Vegetables. A necessity of life. Some people love 'em. Some people tolerate them. Whatever camp you fall into, this lemon, thyme, and mustard basting sauce will make you fall in love with veggies (or fall in love all over again). It's such a simple recipe with ingredients you may already have on hand (at least most of them) and it really wakes up your standard grilled veggie.
For me, I like to keep my veggies relatively simple. I have no problem adding decadence to other components of my meal, so I try to keep my veggies as healthy as possible.... for the most part. To me, there's nothing better than a grilled veg. I used to be stuck in a mental box that only a few veggies were meant to be grilled, but over the last few years, I have grilled pretty much every vegetable I like to eat and let me tell you, grilling makes all of them better.
You can use this basting sauce on any vegetable you want to grill, but my personal favorites are carrots, corn, and zucchini with carrots being absolute #1 for me. Something about the tang from the lemon and mustard and the earthiness of the thyme that makes the sweetness of the carrots really stand out but then you get that slight smokey char flavor from the grill and it's lights out.
The recipe for the basting sauce below makes enough to serve a large crowd, but it will keep in the fridge for a while (my rule is as long as the ingredients you put into it have not expired, you should be good), but it also freezes great so you can make a bunch and pull some out of the freezer as you need it.
Veggies based in this sauce are the flavors of summer for me -- although feel free to use it all year round. Whip up a batch and shake up your boring old veggies. You will not be disappointed.
Lemon, Thyme, & Mustard Basting Sauce for Grilled Vegetables
(Makes ~ 2 cups of basting sauce)
Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 5 minutes (plus grilling time)Click below to download and print the recipe
Ingredients:
Basting Sauce
1/2 C. (1 stick) of butter
1/3 C. minced shallots (~ 1 medium to large shallot)*
1/4 C. olive oil
3 TB dijon mustard
2 TB freshly squeezed lemon juice (~ 1 lemon)**
Zest from 1 lemon
1 TB finely chopped fresh thyme
Vegetable Suggestions
Fresh ears of corn, cut in half (see photo above)
Carrots -- I like normal size carrots cut on an extreme bias about 1/2" thick for more surface area (see above). But baby carrots or carrot sticks would work just fine too.
Bell peppers cut into thick strips
Asparagus
Zucchini cut into sticks (see photo above) or yellow squash
Broccoli florets
Anything else your heart desires!
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine all of the ingredients and heat over medium low heat, stirring occasionally to help the butter melt.
Once the butter is melted, whisk everything to combine and to help emulsify the sauce. Continue to heat over low heat and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes to allow the shallots to cook off their raw flavor. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Place your desired vegetables on a large sheet tray. Liberally brush the basting sauce with a basting/pastry brush over all fo the veggies, making sure to turn/flip to cover everything. Do not pour the sauce otherwise it will be too much.
Grill the vegetables over medium heat until cooked to your liking, flipping as needed to achieve a slight char. Each vegetable will likely have different cooking times, especially depending on how they were cut.
Serve with extra sauce if desired and enjoy!
*Recipe notes + Variations*
*You don't need to be exact here. 2 small shallots or 1 larger one minced very fine will work.
**1 lemon generally yields 2-3 TB of juice. You don't have to be precise here.
Be sure not to cook the vegetables over too hot of a flame. The butter and oil in the sauce can cause a flare up on the grill, which is also why you don't want to pour the sauce, but rather brush it onto the veggies. If a flare up happens, close your grill lid for a few minutes and it should die down.
You can make this well ahead of time and keep it in the fridge or on the counter. Just gently reheat it on the stove to loosen it up again. It should be relatively thin in consistency, but still thick enough that it grabs onto the veggies.
Freeze extra sauce in an airtight container. Just reheat it over the stove to get it to the right consistency to baste again.