In the grilling season, burgers, hot dogs, steaks, pork chops and chicken rule many people's outdoor menus since they are easy to make and delicious. But when you plan a cookout and vegetarians are on your guest list, having only salads as their alternatives and loads of meat on the grill simply won't do, as it's inconsiderate and rude. So if you want to be a great host, the next time you're cooking out for both vegetarians and carnivores, you better do it right.
If your party is not a bring-your-own-meat, or for some non-meat, option, then what you want to do is buy some veggie burgers and dogs, so that your vegetarian guests can enjoy the same types of grill out food as the rest. With a delicious relish, served on a grilled up whole grain bun and accompanied by a juicy tomato, crisp lettuce and some fragrant onion, a veggie burger is actually something you might want to try as it's delicious and healthy too.
Aside from your store variety veggie burgers and dogs, consider preparing other grill delicacies for your vegetarian friends, remembering that not everybody is a burger lover. For inspiration look online for some meatless BBQ recipes, ask your friends what they usually do when they cook out at home, and think outside the meat box to see if you can come up with something new.
One thing that can definitely rock not only vegetarian's but also carnivore's cookout is marinated, grilled Portobello mushroom served as part of a sandwich or on a bed of lettuce. You can use the same marinate you'll be making for your chicken, you can brush it with your famous barbecue sauce, or you can simply add some sea salt and fresh ground pepper on it, place it on the grill and serve warm.
While making kebabs for your meat loving friends with marinated beef and big chunks of veggies, you can easily make a batch for your vegetarian guests. Depending on whether they eat seafood or not, you can replace beef chunks with shrimp or fish chunks, or you can add cubes of hard tofu onto skewers. You just might want to wrap meatless kebabs in tin foil after brushing them with BBQ sauce so the seafood or tofu won't crisp up too much.
Inviting vegetarian friends to cookout try to be considerate of their eating habits and make sure to have vegetarian-friendly sides and toppings as well. A ham, cheese and macaroni salad might be among your favorite BBQ recipes, but it's no effort to make part of it meat free. Baked potatoes, corn on the cob or potato salads, as barbecue staples, can be enjoyed by your vegetarian friends as well, just make sure there are no bacon bits nearby. And while you're at it, try to keep one side of the grill meatless, so your guests don't have to wonder if the burger fat was dripping onto their veggie burgers.
Overall, the best thing you can do when inviting your vegetarian friends to the cookout is to ask them what you can do to make it okay. They might give you some ideas for BBQ recipes they're fond of, they will help with the logistics and most likely they will offer to bring meat free food so you don't have to go to too much trouble for them. And if they make trouble before the barbecue even starts, complaining about you wanting to serve meat when they're there, maybe you want to reconsider your invitation, because you don't want to change their habits, so they shouldn't want to alter yours.
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