25 Summer Dinner Ideas
Here are 25 summer dinner ideas that the whole family will love. These recipes are great for simple weeknight dinners or for grilling out with a group of friends. Check out these ideas to inspire a variety of healthy and delicious meals this summer!
Jump To The Summer Dinner Ideas
Healthy Seasonal Recipes strives to make eating nutritious dinners as easy as possible for busy families, and summertime is no exception! Summer can be the busiest time of year, packed full of fun trips and activities, we want to make sure your weeknight meals are simple and quick to get on the table.
Today we’re sharing 25 summer recipe ideas that will inspire your menu over the next few months! We have everything from hearty protein-based meals to light veggies and salads, plus everything in between. See our list below – we’ve provided a brief description of each recipe so you can see everything at a glance. Enjoy!
- Once you check out the recipes below, take a look at our Summer Salads. They’re the perfect dish to bring to a barbecue.
- Speaking of barbecues, look over our comprehensive list of Cookout and Barbecue Recipes.
- Cool off after your yummy dinner with a sweet treat! Our Easy Watermelon Sorbet and Pineapple Coconut Sorbet recipes are ideal for hot summer nights.
Summer Dinner Ideas ~ 25 Easy Recipes
This grilled pork chop recipe with lemon, garlic, and rosemary is an effortless summertime dinner that only takes 45 minutes! I served them with a simple arugula salad with Pecorino cheese and lemon.
These 4-ingredient pork and peach kebabs made with teriyaki marinade are super easy and kid-friendly. They are simple and perfect to grill up on a hot summer night while stone fruit in season.
If Summertime needed an official pasta dish, I vote for this Cherry Tomato Penne Pasta Caprese with pearl mozzarella balls, blistered cherry tomatoes, lots of garlic, basil, and fresh arugula. And the best part is that it only takes 30 minutes to get it on the table!
These low-carb spiralized zucchini noodles with pesto is a no-cook vegetarian meal you’ll just love this summer! The pesto adds so much flavor, yet the garden fresh noodles and tomatoes are super light. And the best part is you don’t even have to turn on the stove! (That and that this recipe is low-carb and vegetarian!)
No summer dinner menu is complete without a meal-worthy salad packed with good-for-you ingredients. The viral Jen Aniston salad is just that! It is made by combining cooked bulgur (or quinoa) with chickpeas, cucumbers, red onion, fresh herbs, feta cheese, and pistachios. Comes together in just about 30 minutes, and its leftovers make the best work lunch the next day.
If you have 30 minutes, then you have enough time to throw together this simple Veggie Pesto Pasta recipe. It is made with fresh cooked vegetables, tender pasta, and tossed with basil pesto. It is great for a weeknight meal and can be adapted for whichever veggies you have on hand.
This Grilled Date and Steak Kabobs with Spinach Blue Cheese Salad is full of big bold flavors. The skewers have meaty steak, grilled onions, and candy-like Medjool dates. Serve the beef kebabs atop a spinach and arugula salad with crumbled blue cheese and an orange vinaigrette dressing.
Roasted Salmon Sheet Pan Dinner, an easy healthy weeknight meal ready in 30 minutes and less than 300 calories!
These Grilled Steaks with Kale Pesto are juicy and flavorful. The steaks are seasoned with garlic and salt before grilling, then you top them with a fresh, vibrant kale pesto made with fresh kale leaves, a little basil, walnuts and Pecorino cheese.
Here’s an easy 25-minute recipe for ratatouille, which is a simple French vegetable stew, made with eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes. This stove-top version is topped with fresh goat cheese and pine nuts. Just omit the goat cheese to make it vegan!
Nothing says summer like these Shrimp Kebabs! Fire up the grill and enjoy these savory, low-carb skewers with rosemary, garlic and cherry tomatoes. And the clean-up is quick and easy! Great for weeknights with your family.
Enjoy this flavorful chicken salad with lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onions, baked chicken breast, boiled egg, and a delicious spicy mayo dressing!
This Lemon Garlic Marinated Grilled Pork Tenderloin recipe with rosemary is super simple, but full of flavor. It is an easy dinner recipe to make and the pork takes on so much great taste from the marinade in only 1 hour!
Here’s a recipe for simple Grilled Lamb Kofta Kebabs made with onion and spices and then shaped and skewered. They are a grain-free and paleo entree for the spring grilling season.
This Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad with Shrimp is zesty and full of fresh ingredients. This summer salad is tossed in a creamy avocado dressing to pull it all together.
Here is a delicious Roasted Eggplant Salad with chickpeas, parsley and feta mixed in. It has a rich and savory lemon and roasted garlic dressing. Made with Mediterranean-style flavors and tossed with protein-rich chickpeas and feta cheese. It is hearty enough to serve as an entree salad, plus gluten-free and vegetarian.
With just 3 ingredients this Cajun Flank Steak needs to be on your summer grilling menu! The incredible flavor from this super simple recipe will blow your mind! It takes less than 20 minutes to cook to perfection.
This Pasta with Corn and Smoked Mozzarella is inspired by my absolute devotion to sweet corn. The sauce is made with loads of fresh corn. You add vegetable broth, thicken it with a couple of tablespoons of flour, and toss with pasta, basil and chunks of smoked mozzarella for a creamy and delicious pasta dish. It’s the perfect vegetarian summer entree that you can get on the table in just 30 minutes!
This Grilled Corn and Peach Cobb Salad is a super yummy power salad! It includes classic Cobb goodies such as blue cheese, hard-boiled eggs and bacon plus two favorite summer produce superstars: peaches and corn on the cob.
These 20 Minute Zucchini Pita Pizzas are an easy vegetarian meal your whole family will love. You simply top whole-wheat pitas with marinara sauce, thin ribbons of zucchini, mozzarella, feta and a sprinkling of oregano and then bake. A vegetable peeler is all you need to make those pretty zucchini ribbons!
Meet our Grilled Chicken Fajita Salad. It is seriously crave-worthy delicious. It is so easy because the chicken and vegetables are cooked on the grill and then loaded onto the salad, which is tossed with a creamy avocado dressing. I’ve also included a couple of handy marinating and grilling techniques that are going to knock your socks off!
Also known as Middle Eastern Chicken Skewers, this easy grilled chicken recipe is the ideal summertime dinner if you are open to trying something new. Chicken thighs (or breasts) marinated in a yogurt-based chicken marinade, threaded onto skewers, and grilled to perfection.
This chicken couscous salad is the perfect summer lunch or light dinner. It’s packed with protein and nutrient-dense veggies. It’s then topped with a homemade dressing featuring a burst of fresh citrus.
Bust out your steak knives, and tuck your napkin into your shirt collars my fine friends because today I have the world’s juiciest Grilled Sirloin Steak with Chimichurri Sauce. It is off-the-chain delicious!
This Baked Fish-in-Foil with Vegetables is made in individual packets for easy serving. This method yields super moist fish and a mixture of fresh summer vegetables.
Simple Summer Side Dishes To Make It A Meal
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Print25 Summer Dinner Ideas
- Total Time: 15 mins
- Yield: 5 cups/2 entree servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Here are 25 recipes for easy summer dinners that the family will love. Our featured recipe is made up of fresh zucchini cut into long curly noodles and then tossed with home-made pesto and olive oil. They are topped with summer fresh tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup pesto
- 1 large ripe heirloom tomato, chopped or 1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- freshly ground parmesan to taste
- Morton kosher salt
Instructions
Cut zucchini into long strands with a spiralizer. Set noodles in a large colander. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt on top and toss to coat. Let sit 10 minutes. Rinse and drain well, gently squeezing out the excess moisture.
Transfer the zucchini to a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil; toss to coat. Add pesto and toss to coat evenly. Divide zucchini among 4 pasta bowls. Top with a scattering of chopped tomato. Top with Parmesan, pepper and Morton sea salt.
Notes
This recipe can be doubled to make 4 entrée servings.
Leftovers can be stored up to two days, but will become a little watery. Drain off any excess liquid and season with additional salt and pesto if desired.
- Active Time: 15 mins
- Category: Main Course
- Method: N/A
- Cuisine: American