Vegetarian Barbecue
Whenever I’m invited to a summer barbecue, for a few seconds, I panic: What am I going to eat? As a pescatarian, I know I’m going to be one of the few people, if not the only person, not partaking of the traditional hamburgers and hotdogs. I also know that it’s unlikely, especially if it’s a potluck, that the table will be overflowing with healthy salads. And I don’t relish the idea of taking up space on someone else’s grill for my veggie fare. So before I even RSVP “yes,” I’ve accepted that I’ll be eating a lot of chips and salsa.
When I’m in the privacy of my own backyard, though, I love to . They’re easy to prepare, and their meaty texture reassures me that I belong next to the grill, even if I’m not cooking meat.
Delicious as mushrooms are, though, there are many ways to get creative with meatless summer meals cooked on the grill. I’ve always wanted to make homemade veggie burgers, but the task seemed way too daunting. I did some research, looking at a number of recipes, to figure out the most essential ingredients. I used Melissa Clark’s “Ultimate Veggie Burger” as somewhat of a model, but switched out a bunch of ingredients to suit my own taste. The preparation was surprisingly simple, and the end product was delicious.
Next I tackled kebabs, substituting cubes of tofu for the meat; and because I really love them, I made some mushrooms too.
More Vegetarian Barbecue Recipes

Image by Jean Hanks
Tempeh Veggie Burger With Sliced Avocado
Makes 4 burgers
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 ounces tempeh
Vegetable stock
½ cup cooked quinoa
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 egg
Avocado slices
1) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, pepper and garlic and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
2) Combine tempeh and a few splashes of vegetable stock in a blender or food processor and pulse until the mixture is just slightly chunky. Add this to the bowl with the veggies.
3) Stir in salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, quinoa and breadcrumbs. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.
4) Add the egg and stir to combine well.
5) Let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before grilling.
6) Right before you’re ready to grill, divide the mixture into 4 patties about 1-inch thick.
7) Cook the burgers for about 5 minutes on each side. Top each patty with two slices of avocado.
Jean Hanks is the food intern at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected]
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Opinion In Trump’s war against campus antisemitism, hate the tactics but don’t ignore the problem
-
Yiddish כ׳בענק נאָך די וועלטלעכע ייִדן וואָס האָבן אָפּגעריכט אַ טראַדיציאָנעלן סדר Longing for those secular Jews who led a traditional seder
מײַן פֿעטער יונה האָט נישט געהיט שבת און כּשרות אָבער בײַם אָפּריכטן דעם סדר האָט ער געקלונגען ווי אַ פֿרומער ייִד
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.