This grilled cheese on the grill is a delicious vegetarian grill recipe for summer, featuring a fresh mint pesto that puts it over the top.

What’s the latest event in your life where afterwards your normal was never the same? While Alex and I have had our share of challenging times, for us becoming first-time parents has been overwhelmingly positive. I had all sorts of fears about the transition. Will I lose my true self and become a different person? Will parenting consume so much time I’ll lose my relationships and community? Will I never be able to have fun again? Luckily, none of these fears have materialized (yet).

It helps that Larson is truly a fun baby to be around. I feel like my myself, or really, an even better version of myself. Our community has been gracious and accommodating, and our relationships are intact. As parents, Alex and I have been team mates and allies, never adversaries. And we’re having a heck of a lot of fun. And we’re still cooking up a storm, too! Keep reading for this grilled cheese on the grill recipe, featuring a delicious fresh mint pesto that puts it over the top.

Pesto Grilled Cheese on the Grill | Mint pesto recipe

Grilling recipes…thinking outside the burger

Luckily, despite the baby our summer grilling game has not suffered one bit. Alex even had a smoke fest of juicy ribs with some friends. But usually, the recipes we love to share in the summer are vegetarian grill recipes. It’s easy to think first of meat when grilling, but over the years we’ve had some incredible vegetarian grill recipes.

Think grilled romaine, grilled veggie fajitas, and stuffed grilled zucchini. We like to think outside of the common veggie burger to creative, interesting vegetable concoctions. And so why not make…grilled cheese on the grill?

How to make grilled cheese on the grill

We’re pretty into grilled cheese around here. One of our most popular recipes is this Spinach Artichoke Grilled Cheese. We’ve got a Roasted Tomato Basil Grilled Cheese, a Tomato Avocado Grilled Cheese, a Egg & Smoked Cheddar Grilled Cheese. And even Grilled Cheese Crepes.

Somehow out of all the delicious grilled cheese we’ve made, we’ve never made grilled cheese on a the grill. I dreamed it up the other day as one of our first vegetarian grill recipes of the season, and convinced to Alex agreed to use his grilling skills to make it a reality. The grilling part of this enterprise is simple: fire up the grill, grill the bread on both sides, and then top and grill until the cheese melts. The grill imparts a smoky flavor that’s a fine compliment to the gooey cheese and savory pesto. We’re primed and ready for grilled cheese on the grill, all summer long.

Add mint pesto for the best treat!

To amp up the filling in this grilled cheese on the grill, we decided to use the gobs of fresh mint we have growing around the yard and make a mint pesto recipe! If you’re looking for a hearty fresh herb to plant, mint is one of our top picks! It grows like a weed, so typically by the end of the summer it’s grown into a thick carpet.

One nice thing about mint is that it works in both sweet and savory dishes. We have quite a few mint recipes we like to make in the summer, notably a refreshing lemon mint slush to a mint syrup to drizzle over fruit. Now, we can add this mint pesto recipe! It’s incredibly simple, a blend of fresh mint, pumpkin seeds, garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan that’s whizzed up in a food processor. You could absolutely substitute fresh basil for the mint here if you don’t have mint readily available.

Want more with pesto? Try our Vegan Basil Pesto, Basil Walnut Pesto, Italian Pizza with Pesto, and all our best recipes with pesto.

More fresh mint recipes

Fresh mint is easy to plant and grows like a weed! If you’re just starting out, see our instructions on how to grow fresh herbs. If you’ve got lots of fresh mint, here are a few of our favorite mint recipes outside of this mint pesto recipe:

This grilled cheese on the grill recipe is…

Vegetarian. For vegan or plant-based, use vegan cheese. For gluten-free, use gluten-free bread.