Plant-based BBQ (host a crowd-pleasing event)

vegan BBQ

Most people in England enjoy a good barbecue. But it pays to know how to hold one without polluting everyone in your garden and beyond. Also how to keep safe and find tasty plant-based recipes.

Vegan BBQ is the ultimate guide for 70 simple summer recipes, plus delicious sides, dips and snacks to brighten up any alfresco event. The book has extensive information on the best kind of charcoal and other items to use, with lots of good safety and sustainability advice. Once you’re sorted, recipes include:

  • Buttered hasselback squash
  • Sizzling fajitas
  • Brown sugar baked beans
  • BBQ patatas bravas

Keep food away from pets due to onion/garlic/spices etc. Read more on food safety for people and pets. For tinned ingredients, rinse/remove lids (or pop ring-pulls over holes) then step on upper cans to pinch rims together, to stop wildlife getting trapped. 

Unless you have food waste bins, just bin pepper and allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallot, chives), citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps. To avoid acids harming compost creatures.

Keeping safe with garden barbecues

If you smoke, use a personal ashtray to prevent wildfire. Here are fire crew tips: 

  • Site barbecues on flat surfaces at least 1.5 metres away from walls, fences, sheds, trees and garden furniture. Keep a bucket of water and sand nearby.
  • Most fire crews are not fans of disposable barbecues, as they leave ground hot for hours, and cary smouldering ash via the wind to nearby land and properties.
  • Use only enough charcoal to cover the base with recognised firelighters. Never put hot ash in dustbins, this could melt plastic and start a fire.
  • Never use gas barbecues indoors (including garages) nor in tents or gazebos, due to risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
  • Ensure barbecues are cool before moving (can take hours).

Sustainable ways to light barbecues 

  • BBQ Coal briquettes are made from sustainable coconut shells, to avoid deforestation from hardwoods. They are easy to light and give good heat, and produce less ash than charcoal.
  • The Great Welsh Charcoal offers charcoal from tree off-cuts.
  • Slate Charcoal offers recycled wood firelighters, blended with wax. One pack should last a year. These burn for up to 10 minutes, and also good for wood burners, ire pits and chimeneas.

Solar ovens 

In the US, they sell solar ovens, which use the sun rather than fuel to cook food. These have tubes that stay cool and you can plug them into a suitable UK power bank when there’s no sun or at night. Cook fuel-free meals in 20 minutes to feed two people.

Barbecue etiquette (serving vegans)

Be careful, as vegans are polite but don’t to be eating ‘bits of meat’. So either cook separately, or serve baked potatoes and salad. It’s far simpler to just try plant-based food for everyone.

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