Yes. You Can Grill Bread. Alexia Sweet Potato Rolls. Yum.

Alexia Sweet Potato Rolls

A lot of people don't know you can do bread on the barbecue grill. As you can see, our Alexia sweet potato rolls turned out great this weekend.

I can't take credit for actually making these rolls. Katherine contacted me and asked if I'd like to try a free sample of these frozen all natural rolls and then host a contest for readers if I liked the rolls. It's spring break, so the timing was great. I said that I'd give them a try and see.

I had to take a look at the rolls to know what I'd do on the grill. You can do a range of breads in various ways. These turned out to be the super simple type of bread for grilling. They had been baked and lightly browned. They'd really just need heating.

You may wonder why you'd put bread on the grill. Well, if you're grilling and have the fuel going, then you save energy and don't heat up the kitchen if you do as much of the meal as possible right on the grill.

You can see here that I did our whole meal on the grill (a Traeger pellet grill in this case).

Forget the Kitchen. We Took it ALL Outside.

I made some garlic Greek potatoes (but added onions this time) along with some Tex-Mex sour cream meatballs with cheese and the Alexia rolls there at the end for the last 10 minutes.

All I had to do was heat the rolls as the other foods were close done. I flipped them once at 5 minutes. You do have to watch especially if you've not done bread before and don't know the temperatures on your unit. The key is to close the lid so the grill is like an oven for the last few minutes.

Rolls on the Grill - Yes - You Bet

Here is a close up. You can see that I just put the bread right on the grates. It was frozen. I think the directions called for a couple of more minutes, but I watched close to pull them when they were hot but not burned.

That's really the only way you can wreck pre-cooked breads on the grill. You have the heat too high and you burn them before they get hot. It does not take much practice to figure out the right temperature and times on your grill whether it be charcoal, gas, or pellet (as here).

There are lots of breads and types and ways to grill bread. This is your very easiest bread grilling. Ready in minutes and with a little smoke hint. Very nice.

As far as the Alexia sweet potato rolls, I was blown away. I'm a bread-aholic. OK. I confess. I am. I'm going to like most any bread, but I just loved these Alexia sweet potato rolls. The texture was great - outside kind of crisp and inside nice and soft. The flavor . . . Well, let's just say I had a roll for dessert. The sweet potato kick made them so yummy that I felt like I'd had a dessert although I buttered them like rolls. That would be the only warning I'd give. This is not a classic bread (but they do sell some). The sweet potato makes them . . . sweet.

I will look for these rolls at Food Lion and IGA. I hope they have them. These were some of the best grilled rolls I've made. I can't take the credit, since these grilled rolls were easy and just heat and eat. But, it's nice to have something yummy like this to impress your family and friends even when you did not have to do much work.

Ready for a Nap After Grilling for the Newspaper

First, you may be wondering why the Barbecue Master is going to be in the local newspaper. Or not. But, the story makes more sense with a tad of background.

This winter I tested grills and wrote an article on grills for Consumers Digest. Sounds simple enough, but it took about four months.

A friend I work with tipped off the Salisbury Post, our local paper. Now, I'm not big on media attention. I prefer to be doing the coverage, but the photographer who was coming out was Jon Lakey. I know him, and he's a good guy. That made it more comfortable. Maybe he will delete all photos where I look goofy and/or fat. Let's hope so.


I don't suppose I'd have to have any food grilling for photos of the grills here on my porch, but how strange is that? Grill Girl is not grilling. Just standing next to empty grills. That's rather dull. Plus, the boys have to eat anyway.

So, I selected simple grill items. When doing multiple things at once, it is not a good idea to go with either new recipes or the harder ones.

But, I wanted good food.

One thing we really love are beer boiled brats. Here, I simply simmered the uncooked type brats in beer and onions. You can add a couple of tablespoons of butter, but I sure forgot to do that. They turned out fine anyway though.

There are a lot of ways to do brats, and it depends on the type you get. If you are having the urge for some, then check out my brats grill guide. That should cover you on all the basics.



I also had some chicken tenders to grill. Those are super simple and take 5 minutes or less per side. My boneless chicken breast grilling guide tells you how to do these but just cook for less time with the fingers or if you split the breasts.

There's also a pack of hot dogs. I figured it Jon wanted to see any other grill in action, that would be easy enough. Crank one up, and hot dogs really just need heated. Very simple.

I had also picked up Texas Toast and canned biscuits. Texas Toast can be made on virtually any grill. Just don't get the kind with cheese as that sticks and burns. The biscuits work well on the Traeger pellet grill which I know is more unusual so wanted to show Jon.

OK. Those are my super duper easy grill foods that are quick and do not require much attention. It would be a darn shame to burn up some food and make the front page of the paper with loads of grills and charred food. That would be worse than looking fat or having a bad hair day in the photos.


I started yesterday on the porch grills, because even if they were clean, they do not stay that way in North Carolina. We have yellow pollen and red dust. Also, I was lazy and flat didn't wash a couple after grilling.

One thing I can tell is that grills that are used don't look brand new even if you do scrub, but they look better than ones not cleaned at all. If you have OCD, you may not want to own grills. They tend to be dirt magnets.

But, everything cleaned up pretty good I think. If you do not think so, you can come help out next time. I am also thinking that the family rule should be that those who eat the food off the grill should help clean them from now on. SHHHH. I have not sprung that one yet. The boys probably think they are all self cleaning. Actually, the Char Broil gas is pretty close which I appreciate.


The guys all got in at various times before I was putting the food on. The oldest got in from a summer college class in Spanish at Catawba College. As you can see, he is hungry. The younger one is still full days at the high school but will be out for the summer soon. Their Dad teaches, so he also got in before 3 p.m. Those school lunches are skimpy these days, so my crowd comes home hungry. They often snack, and we have a late supper. Or, we have an early supper and they snack later. In any case, we tend to have two meals of some type before dark. On a happy note, I don't make breakfast but do buy quick stuff. Mornings do not do me proud. So, that works out.


Jon got all the photos he needed, and he had some grilled food with us which I'd emailed about. That's just Southern. You don't have someone over and let them watch you eat. How rude.

Media folks can't take gifts, but sure they can have some food. Same goes with the police. If you have a party, and it gets too loud and the police come, give them some food, say "sorry" and tone it down. Common sense. But, some folks just don't think about it. I'd say take that tip and run with it. Breaking bread together just makes sense. I always have plenty, and I enjoy seeing others enjoy it.

We didn't need the hot dogs, but the grill was hot. I put those on while I cleaned up. And, the boys did help out. Yay them. When they get hungry here in a few hours, they have some hot dogs grilled over charcoal on the Weber Grill which are the very best. So, I can put my feet up and relax. That's good, because being in the paper is more work than you might think. It's like, "Who put those spider webs in the corner of the porch? And, why did I run out of catsup and not know it? And, why didn't I think to get plastic forks and knives?"

In the end, it's all good. Media people are just people (I've been one and still am). It was a pleasure to have Jon over today, and I look forward to seeing the article and pictures he shot. I'm not sure when the grill article is going to run, but I'll link it when it goes up.