30 Best Summer Side Dishes | The Modern Proper (2024)

We’ve rounded up the 30 best summer side dishes—from pasta salads to grilled corn and everything in between, we’ve got you covered.

Your Burger Looks Lonely. You Need A BBQ Side Dish Recipe, Stat!

• This cold, crunchy broccoli salad—studded with crisp bacon, diced red onion and chewy raisins, then tossed in a creamy homemade dressing—is what all of your summer party dreams are made of.
• If you are a fan of both potato salad and pickles then you have to try our classic potato salad. Made with pickle juice and cucumbers for extra crunch, it's the best make-ahead summer side dish! Bonus if you make our homemade pickles too!
• Got a couple of cans of baked beans in your cupboard, but not sure what to with them? Well these super meat-loaded dressed up baked beans are probably the very best thing you could possibly do with them.
• We put this crisp, refreshing red cabbage and apple slaw on EVERYTHING! It’s a much lighter answer to the summer BBQ side dish question, and everyone will be grateful to see a vegetable on that loaded picnic table.

Got Summer Veggies? Here’s How to Serve Them.

• Be everyone’s favorite person at the party with a huge side of our crispy fried green bean tempura with curry mayonnaise. It’s an absolute crowd-pleaser.
• We’re calling it—zucchini is the new cauliflower. And our super savory oven-roasted zucchini with parmesan is the new cauliflower rice. A little crispy, super fast, and ultra-healthy, it really hits the spot.
• We’ve perfected the art of grilled asparagus, and we’re celebrating by dressing it up with a balsamic reduction, parmesan and toasted pine nuts!

A Summery Pasta Salad Recipe For Every Occasion.

• This hearty, tomato-studded summer tortelloni pasta salad sits right at the top of our list of easy summer sides.
• With briny olives, juicy cherry tomatoes, spicy arugula, purple pops of red onion, and creamy feta crumbled throughout, this Mediterranean pasta salad is as bright and sunny as a warm summer day.
• Cooked-till-crisp ground pork, and creamy Thai peanut dressing add a hint of heft to fragrant fresh mint, basil, cooling cucumber and delicate rice noodles in this lively cold Thai noodle salad.

Please Pass The Easy Summer Appetizers.

• Homemade jalapeño poppers—what do we even need to say?? You know you want them!
• This sweet and smoky bean and corn dip is begging to be made for your next picnic.
• And our classic creamy hummus is just that. It’s also super easy, plus, it makes for the very smoothest hummus ever.

Need A Dip For Your Next Pool Party?

A dip while you dip, if you will.

• Our homemade caramelized onion dip outshines anything store-bought. Please pass the chips.
• Cool and creamy homemade guacamole shines at its craveable best when scooped up by crunchy, salted homemade corn chips—a bite of paradise, if you ask us.
• Our retro cream cheese shrimp dip is an old-school classic that’s primed for a comeback. Just don’t let it sit out in the sun for long—move that deliciousness back into the AC ASAP.

Everyone’s Favorite Summer Corn Dish

• Ever get fancy with your corn? We’ll teach you how to do it with grilled corn four ways. How about maple bourbon butter with bacon, chipotle mayo with parm cheese, spicy corn with cotija cheese or blue cheese butter with chives?
• Mexican street corn salad with chipotle crema takes the flavors of elote—fresh sweet corn, lime juice, cojita cheese, and a mayo-based chipotle crema—and turns them into a beautiful summer salad.
• Our take on a classic grilled Mexican street corn recipe relies on easy-to-find ingredients to create the creamy, slightly spicy, smoky corn on the cob that we crave when we think of authentic elote
• Just three ingredients—fresh sweet corn, a pound of bacon, and a bunch of green onions—come together to make this dairy-free creamed corn recipe an easy summer side dish we just can’t get enough of.

Zucchini Recipes To Use Up Your Whole Summers’ Worth of Squash Bounty.

• For all zucchini growers out there, your friends and neighbors will be sad this year when you have less bounty to share from making our Mediterranean-style zucchini fritters recipe over and over.
• This stunningly beautiful, twisty-twirly pesto zoodle salad with fresh mozzarella, chicken and toasted pine nuts is a textural, colorful study in how to make the most of the late-summer harvest.
• Tossed in a creamy, Asian-inspired peanut dressing, this crunchy, colorful cold Thai zoodle salad is quick, healthy and satisfying.

Summer Tomatoes, Right Off The Vine.

• Tomato and avocado bruschetta: a fabulous way to put those cherry tomatoes to good use, but be sure to seed them first!
• Do we even need to say more than “braised tomatoes with burrata”? Just a peak-of-summer, knees buckling kind of gorgeousness. Summer feasting at its very finest.
• This version of pico de gallo made with with cabbage is the absolute best. Crunchy, fresh, tomato-y perfection.

Summer is Salad-For-Dinner Season.

• This cucumber salad is heavenly. It’s everything you’re looking for in a healthy summer side dish.
• Potluck-ready and brimming with crunchy vegetables, this easy Asian chopped salad recipe makes a colorful, brightly-flavored accompaniment to almost any meal.
• Salty fish sauce, zingy lime, a touch of creamy mayo, a drizzle of honey. Add some bright, vibrant veggies and voila! A simple, beautiful Asian slaw that perks up just about any meal.
• This chop salad with herb yogurt dressing is a real satisfying stunner of a dinner salad. Healthy, gorgeous and so satisfying.
  

Yay, It’s Summer!

Whatever you’re making, we wish you happy potlucking, picnicking, and backyard BBQing! If you make one of these stunning summer side dishes we want to hear about it! Snap a photo of your creation and be sure and tag us @themodernproper and #themodernproper.