Grill Everything, from Apple Pie to Ziti

Rochelle BIlow

The brightest, best cooks know: Don’t ever be boxed in by expectations and conventional wisdom. Don’t ever let anyone stamp out your creativity. And never, ever let anyone tell you, “No, you can’t grill a piece of apple pie.”

Here are 25 courageous, plucky cooks who refuse to be restricted to chicken thighs and steak.

Apple Pie
A delightful band of tattooed, bearded men in cowboy hats called the BBQ Pit Boys has unlocked the secrets of grilled apple pie. It’s explained in a 13-minute video, which is worth the time you’ll invest in it, if this is the sort of thing you want to do.

Blueberry Muffins
This was a fun discovery for which we can give thanks to Google’s autofill option. Grab your butter or, according to the recipe, butter-flavored spray and have at it!

Chocolate
Sourdough bread + butter + salt + chocolate = one delightful, melty, oozy sandwich. We have our friends at Food52 to thank for this one. 

Donuts
The Pit Boss BBQ Tool Belt says you can grill donuts, and so, by George, we will!

SEE MORE: Egregious Summer Cookout Mistakes

Eggs
If you, like we did, think it is impossible to grill an egg (scrambling over grates seems … challenging), prepare to have your mind blown. Dan Pashman and Mark Garrison of The Sporkful say, Yes, you can!—if you crack it into a halved bell pepper.

Fava Beans
Not only can you grill fava beans, it seems like a pretty genius way to prepare them: Instead of shelling and boiling them, simply toss them on a grill and eat ‘em like edamame. Thanks, YumSugar!

Guacamole
Okay, this is more about guacamole made from grilled avocados than it is grilled guacamole. (Guacamole would fall through the grates, clearly.) Bloggers Two Peas & Their Pod show you the way.

Hummus
This is pretty nifty: If you char chickpeas over a grill, they make for a smoky, deeply flavorful hummus. Thanks to blogger Patio Daddio BBQ for the pro tip.

Ice Cream
If you think ice cream is too cold to be grilled, you are wrong. Well, provided you wrap balls of it in homemade pie dough and meringue, as Instructables discovered. Trust us: If you want to grill ice cream, you’re going to need to encase it in something.

Jerky
Our good friends the BBQ Pit Boys are back again with an instructional video for making beef jerky on the grill. Turn your volume up for the charming accompanying music.

Kale
You know who says you can grill kale? We do.

Limes
This is just a good idea, as demonstrated byBon Appétit junior designer Alaina Sullivan.

Macaroni and Cheese
Gloriously weird, probably delicious: Grilled macaroni and cheese is a real thing. Blogger Framed Cooks created this cheesy, buttery wonder, and we are down to party with it—provided we can muster the energy to make a fresh batch of grilled cheese.

SEE MORE: 16 Recipes to Use Up Leftovers, Clean Out Your Fridge

Nachos
Nachos in the oven = good. Nachos on the grill = great. Betty Crocker shows us the way.

Oatmeal
“Grilling oatmeal … how is this going to be done?” asks news anchor Elizabeth Ries on Twin Cities Live in Minneapolis. How, indeed? What you do is make some steel-cut oats, chill ‘em until they congeal, cut out a slice, and slap that baby on the grill.

Pasta
Oh, yes! Grilled pasta exists. (Delightfully, this recipe from Tasty Kitchen calls it “Grilled Pasta Packets.”) Sure, you have to actually boil the pasta first, but how much fun is it to eat pasta from aluminum foil? The real appeal here is the dollop or two of cheese that gets melty and gooey once the packet goes on the grates.

Quiche
Blogger Fitnessista gets creative with her breakfast-for-dinner options: crustless quiche on the grill. Now why didn’t we think of that?

Radishes
More packets! These contain radishes, and we think it’s a pretty good idea—radishes get a little smoky-sweet on the grill. However, if it’s a nice char you crave, be bold and toss those suckers directly over the grates. (Just make sure they’re on the large side, eh?)

SPAM
Grilled SPAM. Need we say more? Should we say more?

Tripe
Have you ever eaten a cow’s stomach lining? Do you want to? Blogger Casa Veneracion says: yes to grilled tripe, yes to life.

SEE MORE: 8 Over-the-Top Grills That Actually Exist

Uni
If you’re a fan of uni (sea urchin), you may want to consider grilling it. Blogger nekoballs had some at restaurant Kappou Gomi in San Francisco, and it comes highly recommended. Says nekoballs, “[T]he uni was stuffed inside half of a mostly hollow apple and covered with what appeared to be a steamed egg, with pine nuts …. The warm uni was very fresh and tasted heavenly ….”

Vegemite
While we do not recommend grilling a spoonful of Vegemite directly over the grates of your grill (a grill basket won’t help you here, either), we can recommend a grilled Vegemite sandwich. It’s delicious if, you’re into that sort of thing. Here’s a 14-minute video demonstrating how to do it.

Wontons
How do you feel about grilled cream-cheese-stuffed wontons? The folks at Grilling Addiction like to put jalapeños in theirs.

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Yogurt
Yes, you can grill yogurt! That is, if you marinate a chicken in it and then grill the chicken. #loophole

Ziti
Chef and cookbook author Yotam Ottolenghi gives us permission to grill our ziti—under a mountain of cheddar and parmesan cheeses. And that, folks, is a wrap.

For recipes and instructions on how to make all of these delicious grilled treats, head back to BonAppetit.com.

See more from Bon Appetit:
22 Recipes Everyone Should Know How to Cook
What to Eat, Drink and Do in June
The 13 Most Important Kitchens on Television