If you are hosting a mixed backyard cookout and one guest is vegetarian or vegan, the standard advice online stops at grilling it for a few minutes. That misses the real question people are asking, which is how to get actual wood smoke flavor onto a Beyond Meat burger or sausage without babysitting a full smoker session, and how to keep it from touching anything that came off the meat side of the grill. Here is how we handle it.
Beyond Meat Does Not Need a Full Smoking Session
A brisket or a pork butt spends hours at 225°F to 250°F because the process is doing two jobs at once, breaking down connective tissue and slowly absorbing smoke. Beyond Meat products are already fully formed and only need to be heated through and browned. Beyond’s own instructions call for grilling patties and sausages at medium-high heat for about two to four minutes per side, not hours at low temperature. Treat a Beyond Burger like a low and slow project and you will dry it out and blow past the texture it is built for. The actual goal is layering wood smoke onto a fast, hot cook, not replicating a competition brisket cook.
Add Real Wood Smoke Without a Second Smoker
The easiest way to get smoky flavor onto a four-minute cook is a pellet smoke tube, dropped onto the grates of whatever grill is already fired up for everyone else. Fill a stainless steel tube with hardwood pellets, light one end with a torch until it holds a steady ember, then set it off to the side of the burners. It smolders on its own while you cook burgers and sausages over direct heat, so there is no need to fire up a second appliance or plan a separate cook just for a few plant-based patties.
We like a hexagonal tube like the LIZZQ Premium 12 Inch for this job specifically. The flat sides keep it from rolling across the grates while you are also flipping burgers, and one fill holds enough smoke for several rounds of patties, so it works just as well halfway through a big cookout as it does for the first batch. For a longer comparison of tube shapes, burn times, and cheaper options, see our guide to the best pellet smoker tubes. Apple or cherry pellets give a milder result that will not overpower plant-based flavors the way hickory or mesquite can.
Do Not Judge Doneness by Color
Beyond Meat uses beet juice extract to give its burgers and sausages the same pink to red look raw and cooked meat has, which means a Beyond patty can still look pink in the middle after it has already reached a safe internal temperature. Color is not a reliable doneness signal here the way it is with a beef burger. Beyond’s guidance is to cook to an internal temperature of 165°F, checked with an instant-read thermometer, and to rely on time and temperature rather than what the inside looks like when you cut into it. A basic instant-read model is the right tool for this, since you only need a quick spot check rather than a leave-in probe built for a multi-hour smoke. Our roundup of the best digital meat thermometers covers options at every price point if you do not already keep one by the grill.
Keeping It Actually Vegetarian or Vegan on a Shared Grill
For a strict vegetarian or vegan guest, taste is only half the concern. Grates that just cooked burgers or sausage carry rendered fat and juices, and reused tongs or a spatula can carry the same residue onto a plant-based patty. A few adjustments handle this without buying new equipment. Lay a sheet of heavy-duty foil or a grill-safe mat down on a clean section of the grate before any meat goes anywhere near it, cook the plant-based items first while the grill is still clean, and keep a second set of tongs or a spatula set aside just for them. If you only have one small tabletop or portable grill, which is common for renters and small patios, cooking the plant-based batch completely before anything else touches the grates is the simplest way to avoid cross-contact entirely.
Rounding Out the Plate
Classic BBQ sides travel well here. Coleslaw, corn on the cob, and potato salad are naturally vegetarian and often already vegan. Sauce is the one place to double-check labels, since some barbecue sauces list honey or Worcestershire made with anchovies, both of which rule out a strictly vegan plate even though the bottle looks the same as any other.
Treat Beyond Meat as its own fast, hot cook rather than a scaled-down version of a real smoke session, add wood flavor with a smoke tube instead of a dedicated smoker, and check temperature instead of color. That is the real gap between a plant-based patty that tastes like an afterthought and one that holds its own next to everything else on the grill.
Last update on 2026-10-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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