From fashion to home design to food, trends seem to come in cycles. While we’re not quite sure if we’ve circled all the way back from wide legs to mom jeans and back to skinny jeans again (please clue us in if you know!), one thing we know for sure: cooking over live fire is never going to go out of style.

Scientists estimate that humans have been grilling for more than 780,000 years. Back then, cooks relied on it to make protein safer to consume, as well as more delicious. All of these centuries later, grilling recipes, as well as the tools, techniques, and ingredients we use to get them on the table, are about that and so much more.

Cooking and eating food made over live fire delivers “primal pleasure and satisfaction,” says Jude Parra-Sickels, regional executive chef at Majordomo in Los Angeles, California.

“We have a saying in Greek: Anyone can learn to cook, but one is born to grill,” adds Diane Kochilas, Mediterranean cuisine expert and the author of The Ikaria Way. 

Personalizing and modernizing your grilled grub is what “adds to the cache of this ancient and primal form of cooking,” Kochilas says. (This evolution is also what makes your meals even more delicious and fun to whip up and devour.)

Last year’s grilling trends were all about digitization, unique ways with mayo, plant-based fare, and more. We connected with 12 chefs and cookbook authors from coast to coast to help us pinpoint what’s hot in the world of grilling, as well as what grilling trends might be going up in smoke. 

10 of the Top Grilling Trends of 2024, According to Culinary Experts

Grab your aprons, your tongs, and your meat thermometers, because you’re just minutes away from feeling majorly inspired to ignite your grill to make this season’s barbecue menu your most exciting and appetizing yet.

Grilled Salads…

Although it’s not exactly a new concept this year, Daniel Humm, owner of Eleven Madison Park and co-author of Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook is a firm believer that in most parts of the country, “grilled lettuce is an underrated” grilling trend.

“People don’t always realize how much flavor and texture can be experienced by grilling little gem lettuce or charring radicchio,” adds Steve McHugh, the San Antonio, Texas-based chef/owner of Cured and the author of Cured: Cooking with Fermenting Pickles, Preserves & More. “I love to add avocado or crunchy peanuts as a way to finish the salad.” 

You need not cook it on the spot if you're hosting a crowd, or are simply craving a headstart. McHugh recommends grilling your greens an hour or two in advance, then storing them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble and share the dish. A cool charred salad delivers all the smoky flavor you crave with grilled recipes, just with a refreshing level of hydration (most lettuce varieties are around 95% water) and a welcome chilled counterpoint to the warm weather and proteins. 

Want to give this a go? Our Grilled Romaine Salad with Tomato and Corn Tumble makes for a crowd-pleasing and creative side dish.

…And Other Grilled Vegetables

Turn over a new leaf and toss other vegetables on the grill too, Humm suggests. And we’re not just talking about portobello mushrooms, onions, or peppers. Several of our culinary pros pointed to more unexpected grilled veggies, and suggest that you add the following to your menu in 2024:

• Beans and peas. Toss chickpeas, fava beans, peas, or snap peas in oil (Humm likes algae oil for its light and buttery flavor and high smoke point), then cook them in a metal mesh basket over very high and direct heat. Shake the basket and keep the vegetables constantly moving to avoid burning, Humm advises.
• Cauliflower steaks. Follow our cauliflower steaks recipe, but instead of searing it in a skillet, cook the cauliflower on the grill. The result is a “hearty, very savory, and filling” option, according to Kevin Gillespie, chef and co-owner of Red Beard Restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or a carnivore.
• Creative cups. Esquites, essentially a Mexican street corn salad served in a cup, have been buzzy lately, but McHugh predicts that we’ll see other veggies getting a similar treatment in 2024. “I like variations on this featuring different vegetables, from zucchini, to squash or okra,” McHugh says. Grill your favorite vegetable, dice it up, then toss with your favorite crumbled cheeses, seasonings, and fresh herbs. “Serving it from the jar makes a great table enhancement for an outdoor event,” and it also makes it portable.
• Whatever is seasonal. Dan Pelosi (aka @grossypelosi), a New York-based recipe writer and The New York Times bestselling author of Let's Eat:101 Recipes to Fill Your Heart & Home and his partner look forward to their weekly visits to their local farmers market, where they stock up on a variety of the season’s best to grill at the start of the week “so we can throw them on our plate at every meal. There is nothing tastier than a charred vegetable,” Pelosi says. (We bet he’d love our 16 best grilled vegetable recipes!)

Grilled Fruits and Desserts

When in doubt about what to grill, Humm says that he defaults to not meat or seafood, but fruit. His favorites for 2024 include stone fruits like peaches and nectarines, slabs or skewers of pineapple, thick slices of tomato, and avocado halves.

David Rose, the Atlanta, Georgia-based executive chef for Omaha Steaks agrees that grilled fruit is fire, adding that “the textures, slightly charred flavor and caramelization of the fruit more than satisfies my sweet tooth.” (He adores grilled pound cake topped with grilled pineapple, fresh berries, and salted caramel.)

You can incorporate fruit into classic desserts like crumbles, crisps, and pies, then opt to “bake” them on the grill instead of in the oven.

“These are all delicious with a bit of smoke and the lovely crust that a grill produces,” Valerie Gordon, chef and owner of Valerie Confections in Los Angeles, California.

As for Kochilas, she likes to keep her grilled fruit on the lighter side, and looks forward to making 2024 the year of the grilled peach and pepper salad.

Bold Marinades, Rubs, and Sauces

There’s nothing light or shy about the flavors that will be big this summer. 

“In 2024, grill lovers will be experimenting with bolder flavors when it comes to marinades, ribs, and sauces,” Kochilas says.

Here’s a sneak preview of the zesty coming attractions:

• Sassy spice blends. Rose likes to shake up his own, often with a generous dose of Caribbean flavor as a nod to his Jamaican heritage. Pelosi prefers outsourcing, since “there are some incredibly delicious seasoning blends on the market now that my boyfriend and I can’t stop using. We love Dalkin and Co. blends [available in taco, Tuscan, lemon pepper, and more]. Every flavor makes its way onto our grill.”
• Global inspiration. There’s no need to feel like you must stick to the same cuisine for your marinade, rub, and sauce, by the way. “ Global meet-ups of ingredients, mixing and matching flavors from across the world even if they aren't from the same culinary culture,” are so in, according to Kochilas. (Think: A gochujang-infused marinated steak topped with a chimichurri sauce, for example.)
• Fermented flair. Andrea Conguista, corporate executive chef at Mr. R fusion street food and Pasta Beach, an Italian-inspired restaurant with locations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, predicts that all kinds of fermented foods and drinks (from kimchi to kraut to kefir marinades) will make their way to the grill.
• Perky marinades. Bored by your usual olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano combo? Add unique flavors of vinegars, a spoonful of miso, a drizzle of pomegranate or grape molasses, or a splash of fruit juice to your marinades, Kochilas recommends. 
• Boosted butters. Kochilas is wild about coating her grilled corn on the cob with kalamata olive butter, and we’re still on a Cowboy Butter kick after it went wild on social media last year. If you’d rather outsource the blending, try one of Churn Foods’ compound butters, which come in flavors like bruschetta, black garlic, hot honey, and pesto.

Smoked Everything

“Fans of the grill, and of food in general, are constantly looking for new ways to infuse and create new flavors,” Rose says. “What better way to do that, than on the grill?”

The charred grilled flavor lends a very nice bittersweet savory note as it is, and a smoker ups the ante by concentrating the irreplaceable smoky quality. 

Yes, you can smoke food even if you don’t own a smoker! Here’s how to retrofit any grill to tackle the task. Or invest in McHugh’s new favorite trendy toy: a smoking tube, which is “a great, affordable alternative if you don’t have a smoker at home.”

As you experiment with smoking, McHugh suggests trying smoked cheese, while Rose predicts that smoked dips, smoked chilis and stews, and smoked cocktail ingredients will continue to grow in popularity. Prefer to stick with—or at least start with—the classics? Try our Smoked Beef Brisket, Maple-Smoked Salmon Fillets, or  Smoked Mole-Inspired Turkey.  

Grilled Pizza

We don’t see any signs that outdoor pizza ovens are losing any steam, and they work incredibly well for pizzas, of course, as well as “roasted” vegetables, baked cheeses, desserts, and more. 

However, you don’t necessarily need to invest in a separate piece of equipment. The grill works great to cook the entire pie or the toppings. 

“One trend that gained popularity years ago and I think will be buzzing again this season is grilling pizza,” says Anthony Mangieri, founder of Genio Della Pizza and the chef/owner of Una Pizza Napoletana in New York City. “It’s a great skill to add to your grilling arsenal and makes a really unique version of pizza. Making use of your grill to make pizza saves having to purchase a specialized oven and can make an equally-delicious pizza. It gives you some of the taste and char of a restaurant-quality wood burning oven right at home.”

Follow Kochilas’ lead and make a pita pizza for a short-cut. Or to keep our All-Purpose Pizza Dough or another classic dough recipe from sticking to the grill:

• Ensure you’re cooking on a clean grill.
• Grease the grates with oil (not cooking spray, which can cause flare-ups).
• Stretch the dough, then transfer it to a cornmeal-dusted pizza peel (which will coat the bottom of the crust and reduce the risk for sticking to the peel and the grill).

Unique (And More Affordable) Cuts of Meat

If you’ve taken a peek at your supermarket bill lately, you’ve most likely noticed some significant increases. Groceries are getting more expensive across the board, and one of the fastest-spiking categories is beef. (Beef prices jumped 7 percent from April 2023 to April 2024, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service.) 

If you’re watching your budget, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to skip beef all together if you enjoy it. The secret lies in choosing a different kind of steak, Gillespie says. 

“People are getting more experimental with their grilling. They are going beyond the basic steak, chicken breast, and burger. Not only are many of these cuts a better value, but they do very well on the grill. Most are easier because they tend to have more fat so you can't overcook them,” he says.

According to Conguista and Gillespie, your value protein shopping list could include the following:

• Denver steak
• Teres major steak
• Hanger steak
• Skirt steak
• Beef cheeks
• Chicken thighs
• Lamb

Grilled Whole Fish and Shell-On Seafood

In other popular protein news, five of our pros gave special shout-outs to fish and seafood as a major grilling trend. And we’re not just talking about salmon filets. 

“I love grilling whole fish,” says Sean Thompson, executive chef at Porter House Bar + Grill in New York City. “I have two fish baskets at home, which work great for grilling whole branzino or dorade, which I often infuse with Mediterranean flavors.”

Rose hopes to smoke more seafood this season, while Parra-Sickels is wild about grilled head-on, shell-on shrimp, since it packs even more flavor than the peeled and deveined version. Plus, the shell “protects the fish from harsh elements; adding flavor and ensuring it doesn’t dry out on the grill,” McHugh adds.

If you’re in the mood for other grilled seafood in a shell, add Grilled Mussels with Garlic Butter to your summer bucket list.

Flat-Top Grills

Offering a quick and versatile cooking space to prepare large meals that are easy to clean up after (“compared to a charcoal or propane grill,” Rose says), consider hopping aboard the flat-top train.

“Flat-top grills have been going viral on social media. Home cooks are having a lot of fun ‘cheffing up’ their meals on the flat-top grill, some going as far as preparing hibachi spreads for their families,” Rose says.

Our best flat-top grills can help you ace everything from fried rice to fajitas to fish cakes.

All-Day Grilled Grub

That flat-top can flex and cook pancakes and eggs, too.

“We’re thinking about the grill as more of an all-day cooktop,” Pelosi admits. “Rather than just ‘we are having a barbecue, come over,’ it’s more ‘what are we making for every meal and which parts can be done on the grill?’ It gets you outside more, and the clean up just feels way simpler. My kitchen is currently under remodel, so I am grilling something at every meal.”

And you can too with either a flat-top or Gillespie’s move: popping a cast-iron skillet or griddle pan on a regular grill.

“With a big grill, you can go hard on a giant breakfast for a big crowd—eggs, pancakes, bacon all at once—then turn around and perfectly grill a steak and veggies for dinner. We really can have it all!”

3 Grilling Trends That Are on the Way Out

Now that you know “what’s in,” let’s take a peek at the grilling trends that might soon be falling out of favor, according to our panel of food pros. 

• Gas Grills: Simply flipping a switch to turn on the grill is handy, however, “gas grills will probably lose some headway as people turn to more natural flavors like real smoke from charcoal,” Kochilas predicts. Tesar believes that “the gas grill is becoming obsolete in exchange for other options that provide more flavor. A portion of the market share of gas grills is being eaten up by smokers, flat-tops, pellet grills, wood-fired grills, and outdoor pizza ovens, Tesar says.
• Burgers. “I think people are finally starting to come around to the fact that grilling a burger is inferior to cooking it on a griddle,” Parra-Sickels says. “The maillard reaction and flavor on the griddle is just so much better, especially with a dry-aged beef burger.” With smash burgers being all the rage, more cooks are turning to their stovetops and skillets to score that perfect sear and sizzle. If you adore making burgers al fresco, try them on a flat-top grill or bring your cast-iron skillet outside to set on the grates.
• Chicken Breasts. They’re budget-friendly and versatile, true, but Pelosi anticipates that chicken thighs and even whole chicken recipes (like our Beer Can Chicken) will be more popular than white meat chicken breasts in 2024. “The dark meat doesn’t dry out as quickly, so it’s a no-brainer. Pick your fave seasoning blend and go,” Pelosi says. After allowing the chicken to rest, he likes to chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and “throw it into summer salads or slap it onto a sandwich.”