Spicy Grilled Watermelon Recipe

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated Apr. 30, 2019
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Joshua Bousel

After a long summer of new grilled goodies and tons of barbecue, I decided to take the cool and crowd-pleasing watermelon and do it up in a spicy, grilled style.

Brush the watermelon wedges with a mixture of honey, lime juice, and cayenne pepper, then quickly grill them over a very hot fire until grill marks form.

One by one, my friends curiously tried this watermelon and spat out disguised comments like, "weird" or "that's different."

Hmm...not the reaction I was hoping for. But then everyone went back for more, trying to formulate an opinion over this surprisingly odd creation. Sure, it may not be for everyone (best to keep some plain watermelon on stand-by), but it certainly adds some fun when everyone forms an opinion in the great grilled watermelon debate.

Recipe Facts

Active: 20 mins
Total: 20 mins
Serves: 10 to 12 servings

Rate & Comment

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup juice from about 4 limes
  • 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1 medium watermelon, cut into 1-inch thick wedges
  • 1/2 cup mint chiffonade
  • Type of fire: Direct
  • Grill heat: high

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together honey, lime juice, cayenne pepper, and salt.

  2. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over entire surface of coal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Brush each side of watermelon slices with spicy lime and honey mixture. Place watermelon and grill and cook until grill marks developed, about 2 minutes per side.

  3. Remove watermelon from grill, sprinkle with mint, and serve.

Special equipment

Grill

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