Easy Grilled Vegetable Kabobs (+5 Marinades)

Vegetable Kabobs are the easiest way to eat a rainbow of delicious veggies during summer. The perfect side dish for your weekend bbq or grill party. We show you 3 ways to make them, and 5 easy marinades that turn them even more delicious. 

Do you know what goes great with these grilled veggie kabobs? Fire up your BBQ and cook some delicious smoky beetroot burgers or fajitas portobello mushroom burgers, and if you have 10 more minutes, quickly mix some coleslaw salad.

Ingredients

Vegetable skewers are the summer version of oven-roasted vegetables. You can mix and match your favorite ones, spice or marinade them and cook them on a gas grill or in the oven, or on the stovetop. Here is our favorite combination:

• red onion
• white button mushrooms
• zucchini (or courgette), yellow squash, or any other summer squash
• bell pepper (either red, yellow, orange, or green)
• cherry tomato
• corn
• eggplant (or aubergine)

You can choose to include all or only some of the above-listed veggies and your vegetable kabobs or vegetable kebabs (whichever you call them) will still turn out perfect. 

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.

Best veggies to use for kabobs

Obviously, summer gives us an abundance of vegetables to choose from. However, not all vegetables are created equal. Some of them are easy to skew, while others might fall apart. Some of them are easy to cook this way, while other ones will remain hard or uncooked. The best veggies to grill on a skewer are the ones in this recipe. 🙂 Let me tell you why.

• corn – Well, corn is perfect even on its own. Grilled corn on the cob is kind of a summer must-have.
• mushroom – They are one of the easiest vegetables to grill. If you choose smaller ones, you don’t need to cut them or peel them, just skew them and they are good to go.
• zucchini – Zucchinis are the first vegetables we buy if we plan to do some grilling. You don’t really need to do much to get them delicious. They are perfect with only a pinch of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• eggplant – You need eggplants. Salt them a bit in advance to release some moisture. This way you’ll end up with perfect texture and taste. More info on how-tos, and tips in our eggplant guide. 
• bell pepper – Roasted bell pepper is so delicious. When we don’t add them to our kabob, we sure make our roasted eggplant and bell pepper dip.
• onion – Unless you are not allergic or intolerant to allium, you need onions on your skewer. Full stop. Grilling onions makes them from “It is so strong, I am crying my eyes out!” to “Yummm, sweet and delicious!”
• cherry tomato – To be honest, I prefer roasted tomato as a soup, but my husband loves them as part of our veggie kabob. Large tomatoes may fall apart since you have to cut them, but the skin of cherry tomatoes keeps them more or less intact.

Never grill these vegetables on a skewer

We also collected some examples, which – in our opinion – are better to be left off of your skewer like:

• spring onions or scallions – They will get charcoaled easily, as they need less time to cook than red or yellow onions.
• cauliflower or broccoli or brussels sprouts – Basically, all cruciferous vegetables need to be blanched or pre-cooked as they need a long time to soften. Not to mention, getting them on a skewer might not be fun as well. It makes them extra messy for veggie kabobs.
• leafy greens – I think you either turn them into chips or use them in salads or soups, but they just don’t work on a skewer.
• carrots and other root vegetables – Again, these need usually more time to cook than other veggies on your skewer. It is highly possible that they remain hard and uncooked if you add them to your selection.
• potatoes – They are a bit tricky as they can end up as carrots, hard and uncooked. To save you some headache, maybe it is easier to wrap them in foil one by one with some oil/butter and spices and grill them next to your grilled vegetable kabobs.

How to put together the perfect vegetable kabob

Preparing your vegetables

Your kabob vegetables will be tasty if you make sure that all of them will be ready at the same time. For that to work, you need to decide on the correct size depending on the cooking time of each vegetable.

• Corn, cherry tomatoes, and bell pepper will be the fastest to become tender.
• Zucchini, eggplant, and mushroom should be of the same size as they need similar cooking time.
• The onion needs a longer time to soften, so you might need to cut them at least in quarters.

A quick tip: If we have corn, we usually match all others to the size of the corn rings. Therefore, the thinner the corn, the better aka shorter the cooking time. Also, if you have large corn, then the other veggies might not even touch the grilling surface.

Get your skewers ready!

There are 3 options to choose from:

1. Wooden skewers* (aka bamboo skewers) – You need to soak them for 20 minutes if you plan to use them on a gas grill or on a charcoal grill. No soaking is needed for the oven or for the stovetop. 
2. Metal skewers* (usually made of stainless steel) – It is a perfect zero-waste alternative. 
3. Herb stems as skewers (rosemary is one of the sturdiest) – Only for soft veggies like cherry tomato or bell pepper. Not recommended for a gas grill at all!!!

Top tips for making them perfectly

• For cutting, make sure to choose thinner corn. If your corn rings are too big, the other veggies will not touch the pan will be harder to get them cooked.
• Don’t peel the zucchini and the eggplant as without their peel they might get too soft to stay on the skewers.
• Put the vegetables that don’t lose their size so much during cooking at the end: corn, onion, or mushroom.
• Leave a small space in between to ensure that the heat reaches all sides. If the veggies are pressed against each other, you need a longer time to cook. Or even some will remain uncooked while for example, the cherry tomato will be vastly overcooked.
• We kind of pre-poke the corn with a turkey lacer* (from the old days) before adding it to the skewer. 

5 delicious marinades

After the vegetables are safely on the skewer we prepare a quick marinade and we use a silicone brush to generously cover every part with it. Even brush them again once we turn them over during grilling. Here are 5 of our favorite marinades that are perfect for any all-veggie kabobs.

Italian herbs

If we prepare them for the whole family, we usually make an easy, mixed herb marinade using olive oil, garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt, and black pepper. It is absolutely kid-friendly as well. See for exact amounts below in the recipe card. 

Spicy fajitas 

How about some adult-only hot and spicy Tex Mex flavor? This is our favorite fajitas mix, which consists of olive oil, hot chili powder or chili flakes, sweet smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, oregano (or Mexican oregano if you can get your hands on it), salt, and black pepper. You can download the exact amounts from our fajita veggies post. 

Spicy mixed herbs

Our third marinade is a mix of olive oil, garlic powder, sweet paprika powder, chili powder, ground oregano, ground basil, ground rosemary, salt, and black pepper. You can download the exact amounts from our cauliflower steak post. 

Harissa

The fourth option would be to make a juicy, spicy, and sweet harissa marinade. It is harissa paste, maple syrup, ginger powder, freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice, fresh mint leaves, and soy sauce. You can download the exact amounts from our harissa tofu post. 

Chili miso

The fifth marinade you can try is a spicy miso marinade which is miso paste, rice vinegar, vegetable oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic powder, and onion powder. You can download the exact amounts from our chili miso tofu post (coming soon!). 

3 ways to grill vegetables on skewers

Grill pan on the stovetop

The easiest way is if you have a grill pan and you cook them on a stovetop. First, heat the grill pan to medium, then place the veggie kabobs on it leaving a small space in between the skewers. Cook both sides for approx. 5 minutes.

In the oven

You can use a glass oven-safe dish or a baking tray with a grill rack. Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and grill them under the broiler for 10 minutes, turning the kabobs at halftime.

On a gas grill or charcoal grill

Our little trick is to use aluminum foil drip pans*. Similar to oven grilling, preheat your grill to 400 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and grill your rainbow veggie kabobs for 10 minutes, turning them at halftime.

Top tips for grilling

• Watch kabobs frequently and brush them with the marinade after turning. It is especially important on the gas grill.
• Use tongs or heat-proof gloves to turn the metal skewers. They can still be hot after serving so be sure to let your guests know it.
• If you are using wooden skewers in a grill pan, you can easily turn them with your hands.

What to serve with them?

Burgers!!! We have a delicious smoky vegan beet burger, fajitas portobello mushroom burger, and a vegan Big Mac burger recipe you should definitely check out. 

If you need a full meatless meal. We also like to make some potato-based dishes that go great with veggie kabobs like 

• Classic American Potato Salad from Strength & Sunshine
• Grilled Potato Wedges from Sip Bite Go
• Hasselback Sweet Potatoes from A Sweet Alternative
• Deviled Roasted Potatoes in Foil from Savory Spin
• Onion Baked Potatoes in Foil from Food Meanderings
• Rosemary Parmesan Sweet Potato Stacks from Savory Experiments

Or prepare a light summer salad for example

• Coleslaw Salad from us
• Cowboy Caviar from This Healthy Kitchen
• Microgreen Salad with Green Goddess Dressing from Eating Works
• Healthy Waldorf Salad from Happy Kitchen Rocks 
• Summer Salad with Edible Flowers from Seven Roses

Let us know in the comments what else you make to have it as a full lunch.  

9 dipping sauces to try

We love to whip up a quick dip that you can dunk your veggies in. If we go for a spicy marinade, we’d love to make some tzatziki to balance the hotness. If we make a light herby marinade, then a spicy BBQ sauce is the only thing missing. How about you? Here are some homemade recipes, if you’d want to try some. 

• Vegan Tzatziki from us
• Vegan BBQ Sauce from us (or store-bought*)
• Lemon Herb Tahini Sauce from us
• Vegan Ranch Dressing from Vegan 8 (or store-bought*)
• Vegan Buffalo Sauce from us
• Satay Peanut Sauce from Cilantro and Citronella (or store-bought*)

Let us know in the comments which one is your favorite dip to pair them your grilled veggie skewers. 

This grilled vegetable kabob recipe is vegan, so meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegetarian, nut-free, soy-free, and gluten-free diets. 

More veggie sides

You can browse through our vegan gluten-free side dishes or check out

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UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in Jun 2019, but was rewritten and republished with more marinade recipes and even more tips in May 2022.