This grilled zucchini is bathed in a flavorful garlic and herb marinade, then cooked to perfection on the grill. An easy side dish that’s quick to make and always gets rave reviews!
I adore grilled vegetables like grilled asparagus in foil, grilled potatoes in foil and this amazingly delicious zucchini. Once you’ve tried zucchini on the grill, you won’t want to cook it any other way.
When the warmer months roll around, I find myself eating zucchini and yellow squash on a regular basis. Zucchini is inexpensive, widely available and healthy too! My favorite way to eat zucchini is in this grilled zucchini recipe. It’s so simple with ingredients you probably already have on hand, yet it tastes so delicious!
For a grilled feast enjoy this zucchini with main dishes like grilled salmon, grilled chicken tenders, grilled flank steak and grilled lamb chops. It’s so satisfying to have your favorite foods sizzling on the grill!
Table of Contents
Grilled Zucchini Ingredients
To make this grilled zucchini dish you will need zucchini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, black pepper and Italian seasoning. I sprinkle a little fresh parsley over the veggies and serve lemon wedges as a garnish. For amounts and details, see the recipe card below.
How Do You Make Grilled Zucchini?
The first step in this recipe is to prepare your marinade. Place olive oil, fresh lemon juice, dried herbs, garlic and seasonings in a large bowl and whisk everything together. Cut your zucchini and place it in your marinade in a fridge for at least 20 minutes, but it’s better if you have the time to let it sit for at least 2 hours. After the vegetable has marinated, place it on your hot grill. Grill the vegetable until it is tender. Remove the zucchini from the grill. Sprinkle a little parsley over the top and enjoy!
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- I like to use small zucchini that I’ve cut into quarters. Cooking with larger pieces of zucchini helps to prevent it from getting mushy on the grill. If you prefer to slice your vegetable you can, just make sure the slices are at least 1/2 inch thick.
- Make sure to cut your vegetables thick enough to fit across your grill grates.
- Fresh lemon juice is best here, do not use the kind in a bottle.
- I use dried Italian seasoning in my marinade, which is widely available in the spice aisle of most grocery stores. You can also make your own Italian seasoning.
- I like to use my charcoal grill. If it’s not grilling weather, I opt for for my indoor grill pan on the stove.
- I like to garnish my grilled veggies with fresh herbs such as chopped parsley and also lemon wedges.
Quick Tip
Set the zucchini across the grate to get nice grill marks. Remember to flip the zucchini so that each side has grill marks.
Recipe FAQs
There are a few different slicing methods that work well for grilled zucchini. The first is to quarter your zucchini like I’ve done in this recipe. You can also cut your zucchini lengthwise into long planks. The final option is to cut your zucchini into slices at a sharp diagonal. This will create slices that are large enough to avoid falling through the grill grates.
The best way to prevent soggy zucchini is to make sure you don’t overcook it! The more cooked the zucchini is, the softer it will get.
How long you cook zucchini depends on the thickness of your vegetable. For zucchini spears I cook my zucchini until it gets nice grill marks and becomes tender which takes 3-4 minutes per side. For slices, I also cook the zucchini for 3-4 minutes per side.
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Ways To Use Grilled Zucchini
You can eat grilled zucchini as a side dish, but I often make extra grilled zucchini to use in other recipes during the week.
- Pasta: This recipe is the perfect addition to zucchini fettuccine alfredo.
- Salad: Coarsely chop your zucchini and add it to a green salad.
- Sandwiches: Layer grilled zucchini with roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella and pesto for an amazing sandwich.
- Pizza: Chop your cooked veggie spears and add them on top of a cheese pizza.
Flavor Variations
While this recipe is fantastic, you can modify the flavor to suit your own taste:
- Cheesy: When the zucchini is tender and almost done cooking you can sprinkle your favorite cheese over the vegetable to melt.
- Spicy: Try adding red pepper flakes to your marinade or sprinkle some red pepper flakes over the vegetable.
- Garnish: Feel free to garnish your vegetable with fresh herbs like dill, basil or chives. You could also garnish your cooked zucchini with grated parmesan cheese or a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
Once you try this grilled zucchini, you’ll find yourself eating it all summer long!
More Veggie Side Dishes
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Grilled Zucchini
Ingredients
- 1 pound small zucchini ends trimmed off, then cut into quarters lengthwise
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves chopped
- lemon wedges for serving optional
Instructions
- Place the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and minced garlic in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add the zucchini to the bowl and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium high heat.
- Add the zucchini to the grill in a single layer. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until tender and browned. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
- Remove zucchini from the grill and place on a serving plate. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon wedges if desired.
Notes
- I like to use small zucchini that I’ve cut into quarters. Cooking with larger pieces of zucchini helps to prevent it from getting mushy on the grill.
- I use dried Italian seasoning in my marinade, which is widely available in the spice aisle of most grocery stores. If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you can use equal parts of dried parsley, oregano and basil.
- This recipe will work on an outdoor grill or on an indoor grill pan.
- Set the zucchini across the grate to get nice grill marks. Remember to flip the zucchini so that each side has grill marks.
This grilled zucchini is the ultimate summer side dish. We made it last night and it was incredible!
We're always looking for good ways to cook fresh summer zucchini, and this recipe is SO tasty. Love the way the fresh lemon enhances the flavors. Another winner from Sadud!
Having grilled zucchinis are my favorite. This was a perfect to have with my steak for dinner.
This recipe is so flavorful and will be my new go-to recipe whenever I grill zucchini!
Sounds really good! I was hoping to find a recipe for spears vs round slices and I finally found one!
I might just do some salt and pepper though. I am not a fan of Italian seasoning.
Quick, easy and delicious! Perfect recipe!
Grilled these tonight along with tuna, onions, and peppers, with home baked bread on the side. I was lazy and used bottled lemon juice but next time will use fresh; didn't have Italian seasoning or parsley so I used dried oregano, thyme and a smidgeon of chopped fresh rosemary. It was very good. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Have you tried this with yellow squash? I was thinking of doing a mix of both and wondering if the same prep/ingredients would work for yellow too.
Yes, a mix of both would be great!
Makes for a good side.
How many zucchini’s are used for this recipe? Also, how many slices per serving?
1 pound of small zucchinis is approximately 4 zucchinis, so it would be one zucchini per serving.
I love how versatile zucchini is but this is probably my favorite way to serve it! This was a great side dish with dinner last night, but I like it as a quick snack too; so delicious!
This was a great side dish with dinner last night! Just what I was looking for and even my picky eaters cleaned their plates!
Zucchini are my favorite! I can never get enough!
I love how versatile zucchini is and this is no exception! Made a great side with our grilled chicken last night; delicious!
Oh wow, looks really amazing! So easy to make yet incredibly delicious, definitely making this!
Oh my, these look incredible!! My kids would LOVE them!!
Who needs Fries with these bad boys! I will be making these tonight!
This looks incredibly delicious! This couldn't look any more perfect!
These look great. Your recipes are just fantastic. Thank you for creating and sharing them!
It really looks delicious. I want to do the same. Thanks.