Summer

Bright, fuss-free recipes that celebrate sun-ripened produce, backyard grills and breezy weeknight dinners — think crisp salads, chilled soups, fresh seafood and simple fruit-forward desserts. Perfect for picnics, warm evenings and effortless entertaining when you want big flavor with minimal heat in the kitchen.

Tomato Aguachile

By Shilpa Uskokovic

Tomato aguachile is a punchy, plant-based variation of traditional seafood aguachile or ceviche. A refreshing side to serve on a hot day.

Stone Fruit Caprese

By Ali Slagle

A standout caprese starts with great fruit. You need ripe tomatoes to weep juices, which then mingle with grassy olive oil and milky cheese to make your dressing. Basil adds freshness, black pepper and flakes of sea salt add crunch, and that’s it, a perfect combination. But if the stone fruit options are looking better than the tomatoes at the market, you can use them instead. They’re similar in flavor to tomatoes, but need cajoling to relinquish their juices. By letting sliced fruit macerate with salt, sugar and lemon juice, their fruitiness becomes more electric and their juices pool on the plate. Start with fruit you can smell and pair it with equally quality ingredients. Caprese is more about shopping than cooking.

20 min

Greek Salad

By Lidey Heuck

While diner-style Greek salads made with chopped romaine, crumbled feta and often grilled chicken have become ubiquitous in American restaurants, a traditional Greek salad, or horiatiki salata, is a simpler affair. An assembled salad of large-diced vegetables with Kalamata olives and sometimes capers, this salad has no greens at all, and the feta is served sliced on top of the salad rather than crumbled and tossed into it. A traditional Greek salad dressing usually consists of olive oil and red wine vinegar; this recipe adds garlic and oregano. To make the salad into a satisfying vegetarian main course, throw in a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas.

15 min

Fruit Salad

By Ali Slagle

A bit of sugar and lime makes a standout fruit salad: The duo accentuates fruit’s flavors and sweetness while creating a syrup to gloss the fruit. Massage lime zest into the sugar so its oils release, then stir mixed fruit with the lime sugar and some lime juice. Taste and tweak until the result is electric. You could also add chopped mint or basil, ground cinnamon or coriander, vanilla bean seeds, chile flakes or grated fresh ginger.

20 min

One-Pot Summer Vegetable Pasta

By Jesse Szewczyk

This hearty pasta, loaded with zucchini, corn, tomatoes, and summer squash, comes together in just one pot—no draining required.

Feta-Ranch Wedge Salad

By Alexa Weibel

A towering wedge salad is fun to look at, but the height and shape make it impractical for a couple reasons: Toppings tumble right off and dressings can’t permeate it properly. This recipe fixes all that by calling for thinly sliced wedges that are stacked on their sides. The toppings stay put, and the dressing can work its way into all the little nooks and crannies. This salad looks impressive, it tastes delicious and it’s actually quite no-fuss: You can make the dressing days ahead of time, and swap in whatever herbs, spices, seasonings you have and crave. The only tricky aspect is emulsifying your feta. The key is time: Scrape the sides as needed and keep blending. With some coaxing, it always gets there.

30 min

Tomatoes with Herbs and Almond Vinaigrette

By Dan Kluger

Juicy tomatoes are topped with fresh herbs and a nutty almond vinaigrette for a bright, elegant salad that’s simple enough for weeknights yet worthy of entertaining.

45 min

Cold Tofu Salad With Tomatoes and Peaches

By Hana Asbrink

Sweet, savory and refreshing for summer’s hottest days, this is the salad to make when tomatoes and peaches are at their prime, on the verge of bursting. Inspired by Italian caprese salad and Japanese hiyayakko, it features juicy, ripe wedges of peaches and tomatoes seasoned with flaky salt, which draws out their juices to mingle with soy-balsamic dressing and creamy silken tofu. Top the salad with a shower of fragrant basil and mint, a nod to the shiso that often accompanies hiyayakko, and a few cranks of black pepper. Be sure to spoon the umami-rich dressing (the best part!) over the tomatoes, peaches and tofu so that it pools at the bottom of the serving platter. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.

20 min

Horiatiki (Greek Salad) Recipe

By Daniel Gritzer

A good Greek salad must be made with peak summer tomatoes, crisp and refreshing cucumbers, briny black olives, and just a bit of onion, here quickly pickled to tame its pungency and add pops of acidity to each slice. Then the ultimate topper: slabs of feta.

20 min

Steak Salad With Feta Dressing

By Kendra Vaculin

A combination of juicy steak, crunchy lettuce, and a creamy, feta-based blender dressing comes together for an easy summer dinner.

Sheet-Pan Sausage With Corn, Peach, and Cucumber Salad

By Alexis deBoschnek

This summery sheet-pan dinner celebrates the bounty of the season and couldn't be simpler to make. Chorizo plays nicely with the salad, thanks to its spice.

Pistou Provençal Vegetable Soup

By Daniel Gritzer

Soupe au pistou is a rich and hearty summer vegetable soup that features pistou, a French pesto-like sauce.

2 hr 40 min

Tomato Salad with Red Onion, Dill & Feta

By Michael Symon

This Greek salad from Michael Symon features juicy ripe tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese and plenty of fresh herbs in a tangy vinaigrette

30 min

Sun Gold Tomato Pasta

By Jesse Szewczyk

Pistachios, garlic, parsley, and lemon zest create a punchy gremolata topping that takes this Sun Gold tomato pasta dinner from good to great.

Greek-Style Leg of Lamb

By Melissa Rubel Jacobson

This is how the Greeks make roast lamb – cooked until tender, half braised in a garlic lemon flavoured liquid that transforms into a luscious sauce – no mucking around with gravy!

6 hr 15 min

Mesclun salad with Parma Ham, strawberries, balsamic and Parmesan

By Valeria Necchio

This beautiful salad recipe takes mere minutes to make, but the quality of the ingredients shines through in every mouthful. Sweet ripe strawberries, umami-rich Parmesan, fresh salad leaves and beautiful slices of Parma Ham work in perfect harmony, brought together by the simple balsamic dressing.

10 min

Grilled Chicken With Green Chili Crisp

By June Kim

In a fresh take on the traditional condiment, this chili crisp is made with scallions and jalapeños, alongside roasted peanuts for crunch.

Sous-Chef Salad

By Gabrielle Hamilton

Following the model of a classic French salade composée, this satisfying salad, packed with cooked and raw vegetables, as well as canned best-quality tuna and hard-boiled eggs, presents beautifully and eats like a meal. It builds upon a traditional salade niçoise, but a true niçoise uses no lettuce, often has anchovies, would want cracked black niçoise olives and would not have artichoke hearts and basil. So let’s call this a sous-chef salad — and dodge the whole argument while picking up another: It is definitely the best meal salad you will eat all summer. Take care to arrange it so there’s some of each component wherever your eye lands. Try to nestle and fluff the ingredients to allow them all to be seen, rather than piling layer atop layer and thus obscuring the beauty of everything below. This makes the salad very attractive and, most important, ensures that everyone gets some of everything in each bite.

30 min

Seared Salmon with Summer Vegetables

By Michael Romano

This seared salmon with summer vegetables is a fresh, flavorful dinner that’s perfect for warm nights and was named one of F&W's best recipes ever in 2018. Tender salmon fillets are paired with buttery corn, earthy mushrooms, and garlicky spinach, then drizzled with a rich balsamic sauce for an elegant, light meal.

1 hr

Lemon and Garlic Chicken With Cherry Tomatoes

By Martha Rose Shulman

This is a summery dish you can make any time of year since decent cherry tomatoes are available in the markets all year long. Boneless chicken breasts are marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and rosemary before pounding them. This makes them very flavorful, and a great savory contrast to the sweet tomato topping.

1 hr

Hellenika’s chicken souvlaki

By Cordelia Williamson

You've never had chicken souvlaki this good. This recipe, courtesy of Brisbane's Hellenika, is sure to become your new go-to.

35 min

Crispy Rice Salad With Spicy Tahini Dressing

By Nina Moskowitz

This bountiful and filling salad features crunchy cabbage, sweet mango, creamy avocado, crispy rice clusters, and a spicy tahini dressing.

Cold Yogurt Cucumber Salad

By ABU MADAM ANUAR

A simple, refreshing chilled yogurt and cucumber salad flavored with fresh dill and a touch of cumin. Ready in about five minutes, it's a cool, versatile side that pairs perfectly with rice or chicken.

5 min

Pasta alla sorrentina

By GIC Kitchen

A simple, delicious and deeply addictive dish, this pasta alla Sorrentina recipe sees a cherry tomato sauce combined with fresh basil, smoked scamorza cheese and paccheri pasta. As this dish contains so few ingredients, make sure you invest in the best. Using cherry tomatoes at peak season, for example, will provide stunning results.

25 min

Melanzane alla Parmigiana (Italian-Style Eggplant Parmesan) Recipe

By Daniel Gritzer

Sweet, silky, and absolutely delicious, this breading-free version of eggplant parm made in Italy is well worth trying, especially in late summer when eggplant (and tomatoes!) are at their best.

1 hr 25 min

Lemon Potato Salad With Mint

By Melissa Clark

This light and refreshing potato salad is the antithesis of the usual, creamy, mayonnaise-based recipes. The mint and scallion add a bright, herbal flavor while the sprinkle of chile lends a kick. Make this the morning you plan to serve it and let it marinate at room temperature all day long. Or refrigerate for longer storage but be sure to bring it to room temperature before serving. Other herbs like cilantro, parsley, tarragon and sage can be substituted for the mint; adjust the quantity to taste.

45 min

Chopped Salad With Jalapeño-Ranch Dressing

By Alexa Weibel

This chopped salad is fresh, festive and excessive in a celebratory way. While most salads opt for the lightest layer of dressing to optimize the produce’s flavors, this one calls for the dressing to generously coat the crisp ingredients. Inspired by Caesar salad, ranch dressing and the dinner-worthy salads popularized at chain restaurants like California Pizza Kitchen, this salad is punchy and satisfying, thanks to rich ingredients, like avocado, Cotija and a mayonnaise-thickened dressing, plus those with bite, like radishes, corn kernels and tortilla chips. Pair the salad with grilled tofu, chicken, shrimp or burgers — or nothing at all. This salad eschews subtlety, and hits all the right notes.

20 min

Maroulosalata (Green Salad With Feta and Dill)

By Farideh Sadeghin

Although the iconic Greek salad, colorful with tomatoes, feta and olives, might spring to mind when contemplating Greek salads, monochromatic maroulosalata (which translates to “lettuce salad”) is arguably the more popular option in Greece. The salad is simple and effortless: Toss sliced romaine hearts, fresh dill, crumbled feta and sliced scallions with olive oil and fresh lemon juice, then season with salt and pepper, no separate dressing required. The key to this refreshing chopped salad is slicing the lettuce into delicate shreds, then soaking them in ice water to get them extra-crisp before draining, drying and tossing with the rest of the ingredients. Serve with grilled seafood, such as shrimp or fish, or as a sunny side salad with souvlaki or roast chicken. But this salad can also stand alone, as a light, summery supper on the hottest of days.

35 min

Marinated Mozzarella, Olives and Cherry Tomatoes

By David Tanis

This simple dish of marinated cherry tomatoes, olives and mozzarella is best, of course, when cherry tomatoes are in season. That it gets better as it sits is a boon: Bring it to potlucks or picnics, or simply let it sit in your refrigerator, a satisfying lunch at home. A generous handful of basil leaves, sprinkled atop just before serving, gives everything a bright, herbal finish. You’ll want to make this all summer long.

20 min

Buttermilk Corn Pasta

By Jesse Szewczyk

This pasta starring summer corn achieves its savory, creamy sauce thanks to one special ingredient: buttermilk powder.

Summer

Tomato Aguachile

Stone Fruit Caprese

Greek Salad

Fruit Salad

One-Pot Summer Vegetable Pasta

Feta-Ranch Wedge Salad

Tomatoes with Herbs and Almond Vinaigrette

Cold Tofu Salad With Tomatoes and Peaches

Horiatiki (Greek Salad) Recipe

Steak Salad With Feta Dressing

Sheet-Pan Sausage With Corn, Peach, and Cucumber Salad

Pistou Provençal Vegetable Soup

Tomato Salad with Red Onion, Dill &amp; Feta

Sun Gold Tomato Pasta

Greek-Style Leg of Lamb

Mesclun salad with Parma Ham, strawberries, balsamic and Parmesan

Grilled Chicken With Green Chili Crisp

Sous-Chef Salad

Seared Salmon with Summer Vegetables

Lemon and Garlic Chicken With Cherry Tomatoes

Hellenika&#8217;s chicken souvlaki

Crispy Rice Salad With Spicy Tahini Dressing

Cold Yogurt Cucumber Salad

Pasta alla sorrentina

Melanzane alla Parmigiana (Italian-Style Eggplant Parmesan) Recipe

Lemon Potato Salad With Mint

Chopped Salad With Jalapeño-Ranch Dressing

Maroulosalata (Green Salad With Feta and Dill)

Marinated Mozzarella, Olives and Cherry Tomatoes

Buttermilk Corn Pasta

Summer

Tomato Aguachile

Stone Fruit Caprese

Greek Salad

Fruit Salad

One-Pot Summer Vegetable Pasta

Feta-Ranch Wedge Salad

Tomatoes with Herbs and Almond Vinaigrette

Cold Tofu Salad With Tomatoes and Peaches

Horiatiki (Greek Salad) Recipe

Steak Salad With Feta Dressing

Sheet-Pan Sausage With Corn, Peach, and Cucumber Salad

Pistou Provençal Vegetable Soup

Tomato Salad with Red Onion, Dill &amp; Feta

Sun Gold Tomato Pasta

Greek-Style Leg of Lamb

Mesclun salad with Parma Ham, strawberries, balsamic and Parmesan

Grilled Chicken With Green Chili Crisp

Sous-Chef Salad

Seared Salmon with Summer Vegetables

Lemon and Garlic Chicken With Cherry Tomatoes

Hellenika&#8217;s chicken souvlaki

Crispy Rice Salad With Spicy Tahini Dressing

Cold Yogurt Cucumber Salad

Pasta alla sorrentina

Melanzane alla Parmigiana (Italian-Style Eggplant Parmesan) Recipe

Lemon Potato Salad With Mint

Chopped Salad With Jalapeño-Ranch Dressing

Maroulosalata (Green Salad With Feta and Dill)

Marinated Mozzarella, Olives and Cherry Tomatoes

Buttermilk Corn Pasta

Tomato Salad with Red Onion, Dill & Feta

Hellenika’s chicken souvlaki

Tomato Salad with Red Onion, Dill & Feta

Hellenika’s chicken souvlaki