Inspired by our favourite grilling guru, Steven Raichlen, we’re featuring some of his great side dishes as the perfect accompaniment to your Thanksgiving meal (and for those not celebrating Thanksgiving, keep these handy for Christmas and New Year’s!).

Grilled Zucchini Salad BBQ Recipe. The mint leaves, along with hints of cumin and paprika make this such a unique zucchini dish. Steven’s BBQ tip for grilling vegetables: “When scraping the blackened skins from grilled vegetables, don’t worry about removing every last bit of charred skin. A little bit left on adds flavour.”

Tuscan Grilled Garlic Bread BBQ Recipe. Steven uses unsoaked wood chips with this recipe to give it a more woody – rather than smoky – flavour. If you’ve ever wanted to try grilling with wood chips, this is a great one to start with as it’s easy enough and has little room for error.

And if you need a refresher on cooking your turkey in the Weber, see our Turkey Cooking tips (video and recipe included) and don’t forget to use the handy Turkey Cook Time Calculator.

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. One of the Heat Beads^® Team cooked an 8kg turkey last Thanksgiving and his wise tips include, ”Always use a thermometer, closing the vents on the kettle works, and trust the Heat Beads^® calculator, not the instructions on the turkey label!”