What is the best thing about cooking in the summertime? All the amazingly fresh ingredients for your summer side dishes are growing in your very own garden. And if you don’t have a garden or a green thumb, just hit up your local farmers market.
So dive right in and see which summer side dishes will be gracing our table this summer.
Creamy Cucumber Salad
A true dish from my childhood. I remember many Saturday afternoons in the ’80s and ’90s spent with family and friends grilling out. This was always a must-have at any backyard barbeque. There are many variations of this dish, but my go-to can be found on Taste of Home.
Roasted Vegetables
I absolutely love serving roasted vegetables during the summer. Thanks to the many farmers across several countries, we have such a plethora to choose from during those warm summer months. There is no right or wrong with what vegetables to add. Just pick a few of your favorites, toss in some EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), and your seasoning of choice. In our house, we typically use a dash of garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper. Other than that, we like to let the vegetable’s natural flavor do the majority of the talking. After seasoning, place the veggies in a thin layer on a cookie sheet in a 350℉ oven for 30-45 minutes. The cooking time will vary depending on the vegetables you choose along with the doneness that you prefer.
Pasta Salad
A quick google search will turn up thousands of pasta salad recipes. Which one is the best? Well, the answer to that question is really up to your very own taste buds. I have to say that I have fallen in love with this simple side dish I found on A Southern Soul. Donya really knew what she was doing when she came up with her Creamy Tomato Cucumber Pasta Salad.
Potato Salad
I’m not going to lie. It has taken me many years to perfect my hand at potato salad. I am also willing to admit that it took just as many years to find a potato salad recipe that I truly “LOVE.” Holly over at The Shortcut Kitchen found a way to meld my love for loaded baked potatoes into a phenomenal side dish.
Corn Casserole and Skillet Corn
Corn, in general, is one of my favorite things about summer. There is just something different but so perfect about fresh corn. My two biggest go-to side dishes during the summer months both involve maize.
For a corn casserole that will knock your socks off, check out the recipe for Easy Creamy Corn Casserole from House of Nash Eats. While the recipe calls for canned corn and canned cream corn, I love using my own field corn and cream corn that I have worked up when I have it in the freezer. The other mouthwatering side dish involving corn in our house is southern skillet corn. It is beyond simple to make. You simply need:
- 7-8 ears of fresh corn
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 2-3 Tbsp bacon grease
- A dash of salt, pepper, and sugar (yes, sugar).
Melt the butter in the skillet. Then slowly pour in your bacon grease. Next, you will add your corn that has been cut off the cob. Stir over medium heat. Add in the salt, pepper, and sugar to taste.
Stuffed Zucchini
I have always been a lover of zucchini. But I had never really ventured out until a few years ago on what else I could do with them other than steaming or sauteing them. Then my wonderful best friend, Jessica, told me about a stuffed zucchini recipe that she tried. “Stuffed Zucchini,” why hadn’t I ever thought of that? And at that moment, my new favorite way to eat zucchini was born. Sometimes I make a simple spaghetti sauce to go on top and smother with mozzarella cheese, and other times I get a little adventurous with recipes like the Cheesy Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats from Recipe Runner.
Salad
No summertime side dish list would be complete without a salad. There are a million and one ways to make one, and everyone has their own preferences. From a super basic chef salad to my husband’s constant request of a Copycat Outback Blue Cheese Wedge Salad, we partake of salads with our meal daily during the warmer months. We also love tossing together a southern summer staple called Wilted Lettuce. It’s so uncomplicated, yet so flavorful.
So there you have it. We thrive on veggies during the summer months. We also do our best to preserve what vegetables we can by either freezing them or canning them, but that’s a tale for a whole other blog.
I hope you enjoy my favorite summer side dishes made with the freshest ingredients Mother Earth has to offer.
