The Food Lab: My Favorite Grilling Recipes

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

I'm a creature of the cold. I like my beaches rocky, gray, and overcast, and my mountains snow-covered. I'd take the Pacific Northwest over the Mediterranean any day of the year (except that rare day when it's sunny in Seattle), and if I had my way, summer would last at most a week in New York.

Why would I even want that week at all? If summer has one saving grace, it's that during hot days, I essentially have no choice but to grill. It's not just that the kitchen is too hot to fire up the oven, it's an innate, natural calling. I see the sun glinting off the shiny black dome of my trusty Weber kettle and it sets off a near-Pavlovian reaction in me that causes my legs to take me to the corner store for coal and my arms to start butterflying chickens, with little-to-no actual mental involvement. Am I the only one? I somehow doubt it.

So needless to say, I've done quite a few grilled recipes for The Food Lab over the years. Here are a few of my absolute favorite recipes—the ones that I spent the most time working on, or the ones that simply appear time and again during my summer cookouts.

Get the Recipes!

• Peruvian-Style Grilled Chicken With Green Sauce »
• The Best Barbecue Chicken »
• How To Make the Best Chicken Tikka Masala at Home »
• How To (Sort Of) Make Naan at Home »
• How To Grill a Stek: A Complete Guide »
• How To Grill Short Ribs »
• The Best Way To Grill Sausages »
• For the Best Stiry-Fry, Fire Up the Grill »
• How To Make the Best Fajitas »
• Easy Grilled Cornish Hens and Zucchini with Lemon-Oregano Marinade, Tzatziki, and Greek Salad »

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.