes to cook the vegetables will be largely determined by your grill, how windy it is outside, and what the outside temperature is. So, all I can really say is cook your vegetables until they are cooked. Make sense? You want them to have some bite still but not be hard. They should have a little char but not be burnt. Take a look at the pictures below for a little guidance.
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Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
While the vegetables are grilling, or before you put them on the grill, you need to make the Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette. Don’t worry, it is super easy. To make the dressing get a medium mixing bowl and combine 1 teaspoon mustard powder, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and a 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar. Whisk it all together, then whisk in a few drops of canola or grapeseed oil. Once those drops have all been incorporated, whisk in a few more. Then a few more. After three or four oil additions, you can start to add the remainder (1/2 cup in total) in a slow, steady stream whisking the whole time. Once all of the oil has been added and is whisked in, taste the dressing, and season with salt and pepper as needed.
You can use this Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette right away or store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Marinate The Tomatoes
Okay, back to the grill. Once the tomatoes start to pop (4 to 5 minutes flipping once), take them off the grill, remove them from the skewer and put them right in the dressing to marinate while the other vegetables finish cooking.
Grilled Vegetable Salad
Finishing The Grilled Vegetables
As the vegetables finish cooking, take them off the grill and set them aside. Once all the vegetables are finished, take them back to the house, and make the salad. Start by cutting all of the grilled vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
Making The Grilled Vegetable Salad
Put four to five cups of arugula in a large mixing bowl, spoon the dressing and the tomatoes over the arugula. Add the rest of the vegetables and toss. If you are only making a salad for one or two people, prepare it in a medium mixing bowl with half the vegetables and spoon some of the dressing over the greens.
Finish The Salad
To finish the salad, plate it in four small bowls or on one large platter. Top it with crumbled goat cheese and serve.
The Wrap Up
I love this salad because the sweetness from the grilled vegetables plays with the spiciness of the arugula and the tartness of the vinaigrette. Then, the creaminess of the goat cheese ties it all together to create something truly delicious and memorable. Give it a try for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
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