Recipes

Grilled Rhubarb

Grilled rhubarb

I’ll bet you’ve never grilled rhubarb. Well, I hadn’t either until recently when I listened to an interview with Tinky Weisblat, author of Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb. She was talking about the versatility of rhubarb as an ingredient in not only pies but cocktails, appetizers, and main courses, and at one point she mentioned that rhubarb can be grilled.

Who knew? I thought I’d give it a try.

Buy & Prepare The Rhubarb

This is what rhubarb looks like at my supermarket. It’s several individual stalks bound together with ties. They come in different sizes; I bought a small bundle of four stalks to experiment with.

Rhubarb as it comes from the grocery store.

Preheat your gas grill for 10 minutes with all burners on MEDIUM, then clean the grates with a good quality grill brush.

Remove the ties and cut off the leaf-end and root-end of each stalk.

Removing leaf end and stem end of rhubarb stalks

Cut each stalk in half to make it easier to handle throughout the rest of the process.

Rhubarb stalks cut in half

Rinse the pieces under running water then shake off the excess, leaving pieces slightly damp.

Damp rhubarb pieces

Pour a small amount of granulated sugar into a pie plate. Working with one piece at a time, roll the rhubarb in the sugar to coat on both sides.

Sugaring a piece of rhubarb

You’re now ready to grill the rhubarb.

Sugared rhubarb ready for grilling

Grill The Rhubarb

Place the rhubarb pieces on the grill over MEDIUM heat. Grill with the lid open so you can carefully monitor the process.

Rhubarb goes onto the grill

Grill for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip to the other side and grill for another 2 minutes. A good pair of tongs makes the job easy.

Rhubarb almost finished on the grill

Flip back to the first side and grill for another 2 minutes, then start checking for doneness. You want the rhubarb pieces to be softened but not limp. Thinner pieces will finish sooner than thicker pieces. My thinner pieces finished in 6-7 minutes, my thicker ones in 7-8 minutes.

Remove the rhubarb from the grill and enjoy immediately.

Taste The Tart

This one is for the true rhubarb lover who likes tart! The rhubarb has it’s characteristic tartness, while the caramelized sugar adds a note of sweetness that’s very pleasing.

Grilled rhubarb ready to enjoy

You can eat grilled rhubarb as shown here, or cut it into smaller pieces and mix it with fresh fruit, use it as a topping on yogurt, or as part of a strawberry/rhubarb crumble.