Grilling Inspiration: Ultimate Grilled Pasta | Grilling Inspiration

Who doesn’t love a nice big bowl of pasta? Pasta is a great comfort food, especially now. It’s a relatively inexpensive dish and there are some fun ways to incorporate great flavors and create 3-4 meals for the week by adding a variety of veggies and proteins.

Top Tips for Grilled Pasta

Substitute any ingredient (in or out) of your favorite pasta dish based on what you have on hand.
Bring more flavor and fun to any staple pasta by adding in your favorite veggies such as zucchini, peppers, onions, eggplant, tomato, or spinach and proteins such as chicken, steak, fish, or shrimp.
Use your side burner, keep the mess outside!
Add hot julienned veggies to hot pasta.
Make a cold pasta salad using grilled veggies the same size as the pasta you are using. My favorite pastas for pasta salad are are spaghetti noodles broken in half before cooking or elbow/macaroni or bowtie pasta. Drizzle with olive oil or avocado oil. Any veggies would work well in a pasta salad.
Grill a meatball for your pasta. Check out our grill master recipe here.

Top Pairings by Sauce

Alfredo sauce: Add grilled broccoli and peas (grill in a preheated grill pan for 8-10 depending on size of pieces, during the last 2-3 min add peas) and grilled chicken or shrimp.

Marinara sauce: Add grilled peppers and onions, add a grilled meatball or grilled sausage

Olive Oil: Any veggies or lighter flavors work really well with olive oil.

Make it an extra interesting with our Grill Master Olive Oil Sauce:

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 
2-3 tbsp chopped garlic (2-3 garlic cloves) 
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon back pepper
1 ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt

Vodka sauce: Use a larger portion of veggies and then add a smaller serving of protein like sausage, chicken or steak to the dish or serve it on the side.

Make it an extra interesting with our Grill Master Vodka Sauce:

4 tbsp minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
1 large onion chopped fine
4.6 concentrate tomato paste or 6 oz tomato paste
4 oz. container grated parmesan cheese
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 oz. vodka
¾ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. black pepper
½ tbsp. kosher salt

Top Tips for Mac & Cheese

Take something simple like Mac & Cheese and enhance it.

Make it fun for the whole family by creating a Charcuterie board with ham, bacon, salami, extra rib meat, pulled pork, and sausage, and different types of cheeses like jalapeno jack, cheddar, or smoked gouda. You’ll make the Mac & Cheese first and then layer in whatever ingredients you want.
Add Planko bread crumbs and fresh parmesan over the top to give the pasta a really nice crust.
Turn a staple into something really special. If your house is like mine, Kraft Mac & Cheese or a store bought prepared dish is pretty much a staple. Add extra cheeses, pulled pork shoulder or chicken breast, and grilled veggies to really make this dish anything but boring.

So there you have it, whatever you have on hand can be used to grill up the ultimate pasta dinner. If you want to follow a recipe, then check out the 3 below. Have fun with it and share! We'd love to see what you grill! #StayInGrillOut

3 Recipes to Try

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