This is the best grilled food I ever made!! The sausage was perfect and the onions were caramelized so well that they were actually sweet. I had yellow squash on hand, but you could use any squash really. To prep ahead of time, microwave your onions and put them in a 9×13 disposable aluminum roasting pan. Top with Italian sausage links and cover in the fridge until ready to grill. You can also do this with the squash. I cut them and toss them ahead of time in a bowl. Once dinnertime hits, I just dump them out of the bowl into the grill basket.
The sausage recipe is really versatile. You can eat it as is. You could serve this on top of some spaghetti and red sauce. You could put them in foil and serve at a potluck. You could add them to a bun.
Grilled Sausages with Onions
serves 4
2 large onions, sliced thin
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 – 13×9 disposable aluminum roasting pan or take your grill basket and line it with aluminum foil
2 lbs. sweet or hot Italian sausage (8-12 links)
1. Turn on your grill to high heat and wait 15 minutes. Then clean the gunk off the grill.
2. While the grill heats up, take the onions, thyme, salt and pepper and toss them into a microwave safe bowl. Cover this and microwave them until tender – about 4-6 minutes. Stir once in the middle. I used my corningware dish since they come with glass lids.
3. In a 13×9 disposable pan or a grill basket lined with foil, lay down the onions. Top with sausage links. Cover with foil.
4. Turn down the 2 side burners to medium. Turn center to medium-high. Put the basket of sausage in the middle of grill 15 minutes – Grill Cover On.
5. Remove the foil top, take out sausages and grill them on the side over medium heat until browned. About 6-8 minutes. I had a few flare ups here – but nothing burned. Once your sausage is done, cover it with foil to keep it hot.
6. Take the onion basket (or see step 7) and let their liquid evaporate on the other cool side of the grill. Let them sit about 10 minutes or until start browning.
7. (Here is when I use the center heat for the basket of grilled squash recipe below. I removed the foil and onions all at once out of the basket and sat that on the cooler side. Then dumped the squash into the empty grill basket in the center.)
8. Top sausage with onion. Eat by itself. Put it in a bun. Top it on spaghetti. Whatever.
Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen
Grilled Squash
serves 4
2 squash – cut into 1/2″ circles; cut the larger circles in half
2-3 tsp. olive oil
1-2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
Toss it all up and grill on medium to medium-high for 10 minutes or until tender.
Did you put water in your onions before microwaving? The picture looks like you did, but I didn’t see it on the recipe. Also, what is the purpose of microwaving the onions?
No, I didn’t add any water. There is enough in the onion.
When Cook’s Illustrated tested this recipe over and over, they discovered that giving the onions a jump start in order to cook properly. Since they test the same recipe hundreds of times more than I do, I usually start with their technique first. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll go backwards. But giving the onions a head start allowed both items to finish at relatively the same time and allow time for caramelizing later. Then you can enjoy your hot sausage and onion at the same time! Yum!!! I hope you try it. I used the sausage from Trader Joe’s. It was soooo delicious.