Summer Dinners Recipes

Who wants to spend summer cooking dinner over a hot stove? These dinner recipes make the most of summer fruits and vegetables, plus great grilling ideas too.

Prev
Next
Slide 1
Maple-Smoked Salmon Fillets

From Better Homes and Gardens

These salmon fillets are treated to a double dose of maple syrup. The recipe serves as a marinade and is also brushed on while cooking in the smoker.

Maple-Smoked Salmon Fillets

Chicken with Lime and Avocado Salsa

From Better Homes and Gardens

Cool, refreshing lime combines with avocados to make a saucy salsa and chicken main-dish recipe that's ready in less than 30 minutes.

Chicken with Lime and Avocado Salsa

Cornmeal-Fried Skate Wings

From Fine Cooking Magazine

The crispy coating of cornmeal keeps the skate moist on the inside. Serve these wings with lots of cold beer and your favorite cole slaw.

Cornmeal-Fried Skate Wings

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

From Better Homes and Gardens

For the quintessential barbecue experience, smoke pork loin back ribs over apple or hickory chips.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

Chicken with Spiced Tomato Jam

From Better Homes and Gardens

A spicy tomato jam flavored with orange juice and a host of spices is the perfect accompaniment to this breaded chicken main dish recipe.

Chicken with Spiced Tomato Jam

Fresh Mint Water

From Fitness

Tired of plain water? Make this drink recipe. Water is flavored with cucumber, melon and mint.

Fresh Mint Water

Connecticut Grilled Steak

From Better Homes and Gardens

Coat the cold grill rack with nonstick cooking spray before heating to prevent the meat from sticking. This flank steak is piled with a sausage and sweet pepper combination for added flavor.

Connecticut Grilled Steak

Tuna and Marjoram Bean Salad with Anchovy and Caper Vinaigrette

From Better Homes and Gardens

This main dish salad features grilled tuna steaks. You can replace the marjoram with oregano for this recipe, but its flavor is more pungent and robust so you may want to use less.

Tuna and Marjoram Bean Salad with Anchovy and Caper Vinaigrette

Herb- and Lemon-Crusted Game Hens

From Better Homes and Gardens

The Cornish hens need to chill several hours so prepare them ahead of your cookout or dinner.

Herb- and Lemon-Crusted Game Hens

Simple Risotto with Summer Spiral Ham and Peas

From Smithfield

A delicious and beautiful one-dish meal.

Simple Risotto with Summer Spiral Ham and Peas

Halibut with Parsley-Lemon Sauce

From Food & Wine

Rather than pairing red wine with red meat, Marcia Kiesel opts for perfectly cooked halibut steaks. Any other meaty but delicately flavored fish, like wild striped bass or snapper, would also work (stay away from oily fish like bluefish when serving red wines -- they tend to make the wine's tannins taste metallic). And the bright, lemony parsley sauce balances the earthy quality of a Graves.

Halibut with Parsley-Lemon Sauce

Quentin Bacon
Roasted Sea Bass with Summer Squash

From Food & Wine

"We had a boat when I was a kid, so fishing was a part of my youth," Michael Psilakis says. Here, he mixes ladolemono (lemon juice and olive oil) with mustard and yogurt to create a tangy, creamy sauce for succulent roasted fish and vegetables.

Roasted Sea Bass with Summer Squash

Martin Morrell
Salmon in Tomato-Olive Sauce

From Food & Wine

Dionicio Jimenez serves his luscious salmon in a tomato sauce spiked with olives, capers, and pickled jalapenos. The accompaniment: Mexican rice flavored with carrots, green beans, and corn. Skip the Mexican rice; the sauce for the salmon is so delicious, it's perfect spooned over yellow rice.

Salmon in Tomato-Olive Sauce

Stephanie Foley
Spiced Catfish with Avocado

From Food & Wine

Mini Kahlon, a neuroscientist and cooking club member, learned to love communal eating at family dinners in Chandigarh, India. Her bright avocado salad is delicious with her Indian-spiced dish, for a fabulous combination of cool and spicy, crunchy and creamy.

Spiced Catfish with Avocado

Lucy Schaeffer
Elizabeth Karmel's Cowboy Steak with Whiskey Butter

From Better Homes and Gardens

Rich, tangy, and beautifully complex, a phenomenal whiskey butter imbues these rib eye steaks with incredible flavor. The secret to a succulent steak? Let it be. Once the steak has been removed from the heat, it is imperative that it be allowed to rest for 5-10 minutes. Slicing into it any sooner will result in a juicy cutting board, and a dry steak.

Elizabeth Karmel's Cowboy Steak with Whiskey Butter

Summertime Pasta

From Better Homes and Gardens

Shrimp, vegetables and flavor-packed pasta coated with a creamy basil and lemon sauce create this one dish dinner.

Summertime Pasta

Chuck Wagon Baby Back Ribs

From Better Homes and Gardens

Wine and bourbon make up a flavor-packed sauce for these grilled pork ribs.

Chuck Wagon Baby Back Ribs

Cranberry-Glazed Pork Ribs

From Better Homes and Gardens

Ruby red cranberry sauce becomes a tangy glaze for grilled pork ribs.

Cranberry-Glazed Pork Ribs

Chicken with Garden Salsa

From Better Homes and Gardens

Backyard barbecuing sizzled during the 1950s. But Model-T Ford mogul, Henry Ford, is credited for inventing charcoal briquettes in the 1930s. Wood waste from the auto plants was charred, ground, mixed with cornstarch, and compressed into briquettes. By 1935, a Ford Charcoal Picnic Kit was available in Ford showrooms. By 1951, the business became Kingsford Chemical Company, named for the village where the briquettes were made.

Chicken with Garden Salsa

What-a-Back Ribs

From Better Homes and Gardens

The hoisin, ginger, and sesame add Asian flavors to these hickory-smoked pork ribs.

What-a-Back Ribs

Chicken with Asparagus and Peas

From Better Homes and Gardens

Chicken legs are great for grilling. The heat of the grill sears the outside, keeping the meat moist and tender. Serve with vegetables flavored with bacon and mint to complete this main-dish recipe.

Chicken with Asparagus and Peas

Moroccan Chicken with Apricot-and-Olive Relish

From Food & Wine

This grilled chicken dish transforms the sweet-savory elements of a Moroccan tagine -- apricots, olives, couscous -- into a light, summery meal. The marinade and relish are both flavored with eucalyptus honey, which has a deep, herbal flavor that's delicious with the smoky chicken. Plus, the honey caramelizes on the grill, which makes the chicken extra-crispy.

Moroccan Chicken with Apricot-and-Olive Relish

Quentin Bacon
Salmon with Vodka Sauce and Parsley Salad

From Food & Wine

The parsley in the bright salad here is loaded with antioxidants; the capsaicin in the chiles can, counterintuitively, relieve pain; and the salmon is full of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

Salmon with Vodka Sauce and Parsley Salad

Joseph de Leo
Salmon with Oyster Mushrooms and Peppers

From Food & Wine

During the summer, Maria Hines, chef and owner of Tilth, gets heirloom peppers from one of her favorite farmers, Billy Allstot. She'll sometimes add a silky red pepper puree to accompany this wild salmon dish, but here she goes without for simplicity.

Salmon with Oyster Mushrooms and Peppers

Cedric Angeles
Spatchcock Barbecue Chicken with Raspberry Glaze

From Better Homes and Gardens

A brilliant blend of tart raspberries, rich, sweet balsamic vinegar, earthy rosemary, and spicy cayenne pepper creates an incredible glaze over juicy grilled chicken in this creative take on classic barbeque. Served with a fresh green salad and roasted baby red potatoes for an absolutely amazing dinner.

Spatchcock Barbecue Chicken with Raspberry Glaze

Our Recipe Partners
see all recipe partners
___itemTitle___

From: ___itemFrom___

___itemDescription___

___itemTitle___

shop our favorite products