Grilled Romaine Hearts: How to Grill Lettuce
Learn how to grill lettuce for an unexpected and delicious way to dress up a main dish or side salad! Grilled romaine hearts have a wonderful smoky, charred flavor while remaining fresh and crisp on the outside. You can use these as the base of a Greek, Caesar, or wedge salad, or just drizzle with a simple vinaigrette to really let the flavor shine through! Ready in under 10 minutes!
This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click on the link and make a purchase, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
I recently came back from spending a week in the mountains near Asheville for my family’s annual summer get-together. Spending time with my mom and stepdad, my sisters, and their families is always so special, and one of the highlights of the trip is that each of our families takes over a night of cooking for everyone — all 18 of us!
Not only is it delicious, but it helps get me out of whatever cooking routines I’ve been in lately. This year, my sister Jessica and her husband made homemade pizza in the pizza oven, grilled vegetables, and grilled romaine lettuce. The whole meal was delicious and memorable, but the grilled romaine hearts made a big impression on all of us!
Since coming home a couple weeks ago, I’ve been throwing some romaine on the grill whenever I make a grilled entree for dinner, which, in the summer, is quite a bit.
If you’re already firing up the grill for some blackened salmon or turkey burgers, grilled lettuce is an easy thing to throw on in the last couple minutes of cooking or immediately after for a side dish you hardly have to think about.
I take that back. You won’t have to think about it beforehand because there’s almost no prep, but I promise you it’s so delicious you’ll be thinking about it for weeks afterward!
What you’ll love about this recipe:
Ingredients
Only four simple ingredients for this recipe!
Okay, you might say there are five ingredients if you count your dressing of choice. You can drizzle on some homemade creamy honey balsamic dressing (also great on this spinach and arugula salad!), some Olive Garden dressing, or Greek salad dressing.
Or you can even go as simple as squeezing a fresh lemon or a sprinkle of vinegar over top, since the grilling adds a lot of flavor to the lettuce on its own.
Choosing your romaine hearts
You want the romaine hearts rather than the whole heads of romaine. The whole heads (and even some hearts of romaine, as you can see below) have a lot of floppy leaves around the edges, whereas you want a nice tightly-packed heart so it will stay together on the grill.
Choose good romaine hearts by gently squeezing the lettuce head: it should feel relatively firm rather than airy, meaning there are a lot of densely-packed leaves in there.
That said, if you can only find romaine hearts with lots of floppy leaves, go ahead and get them anyway. It just won’t be quite as compact and pretty when you’re done grilling.
How to grill lettuce
First you’ll want to slice your romaine hearts in half lengthwise, leaving it attached at the base. Remove any floppy outer leaves or leaf fragments that aren’t hugging the head of lettuce after the cut.
Rinse each half under some water, gently encouraging the water in between the leaves. Romaine hearts can get a little dirty especially around the base of the leaves, so focus around that area when rinsing. Turn the halves cut-side down and pat them dry with a kitchen towel, or leave them to dry while you prepare your other food.
Brush the cut sides liberally with some olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and some freshly cracked pepper, and preheat your grill to medium high or high. You just want to sear the cut side, not cook the whole head of lettuce, so the hotter the better. But if you’re cooking something else on the grill on medium high that’ll work too. 500 degrees Fahrenheit or more is ideal.
After the grill is preheated, just lay down your romaine hearts on the grill, cut side down. You’ll want to put them on perpendicular or slightly diagonal to the grill grates for the best grill marks. Close the lid and grill them for about a minute and a half to 2 minutes, and then remove them from the grill.
That’s it! Now just drizzle with a little of your favorite dressing, fresh lemon, or vinegar, and enjoy that delicious charred flavor and crisp texture!
Variations
Grilled wedge salad
A classic wedge salad uses a wedge of iceberg lettuce as a base. Just grill your romaine hearts instead of using iceberg lettuce and top with bacon crumbles, grape tomatoes, and blue cheese dressing. Outstanding!
Grilled Caesar salad
After grilling the lettuce, top with shaved parmesan, croutons, and Caesar dressing. Throw in an anchovy or two if you’re feeling really gourmet!
What goes well with grilled romaine?
Eat this grilled salad with anything else you make on the grill!
- Grilled blackened salmon
- Blackened grouper sandwiches
- Gourmet turkey burgers with hollandaise sauce
- Homemade pizza on the grill
Be sure to FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER for more great recipe ideas! Or SIGN UP for my EMAIL NEWSLETTER to get updates and recipes straight to your inbox!
Grilled Hearts of Romaine
Print Recipe Save RecipeEquipment
- Grill
Ingredients
- 2 Romaine hearts choose firm, bright green heads without a lot of floppy leaves
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- kosher salt
- freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your grill to high heat.
- Slice the romaine hearts in half longways. Don't cut off the base/core, since you need that to keep each romaine half intact.
- Wash the romaine heads by running them under water and gently encouraging the water between the leaves, especially around the base. Pat dry with a clean kitchen towel or leave them to dry on a towel, cut-side down, while you prepare other dishes.
- Brush the cut side of each romaine half with a tablespoon of olive oil, and sprinkle each one with a pinch of kosher salt and some freshly cracked pepper.
- Place romaine hearts cut-side-down onto the grill, perpendicular to the grill grates so you get nice char lines. Grill for about 2 minutes and remove to a serving platter.
- Drizzle with your favorite salad dressing or a squeeze of fresh lemon, and enjoy with a fork and knife!
Nice recipe, but the hearts are more expensive for the amount you get, when compared to buying the entire head.
Just remove the outer leaves, and use them for another recipe, or another type of salad.
Being the sister who made it in Asheville, you know *I* love it!! Yum yum!
And thank you for the delicious meal and recipe!