From Garden to Grill: Using Fresh Herbs to Enhance Your Home Cooking

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Gardening season and grilling season are here, so it’s time to plan the best herb garden to take your meals prepared on the grill to the next level. Your herb garden can be made in a simple format like a small set of containers near your outdoor garden, or a sunny space in your home. If you’re ready to go all-in, you can make a large dedicated plot in your generous-sized garden. Just make sure you aren’t positioning certain herbs and vegetables near others that don’t get along.

How to Care For and Harvest Fresh Herbs

Herbs need plenty of sunlight, but otherwise, are not too demanding. They are some of the easiest plants to grow, plus you can “harvest” them many times over, sometimes even for years. You should water only when the soil feels dry.

Herbs are ready to harvest once you see buds appear. Cut 3 to 6 inches off, leaving about a third of the plant to regrow for future harvests. Rinse herbs in cool water. Next, pat dry with a soft towel and store in a plastic bag in your refrigerator. We recommend the following herbs to start your garden: Basil, Thyme, Rosemary and Parsley. Dill is always a great one too, because who doesn’t love a fresh batch of quick pickles or Jalapeno Escabeche?

Some of our favorite ways to use fresh herbs are:

A Bake-At-Home Pizza that uses Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, Parsley, Thyme. Try this Margherita Pizza Recipe from Ooni Pizza Ovens!

Choice herbs to enhance any steak: Parsley, Thyme, Rosemary, Thai or Sweet Basil, Oregano
A great way to use herbs with your grilled meats or sautéed vegetables are by making a batch of compound butter to melt over the top before serving that can be saved for later meals. Here’s a great compound butter recipe from Downshiftology!

Herbs are a great way to pack even more flavor into your grilled pork chops. This recipe calls for thyme, parsley and rosemary.

If you’re looking to create a better plate of salmon, Ina Garten has a roasted recipe that anyone can make using Dill, Basil, Thyme, Rosemary and Parsley.

Pro Tip: Most herbs are best added after baking or grilling and finishing herbs like rosemary & thyme should be added sparingly. And don’t forget to include veggies from your garden like fresh tomatoes, onions, peppers and more! Everyone knows fresh vegetables always taste better.

You can find your nearest Ace Hardware Garden Center for quality herbs, plus all of the seasonings, sauces, grilling supplies and fuels in our Backyard BBQ Shop to deliver a tasty meal to your family or house guests.