Grilling Fruit: Outdoor Grilling Classic with a Fruity Twist

If you've read any of my other recent articles, you'll know I'm on a grilling kick! I love summer and good temperatures and swimming pools and most of all: outdoor cooking!

I love grilled meats, grilled vegetables and shrimp, and I adore grilled fruit! That's right - grilled fruit!

Okay, if you've eaten 'Hawaiian' things, I'm sure you've had a kabob with some pineapple on it, but I bet most of you never thought about grilling other fruit. You can grill anything on the BBQ you want, but there are some fruit that work better on the grill than others.

What Fruit Is Good to Grill?

Any fruit can be grilled, I suppose, but I'm thinking strawberries wouldn't look very attractive if they were grilled whole. However, I did once grill them sliced, and they wrapped around the skewer and actually tasted quite good. Still, your best bet when choosing fruit to grill is to pick the heartier, sturdier fruits with a 'meatier' fruit.

Apples and pears are exceptional grilling fruits that hold up well to the heat and the use of skewers. Pineapple grills well, and is a good pair both for dishes of lighter meats (fish and chicken) or for using directly on the grill for a fruit flavored treat.

Citrus fruit like lemons and limes go well with other vegetables and meats for added color and flavor. The outsides of the citrus fruit will dry, but when warmed on the grill, the juice inside will be very squirty and ready to squeeze on your meat and vegetable pieces.

Bananas are an awesome grilling fruit. If you freeze them before grilling, they stay sturdier on the grill when peeled, but you can grill bananas in the peel and they get warm and gooey and yummy inside. Stay with me to the end of this article for a great recipe with grilled bananas!

How to Grill Fruit

Fruit can be grilled the same way meat and vegetables are grilled. You can skewer the fruit and make kabobs out of them. You can put the fruit in foil packets and place the packets on the coals. You can even put slices of fruit directly on the grate and cook them that way. Use your imagination and experiment!

Use Sauces on Fruit When Grilling for Flavor

Just like brushing BBQ sauce on meat or butter sauce on vegetables when grilling, you can make caramel, honey or sugar/syrup sauces to brush on fruit while it cooks. Apples are exceptional for brushing with caramel sauce or a cinnamon honey mix.

Grilled Banana Recipe

I promised a grilled banana recipe at the end:

First, you can take a packet of foil and take a banana in the peeling. Cut the banana long ways down the peeling so the peeling can be pulled back but the banana isn't cut. Pull the peeling back and place the banana in a foil packet. Place chocolate chips inside the peeling of the banana. Place miniature marshmallows inside the banana peeling. Loosely wrap the banana in the foil packet and place the packet on the coals and let it sit for about 2-5 minutes, depending on the temperature of the flame.

This is a divine and yummy and gooey banana dessert your entire family will love!