What to Grill for Labor Day Weekend: Last Call for the Grill

Nobody actually stops grilling after Labor Day. But something about that Monday still feels like a closing ceremony. The pool shuts down, the light goes gold earlier than it did a month ago, and the long weekend carries a weight the rest of the summer never asked it to.

Which is exactly why it is worth planning differently than you planned the Fourth. That one is about volume and noise, the same handful of crowd-pleasers multiplied across a whole day. This one is the last chance to use a garden that has never been more generous and send summer off with something new.

Here is a full Labor Day spread: the proteins, the sides that round out a table, the produce that is only this good for another week or two, and everything you will want to be drinking while it all happens.

Burgers, Dogs, and Brats

Every cookout needs the food that feeds whoever shows up in the next ten minutes, and this is the weekend to cover more than one version of it.

The burger

West Coast Burgers with Sauce seasons the patty with West Coast Burger Blend, then builds a proper sauce alongside it rather than reaching for a squeeze bottle. This is the one to make if plain ketchup and mustard have started to feel like an afterthought.

West Coast Burger Blend is worth keeping in rotation beyond this one burger, since the roasted garlic and toasted onion in it work on grilled chicken and roasted potatoes just as well.

The street corn pair

One seasoning, two very different dishes. Mexican Street Corn Seasoning is the thread running through both Mexican Street Corn Black Bean Burgers, a genuine vegetarian option built on mashed black beans and breadcrumbs rather than a frozen patty, and Mexican Street Corn Dogs, which puts full elote flavor directly on top of the easiest protein on the grill. Make both and the table gets the same flavor from two completely different directions.

And on the other end of the grill, the same jar goes to work on hot dogs instead.

Something different

For a hot dog nobody else is serving, Mac & Cheesy Pretzel Dogs wrap hot dogs in real pretzel dough seasoned with Cheesy Popcorn Seasoning, baked until golden, then served with a cheese sauce built from the same jar. It takes more effort than the rest of this section, and it is worth it once.

One condiment covers everything above. Spiced Ketchup stirs any seasoning into a cup of ketchup and improves overnight in the refrigerator, so make it the day before and it is ready for burgers and dogs alike.

Labor Day Burger Tip: Form patties the night before and leave them uncovered in the refrigerator. The surface dries slightly overnight, which gives a faster, cleaner sear on high heat, and it is one less job on a day you are already managing three other things.

Ribs and Wings

The two long-cook classics, plus one brand-new way to serve the second.

Smoked Pork Ribs is the full technique: a light Salt & Pepper Tableside base on the back, your rub of choice generously coated on top, three hours of smoke, then a mist of apple cider vinegar every 30 to 45 minutes until the rack passes the flex test. The recipe lets you pick the rub, and Highwayman Rib Rub is our newest option for it, though Kansas City BBQ Rub is the one to reach for if the table wants something sweeter and more traditional.

Either rub is worth having on hand beyond ribs, since both are built to carry a long, slow cook and work just as well on a pork shoulder or a whole chicken.

For wings, Crispy Smoked Chicken Wings is a genuinely better method than frying: a baking powder and salt dry brine overnight, then a low smoke with fruit wood until the skin crisps on its own. Pick your seasoning direction depending on the table, Black Truffle Parmesan for something rich, or Garlic Chile Crunch if the table wants heat.

Either seasoning is worth having in the cabinet beyond wings. Black Truffle Parmesan Seasoning works on popcorn and roasted potatoes, and Garlic Chile Crunch is just as good stirred into sour cream as a dip.

If you want something built for a football-watching crowd instead of a sit-down plate, Sweet Heat BBQ Chicken Crispy Rice Bites is one of our newest recipes: crisped rice squares topped with sticky BBQ chicken and a Big Dill Pickle slaw. It is a genuine conversation starter on a table that otherwise looks like every other cookout.

Labor Day Smoking Tip: September evenings cool off faster than July ones, which actually helps a smoker hold a steady temperature into the evening. One small mercy on a long cook.

Skewers and Kebabs

Santa Maria Steak & Potato Skewers thread cubed steak and par-cooked potato onto the same stick, seasoned with Santa Maria Butcher’s Rub. Dinner and a side on one skewer, and much easier to hand someone standing up than a plated steak.

For something lighter alongside it, Citrus-Marinated Shrimp Skewers soak quickly in orange juice, olive oil, and your pick of seasoning, then grill in just a couple of minutes a side. Thread on a few pieces of onion and tomato and it becomes a full skewer rather than just shrimp on a stick.

Between the two skewer recipes, Santa Maria is really one worth keeping on hand for whatever else ends up on a stick this weekend, vegetables included.

Want more ideas for the grill? We rounded up a full lineup of grilled kebabs and skewer recipes worth working through all summer, not just this weekend.

And if you would rather do one packet than a dozen skewers, Family Foil Dinners bundles sausage, potatoes, corn, zucchini, bell pepper, and onion into foil packets that go straight on the grill, no skewer assembly required. It flexes with whatever seasoning you have open, from Pikes Peak Butcher’s Rub to Red Rocks Hickory Smoke.

Labor Day Skewer Tip: Soak wooden skewers for at least 30 minutes before threading anything onto them. On a grill running multiple things at once, a skewer that catches fire is the one disaster that is entirely avoidable.

Steak, Two Ways

Two directions, and one of them is built specifically around the produce this whole post keeps coming back to.

Caprese Steak marinates filet mignon in balsamic, honey, and Wash Park Garlic Pepper, grills it, then finishes it over indirect heat topped with fresh mozzarella and thick slices of beefsteak tomato until the cheese melts. It only works because the tomatoes are this good right now, and it is the clearest argument yet for buying more of them than you think you need this week. 

Wash Park Garlic Pepper earns a spot in the marinade drawer beyond this one dish too, since sharp garlic and cracked pepper together is a combination that works on almost anything before it hits the grill.

If you want the steak to be the whole meal instead, Grilled Steak Salad puts everything on the grill at once, marinated strip steak, zucchini, squash, peppers, onion, and even the romaine, all charred and sliced into a warm salad with a Parmesan and sun-dried tomato dressing. It uses Kansas City Strip Steak Seasoning in both the marinade and the dressing, so the whole plate tastes like one idea.

The Sides Table

Four sides, each doing a different job.

Pasta salad

Cantanzaro Pesto Pasta Salad blends fresh basil and spinach with Cantanzaro Herbs into a bright green pesto, then tosses it with fusilli, olives, mozzarella pearls, and halved cherry tomatoes. It uses the last of the summer basil while there still is some.

Potato salad

Big Dill Pickle Smashed Potato Salad gives you crispy potato edges and bright dill with no mayo to worry about sitting out in the heat.

Coleslaw

Capitol Hill Classic Coleslaw is the straightforward version built on Capitol Hill Seasoning, good next to the ribs or piled onto a jerk burger. If your table leans spicier, Mexican Coleslaw takes the same rainbow slaw base in a chile-and-lime direction instead.

Capitol Hill Seasoning earns its place beyond slaw too, good on roasted potatoes or shaken over popcorn once the sun goes down.

Baked beans

Slow Cooker Bourbon BBQ Beans is the classic version done right: pinto and white beans, molasses, a splash of bourbon, and your favorite BBQ rub, left alone in the slow cooker for most of the day.

The Garden at Its Absolute Peak

Late August and early September is the best produce of the entire year. In July you were working with early corn and hopeful tomatoes. Now everything has arrived at once, and it will not stay this good much longer.

Corn

BBQ Street Corn takes the street corn format somewhere other than elote: grilled in the husk, brushed with a lemon and BBQ rub mayo, then finished with Parmesan and fresh chives. Pick your rub depending on what else is on the grill, Red Rocks Hickory Smoke Seasoning if the ribs are already smoking nearby, so the corn tastes like it belongs on the same table.

If you would rather keep it simple, Mexican Street Corn Seasoning straight on a hot buttered ear gets you full elote flavor with zero extra steps, and Garden Harvest Seasoning is the lighter, herbal option if you want lemon instead of chile.

Tomatoes

Green tomatoes are the real tell that the season is ending, the ones still on the vine that will not ripen before the weather turns. Baked Fried Green Tomatoes coats them in panko and cornmeal with your pick of seasoning, then bakes rather than fries them, so you get the crunch without standing over a pan of hot oil at a cookout. Cajun Blackening is the one to reach for if the rest of the table is already leaning spicy, and Cantanzaro Herbs if you would rather keep it herbal.

Both jars are worth having on hand regardless of what you do with your last tomatoes, one for heat and one for herbs, and both cover a lot more ground than this one dish.

Strawberries, one more time

Not the peak of strawberry season, but a late pint is still worth folding into something before the produce aisle moves on. Strawberry Caesar Salad pairs them against a proper Caesar dressing, which sounds unlikely and works, since the sweetness cuts the richness of the dressing the same way a squeeze of lemon would.

Labor Day Produce Tip: Dress anything with lettuce or greens at the last possible minute, but salads built on sturdier vegetables like the tomato and cucumber salad above can be made an hour ahead and left out. Know which kind of salad you are making before you decide when to toss it.

Building the Drinks Table

The one real gift of a September cookout is that the evening stays comfortable, so the drinks table gets to do more work than it did in July.

Start with beer, because a cooler of it is still the backbone of most Labor Day tables, and a Michelada turns that same cooler into something more interesting without much effort. Clamato, Worcestershire, lime, and Chilean Merquen Seasoning get muddled together, topped with half a Mexican lager and a handful of ice, in a glass rimmed with Makrut Lime Sea Salt and honey powder. It is the drink to make when plain beer has started to feel a little boring by the third one.

For something cold and non-beer, Salted Watermelon Slushie blends watermelon, a couple of radishes, orange, and lime with a salted rim, and it uses the produce that is genuinely at its best right now. Leave it as is for anyone not drinking, or add a splash of tequila or vodka per glass for everyone else. Either way it is the drink that disappears fastest on a hot afternoon.

Both of these jars are worth keeping near the bar cart all season, not just for these two drinks. Chilean Merquen turns up in a good bloody mary, and Makrut Lime is the rim salt for a margarita too.

And for the peach thread running through this whole post, Palisade Peach Blossom Cocktail muddles fresh peach slices with tangelo juice, mint, and Palisade Peach Spice right in the shaker, then gin and soda water on top of crushed ice. It is built for one glass rather than a pitcher, which makes it the easy thing to hand someone the moment they arrive rather than a whole batch to manage.

Beyond those three, round out the table with what a crowd actually reaches for. A wine spritzer or a simple rum punch covers everyone drinking without anyone bartending all afternoon. On the non-alcoholic side, fresh lemonade or a jug of sweet tea covers the kids and anyone not drinking, and both are meaningfully better homemade than from a can if you have fifteen minutes.

If you want to end the day on something warmer as the light drops, Whiskey Barrel Smoked Sugar on the rim of a bourbon drink is the closing move, smoky and a little sweet, and it reads like the first drink of fall without abandoning summer entirely.

Labor Day Drinks Tip: Whatever you batch, make it the night before. Sangria, sweet tea, and lemonade all taste better the next day, once everything has had time to actually combine, and it is one more thing you are not doing the morning of.

End of Summer: Green Chiles and the Last Peaches

Two things are true only during this exact window, and they are worth knowing about even if you are nowhere near Colorado.

This weekend sits in the middle of green chile season, when roasters run outside grocery stores across the Southwest. If you can get your hands on fresh roasted green chile, it upgrades almost anything on this table, stirred into a burger, spooned over a hot dog instead of relish, or folded into a quick pot of chili on the stove while the grill runs. If fresh chiles are not available where you are, Hatch Green Chile Powder gets you the same flavor from a jar, no roasting required. We go deep on the whole season, including how to roast and freeze your own, in our guide to green chile season.

Palisade peach season is also ending, which makes this the last honest weekend to build a dessert around them. Palisade Peach Crisp is the simplest way to do it, peaches under a buttery oat topping with Palisade Peach Spice doing the work a pie crust usually does. On the savory side, our Woody’s Peach BBQ Sauce came from co-founder Janet Johnston’s dad and is worth a mention if you want peach doing double duty on the ribs as well as dessert.

If a full crisp is more than you want to take on this weekend, the same jar does plenty stirred into whipped cream or sprinkled over vanilla ice cream instead.

Something Sweet for Labor Day Weekend

Three directions, depending on how the evening is going.

Orange Creamsicle S’mores are the fire pit handoff, the moment the grill cools and a different fire comes up. A citrusy riff on the backyard classic, easy to pass around once it gets dark.

Cherry Bonfire Bars layer a buttery, smoked-sugar cookie dough around cherry pie filling and marshmallows, which makes them a genuine hybrid of a cookie bar and a s’more. They travel well if dessert needs to go in a car.

And for something cold, Espresso Ice Cream is one of our newest dessert recipes, real espresso churned through a custard base, and it is a good match for anything chocolate you happen to also be serving

Building Your Labor Day Weekend Menu

The best cookouts do not try to serve everything. Three combinations that work:

The Last Long Weekend: Highwayman ribs going low and slow, jerk burgers for the fast crowd, potato salad and coleslaw on the side, peach crisp at the end. A full spread that takes advantage of the cooler evening rather than fighting it.

The Football Opener: Crispy Smoked Wings, Sweet Heat Crispy Rice Bites, a cooler of beer with a salted rim, and the Bourbon BBQ Beans holding warm on the side. Everything eats standing up, and the grill is free by kickoff.

The Garden Send-Off: Steak and shrimp skewers, Grilled Creamed Corn, Jerusalem Tomato Salad, and the Strawberry Caesar. Lighter, deeply seasonal, and the version that actually uses what is at its peak this exact week.

One More Good Cookout for the Summer

Nobody is putting the grill away Tuesday morning. September grilling is some of the best there is, and October has its own case to make. But Labor Day is the last time everyone shows up for it, which is worth cooking like you mean it.

So get the peaches while they are still on the stand. Buy the green chiles if you can find them. Salt the tomatoes ten minutes early. And let the evening run long, because it is finally cool enough to sit in.

Check your rubs before the weekend rather than the morning of. If a jar smells faint instead of sharp when you open it, it has been a long summer and it is time for a refill. Spices are meant to be used up.

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