The Ultimate Guide to Weekday Grilling–Steaks, Chops, Fillets, and Veggies

After a long day of work, you get home. And you’re starving.

You’ve got three options:

Find something in the fridge or freezer that you can nuke in the microwave.
Go back out and find a restaurant or drive thru window.
Make a quick weekday dinner from healthy ingredients.

The first option is always tempting. Prepackaged meals that just need reheating can be found everywhere–from supermarkets to gas stations.

But they’re usually made from cheap food products rather than fresh real food. (Which is the reason we started getting more unhealthy and out of shape in the first place.)

The second option sounds good too, but going back out can take up a lot of time, and invariably ends up costing a lot. (And you’ll probably end up eating a bunch of crap as well.)

But the third option?

Believe it or not, it’s still possible to cook up a meal of real food in no time at all. You just need to follow these basic guidelines:

Maximize meat and veggies. Minimize sugar, flour, and seed oil.
Choose thin steaks, chops, and fillets instead of thick roasts.
Choose non-starchy veggies that cook up fast.
Use as few ingredients as possible, (but make sure they are as fresh as possible).

If the weather’s nice and you’ve got the gear, why not cook it up outside as well?

Grilling up a meal with little time to spare isn’t just possible, but after you try it once you might be hitting up the backyard during the week more often!

Grilling? On a Weekday?

During the summer, I have one big cooking rule: use the oven as little as possible.

Although the temperature’s relatively mild here in Southern California, I’d still prefer to not heat up my home whenever possible.

As a result, I rely much more on the following food prep methods:

Stove top cooking (Stir-frys, steamed greens, bacon and eggs, etc.)
No cooking at all (Salads, the French Lunch, etc.)
Grilling!

I grew up in a part of the country where it was bitterly cold every winter, and it was a sign of fortitude and pride to grill when the temperature was well below freezing. But I think that most of us can agree that summer is the ideal time for grilling.

The traditional way of grilling that 99% of people use goes something like this: heat up a grill evenly, throw some meat on, and flip until cooked all the way through.

While this can certainly get the job done, it also tends to lead to food that is burned to a crisp on the outside and underdone on the inside.

A much better way is to slowly bring the temperature of the meat up until it’s nearly done, then give it a final sear to finish it up.

For doing this, I use the 2-zone heating method I learned from Meathead.

To do this, you pile coals to one side of the grill (or turn on the burner there), cook the meat on the side away from the heat source (with the cover on), then remove the cover to give it a final sear over the direct heat.

2-zone heating really only works for very thin cuts of meat. In that case, it’s best to start immediately with the searing step. This process will cook the meat all the way through if it is thin enough.

In the rest of this article, I will show you how to grill up the following:

Steaks
Pork chops
Chicken pieces
Fish fillets
Veggie shish kebabs

In my humble opinion, these are the ideal go-to meals you should have in your repertoire if you’re planning on grilling outside a lot.

In these recipes, I use a thermometer. Yes, you can often get a “feel” for whether something’s done or not, but better safe than sorry.

You can pick up a meat thermometer for fairly cheap. They aren’t always the fastest or most accurate, but I’ve found they’re good enough at giving you a ballpark figure to keep from completely overcooking or undercooking your food.

I use a Smokenator to keep the charcoal off to one side, which is why you might not see them in these photos. But if you have a Weber kettle like me, I’d highly recommend picking up one of these bad boys as well.

Steaks

Steaks are the classic weekday dinner for the grill.

Try as you might to replicate grilling on your stovetop, you’ll never get the high heat you need to give it the nice sear it really needs.

For steaks on the grill, you’ll need the following:

Steaks
Salt and pepper

Do yourself a favor and leave the steak sauce or (heaven forbid) ketchup in the fridge. Better yet, toss it in the trash where it belongs.

Before you fire up the grill, cover both sides of your steaks with salt and let sit out to warm up.

When the grill is ready, add pepper, then place the steak to the side away from the heat and cover. Check the temperature periodically.

When the meat is rare all the way through (110°F or so), remove the lid and move the steaks one by one over the heat. Sear one side until it starts to get black, then do the same on the other side.

Chicken

Chicken’s another great kind of meat for the grill.

As much as I love roasting whole chickens, I haven’t quite mastered grilling them. And besides, this takes a couple of hours. Not the sort of thing you need at 7 pm on a Tuesday.

During the week, you want something a little faster, so go with chicken pieces. (Any of ’em will do.)

For grilled chicken, you’ll need:

Chicken pieces (breast, wings, thighs, and/or legs)
Salt and pepper

You can add other fresh or dried herbs if you’d like.

Simply cover the pieces in salt and pepper and add to the side of the grill away from the heat. Cover and let them heat up.

When the internal temperature of a piece hits about 155°F (the different pieces reach this temp at different rates), remove the lid and place it directly over the heat until seared. Then flip and do the same with the other side.

Repeat for all pieces of chicken and let sit for five minutes before eating.

Big time warning: unlike steak, chicken is something that you absolutely want to cook the entire way through. Better to overcook than undercook chicken.

Pork Chops

Pork’s fallen on some hard times in our culture.

It used to be one of the most consumed meats, but has fallen in favor of the leaner (and less flavorful) chicken.

As a result, hogs have been bred leaner (and less flavorful) and pork chops are now promoted as “the other white meat.”

Despite these changes in meat quality, pork chops are still an excellent option for a quick and tasty weekday dinner.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Pork chops
Salt (or brine) and pepper

If you have some brine already made up, you can soak the chops in it while the grill heats up. Otherwise, just sprinkle salt on them and let them warm up from the fridge.

Add pepper to the chops and put on the grill away from the heat source and cover.

Heat the chops until they are about 120°F or so. Then remove the grill cover and move the chop directly over the heat source. Sear one side until it starts to get dark, flip, and do the same to the other side.

Sear the chops one by one and remove from heat for five minutes before eating.

Like chicken, pork is one thing that you absolutely don’t want to undercook for safety reasons. So don’t risk it.

Fish Fillets

Fish fillets can also be an excellent weekday dinner.

The variety of fish out there is staggering, from thick and meaty fillets to thin and delicate ones, there’s no shortage of different types.

Salmon is the classic here, but due to the high demand it is often bland farmed stuff. Keep an eye open for any fresh and local fish if you are feeling a little more adventurous.

Here’s what you’ll need for grilled fish:

Fish fillets
Salt and pepper
Lemon or lime

Before grilling, add some salt and pepper, as well as a squeeze of lemon or lime.

If you have a thick fillet, you can add it directly to the grill without worries. But for smaller fillets, you’ll want to lay out some foil to keep them from falling through the grates.

You can either cook the fillets indirectly until done, or stop just short and give it a quick sear over the direct heat. This only works for thick fillets.

Shish Kebabs

As long as you’re grilling, why not throw some veggies on as well?

Shish kebabs made from fresh vegetables are one of the most versatile ways to grill them, and you can pick and choose from many suitable candidates:

Onions
Bell peppers
Zucchini
Mushrooms
Cherry tomatoes
Eggplant

Pick some (or all) of the above and cut them up into decent-sized chunks that will hold up on a kebab, and skewer them.

Pour some olive oil over them, then cover in salt and pepper.

Put them on the grill away from the heat and cover (are you noticing a pattern yet?). When they are nearly done, you can give them a quick sear over the direct heat.

Hot Fun In the Summertime

As much as I love batching most of my food prep into one day a week, I’ll admit that it’s not for everyone.

Depending on your schedule and energy levels, it may be easier to cook on the weekdays from scratch instead.

But instead of being a huge hassle, it can go smoothly and quickly, if you follow the basic principles I laid out here.

Steaks, pork chops, chicken pieces, and fish fillets along with shish kebab vegetables are an excellent weekday meal. It can be prepared quickly, and cooked together on the grill.

You might never go back to the oven again!