8 Things You Need To Know About Healthy BBQs

Take a look at your average barbecue.

First up, you'll have the meat. Typically you’ll have low quality burgers, either packed full of rusk, wheat flour and additives, or so loaded with fat that you may as well eat a stick of butter. The sausages, hot dogs, lamb chops and pork often don’t fare much better either.

Couple that with the fact that to avoid the deadly raw meat scenario, most folks greatly overcook barbecue meat, not only leaving it dry and tasteless, but also producing nasty carcinogenic compounds when it’s burned.

Moving on – the sides generally served at barbecues are no better.

Bread rolls are a given, as people like a handy receptacle to hold their meat in, and don’t forget the liters of sugary sauce, to help mask the taste of your dried out, burned, nasty meat.

Salads? Maybe, but most barbecue salads tend to involve either pasta or potatoes – hardly a dieter’s best friends.

If there is any green stuff, it’s usually limp, lifeless and not at all appetizing.

As for the drinks, the less said about those the better – beer, fizzy drinks, fruit juices and cocktails are all incredibly easy to overdo, and your liquid calorie consumption can often outweigh the calories from food.

Overall, barbecues don’t seem like the healthiest summer option. That is, unless, you implement strategies to make them physique friendly and taste even better. The good news is that that is indeed doable, and that you can at the very least enjoy a fairly healthy barbecue once in a while without needing to feel guilty about it. Here's how.

Grilling Guidelines

Meat is the centerpiece at BBQs, and there’s no getting around that (unless you're vegetarian, in which case you might not even need to read this), so here’s how to make your barbecue meat awesome and healthy.

1. Pick Mostly Lean Meats

There’s nothing wrong per se with fatty meats, but by cutting the fat content of your meat, you save calories for other higher-fat, higher-carb items.

Chicken and turkey steaks work well, as do certain types of fish – tuna steaks, king prawns or swordfish, for instance. The secret to cooking these well is a good marinade to stop them from drying out (more on this later) and baking them wrapped in foil so they retain their moisture.

2. Choose Your Fatty Meats Wisely

A barbecue isn’t a barbecue without burgers and sausages, but go for the good quality ones. These will have a higher meat content, less added rusk, fewer additives and more natural flavorings. They might cost a little more, but the health benefits and taste are worth it.

For fatty fish, opt for salmon or mackerel.

3. Get the Marinade Right

Ditch your store-bough, sugar and fat-packed marinades and instead go for homemade ones.

If you’re not much of a culinary whizz, just go for something simple, like olive oil, lemon juice and a spice mix.

Get a little fancier with a Southwest mix, containing chilli powder, cumin, garlic powder, crushed black and red pepper, coriander, cayenne, salt and oregano. Add some olive oil and lime juice and start rubbing.

Jerk goes well with anything too, and once again, is super easy. Use minced onion, thyme, allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and oil. The key to this is using the right amount of cayenne to get it to your desired fiery-ness.

If all else fails, go to town and just whack some oil, tobacco sauce and curry powder on whatever you’re cooking and feel the heat.

4. Veggies

Meat should still be the main player in your healthy BBQ and you might have veggies and salads as side dishes, but grilling veggies shouldn’t be underestimated. It's not just better for your health, but also makes your BBQ experience tastier.

Throw a few spears of asparagus on the grill while the meat’s cooking, or make some veggie kebabs with tomato, pepper, aubergine, zucchini – anything you can think of. You might be surprised that event the most ardent carnivore will reach for one of these between mouthfuls of steak.

Super Summer BBQ Sides

Don’t let the meat take sole center stage – let your side dishes make a name for themselves too.

5. Stand Out Salads

Salads needn’t be a dull, boring afterthought. No one actually likes bowls of plain lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion and pepper, so do yourself and your guests a favor and stop serving them.

Instead, make salads something that people actually want to dig in to.

Mix up different leaves – lettuce is fine, but try different types like cos, gem or romaine, along with spinach, rocket, kale, cabbage and chard. Add in flavorsome extras such as spring onions, chilli flakes, pickled beets, pickled onions and garlic, plum or grape tomatoes, celery – use your imagination. Make your own dressings, the more exciting the better. A good mustard and honey dressing is always a winner!

6. Embrace Healthy Fats

Rather than serving up carb-laden side dishes such as potato salad, pasta and the dreaded, easy option of bread rolls, try fat-based dishes.

Avocados and olives are a good starting point.

Half an avocado, take out the stone, and fill the middle with low-fat cream cheese and chili flakes for something a little different.

A bowl of mixed, marinated olives placed strategically in the middle of the table is sure to appeal to everyone and mean your guests are getting the benefits of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

And how about big slices of beef tomato, served with mozzarella or feta cheese and olive oil?

7. Potato Salad Mark 2

Boiled white potatoes and mayonnaise – it’s hardly cordon bleu cooking, or diet-friendly. A sweet potato salad however is much tastier and healthier.

Prepare your sweet potatoes by cubing and boiling them, then leave them to cool. Once they’re ready, put them in a big bowl and add light or extra light mayo, fat-free sour cream, a handful of chives, finely diced red onion, chopped pepper, salt, pepper and a little olive oil and chilli powder.

You can make coleslaw using this same dressing too – just swap the sweet potato for grated cabbage, carrot and a little white onion.

8. Don’t Skip Dessert

You might think that staying healthy means foregoing the sweet stuff, but you’d be wrong.

Barbecued fruits such as bananas, pineapple and mango taste amazing, and while possibly a little high in sugar, are certainly a much better option than pies and cakes. These work great when done kebab-style.

You could go for some frozen yogurt too. Not the store-bought stuff though (massive amounts of sugar!) but make your own. Just take some low-sugar, low-fat natural or Greek yogurt and whack it in the freezer, stirring every half hour or so.

This is good on its own, but to make it even better, add mix-ins, such as berries, coconut, sweetener, high-coca dark chocolate or protein powder.

There you have it – eight incredibly easy ways to get your healthiest, tastiest BBQ yet.