As the sun ascends and the days stretch, summer’s arrival heralds a season of culinary abundance and outdoor grilling. It’s a time to savor fresh produce and lower your cooking expectations as you build summer meal plans. In this blog post, we embark on a culinary journey, exploring a delectable array of summer meal ideas that are both palate-pleasing and time-saving, allowing you to make the most of the season without sacrificing culinary excellence.
This blog post includes mouthwatering recipes and practical tips for meal planning, time-saving techniques, and new ingredient ideas. Our goal is to empower you to create incredible summer meals without spending hours in the kitchen so you can make the most of the summer season with your family and all it has to offer.
Summer Meal Tips
I use a few rules that help me make a summer meal plan really easy. I spend a lot of time in the summer tackling our summer bucket list, exploring our hometown like a tourist, and spending extra time with friends. I’m back on duty as the teacher, fun maker, lunch preparer, and Uber driver to all the day camps and kids’ play dates.
Focusing on those things takes up a lot of extra mental space and emotional energy. So, keeping healthy dinners on the table we make at home requires a little extra work and a focused plan.
- Things that don’t use up the oven heat – this is the main goal in the summer: Don’t heat the kitchen because that heats the house. I use this rule in my beach meal planning, but it also applies when we are at home. So, I like to make things that don’t take long to cook in the oven or don’t use the oven at all.
- Use the Grill – it’s summer, and those grill flavors are the best. This keeps the heat outside, creates opportunities for new summer menu items, and possibly gets your husband or someone else involved with helping cook dinner.
- Keep out the Crockpot – this is a year-round tool in my house. I apply the same rules: I start dinner before we head out in the morning, and it’s ready at dinner time, no matter when we get home. An Instapot might work as well. It’s not my go-to, but it accomplishes the same thing.
- Summer flavors: Use seasonal flavors like fruits, fresh vegetables, and lighter flavors that aren’t as satisfying as other times of the year.
- Make fun theme meals and consistent plans for the week – kids love “theme” night dinners, so use that in your favor. Have taco Tuesday or chicken strips and mac on a certain night. Plan an eat-out night with friends or homemade pizza night – keeping a consistent plan helps you with grocery orders each week and others being able to help with preparation. These nights are also easy to include another family as you build a community around you.
- Rinse and Repeat – Find a few meals your family likes and rinse and repeat. This part is hard for me because I like new things weekly. But not having to think about dinner when I’m at a splash pad, playdate, or hosting guests makes summer so much easier.
Summer Dinner Meal Ideas
Taco Meals
- Crockpot Hawaiian chicken tacos: Follow this Hawaiian Chicken recipe and leave out the carrots. Serve in tortillas or on tostada shells with toppings like salsa, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole. The meat also works as a topping on rice or a salad.
- Crockpot carnitas are Mexican pulled pork, which can be used in tacos, tostadas, on top of rice or cauliflower rice, or a salad.
- Crockpot Turkey Tacos
- Tacos kit from Sam’s Club: This one is a no-brainer. We did it last week while hosting guests. Just get the taco kits in a weekly grocery pickup and add a bag of chips.
- Taco ring: Any kid who grew up with a Pampered Chef mom knows what I’m talking about here—taco meat wrapped in crescent rolls. Serve with your favorite toppings. I usually make the taco meat ahead of time, and then it’s ready to prepare when we are ready to eat. I recently cooked my taco meat while I separated and put up groceries—it was the ultimate moment of multi-tasking!
Summer Sheet Pan Dinners
Sheet pan – I love sheet pans; this is a great way to get clean proteins and vegetables. Marinate your meat in ziploc bags and pour them on a foil-lined sheet pan. While sheet pan meals use the oven, most of them are cooked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, and then the oven can be turned off.
- Sausage Sheet pan and vegetables are our go-to anytime of the year, whether we are eating it at home, on vacation, or taking it to a friend.
- Salmon Sheet pan: an easy honey or syrup, dijon mustard marinade, and Asian vegetable blend cooked together on the same sheet pan.
- Orange Dijon Chicken and Vegetables Sheet Pan: This recipe offers fun summer flavors, with an easy marinade that makes juicy chicken and flavorful citrus-glazed vegetables.
- Fish and Summer Vegetable Sheet pan: an easy dinner with garden vegetables or a farmers market finds
- Turkey Meatloaf Sheet Pan: Make the meatloaf and scoop it out when you’re ready to bake. Add a bag of frozen broccoli to the other end of the sheet pan.
- Chicken fajitas sheet pan: Prepare bags of frozen pre-cooked chicken fajita meat. Spread out three pepper and onion strips on a sheet pan. Spray with olive oil and sprinkle with Worcestershire and lime juice. Add taco seasoning, salt and pepper, cilantro, and garlic powder for seasoning.
- 18 Healthy Sheet Pan Dinner Ideas
Grilled Dinners
- Grilled chicken and watermelon/ feta salad: There are so many varieties here. Marinate chicken in a zipper bag with Italian dressing. Toss together chunked watermelon, feta cheese, cucumbers, and fresh basil or mint.
- Fish with grilled vegetables and fruit salsa: fish cooks quickly, so don’t miss it when it’s ready. Ten minutes, and it may be done. This is also a great meal to make on vacation. For fruit salsa, use whatever your people like. I like to use mango or cantaloupe, pineapple tidbits, Roma tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, jalapeno, corn, and sweet peppers. Add a little lime juice, salt, and pepper.
- Grilled Steaks or Prok Tenderloin with Summer Caprese Salad
- Hobo grill foil packs: put anything you love to make camping on the grill and make it or test new recipes at home. I love that you can put these together and just put them on the grill when it’s time to eat.
- Homemade Hibachi: Turn your flattop grill into a teppanyaki show. You can even cook your favorite fried rice outside!
- For fajitas, cook the meat and vegetables on the grill. Add some grilled corn for a great side dish.
Summer Slow Cooker Dinners
- Orange BBQ Pulled Pork is a versatile meat that can be added to baked potatoes, buns, quesadillas, or tostadas.
- Stroganoff: While venison stroganoff is my usual go-to, beef or chicken are great variations. Add to egg noodles or eat on rice.
- Turkey Tacos aren’t hard to make, but why not make anything easier? This turkey taco recipe puts dinner on the table as quickly as you can warm tortillas.
- Hawaiian Chicken: throw it all in the crockpot to cook all day. Add extra vegetables if you want and serve it over whatever rice you like, including coconut milk to add a unique flavor to the rice.
- Meatballs over rice: a variety of meatball sauces can be used – Party Meatballs, Orange/Barbecue, or Swedish Meatballs. Cook your favorite rice variety, or eat a plate of protein with a side of vegetables. I like to use the rice pouches, so it’s one less thing to cook.
- Meatball subs: add a bag of beef or turkey meatballs to the crockpot and top with a jarred spaghetti sauce. Cook for several hours. Serve in hoagie buns or on sliders and top with provolone cheese.
- Greek Chicken Gyros: You can use this versatile chicken in many forms, but keep it easy. Grab a bag of nann bread/gyro wraps and top it with tzatziki sauce, hummus, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickled red onions, feta cheese, and lettuce. This same chicken makes a great option for “homemade Cava bowls.”
- Lightened Up Corn Chowder: my husband grew up eating corn chowder every summer and simmering it in the crockpot saves the extra kitchen heat. We love this with skillet cheese quesadillas and a little corn relish on top!
- Try these Crockpot Freezer Meals that you can pack when you have time and cook when you are ready.
Summer Salad Dinners
- Taco salad: Chicken, ground beef, or ground turkey are great toppings for taco salad. Add salsa or ranch as dressing. My favorite topping growing up was crushed Doritos or chili cheese Fritos.
- Greek salad: Use the Greek chicken from the gyros above and top with tomatoes, cucumbers, pickled red onions, pickles, olives, feta cheese, tzatziki, hummus, etc.
- Grilled chicken and watermelon/ feta salad: There are so many varieties here. Marinate chicken in a zipper bag with Italian dressing. Toss together chunked watermelon, feta cheese, cucumbers, and fresh basil or mint.
- Grilled Steaks or Pork Tenderloin with Summer Caprese Salad
- Salad Survey: Take a week each night to try a new salad. Tackle the tabs in a favorite cookbook, or finally, cook those things you’ve pinned. Here are some salads I have on my radar.
Other Summer Family Dinner Ideas
- Cereal dinner: Let kids pick a favorite cereal that you don’t usually let them have for breakfast. Or, do a favorite taste test. Milk and cereal—keep it easy!
- Air-Fried Fish Tacos: Cook fish sticks in the air fryer and top with a taco-seasoned slaw, lime juice, and any taco toppings you prefer.
- Chicken Lettuce Wraps: This is a one-pot dinner you cook over the stove, but the fresh flavors make it a great summer bite.
- Everything Bagel Chicken salad and chips: I like to use rotisserie chicken, canned chicken, or chicken breasts cooked in the crockpot as an easy way to cook the chicken and keep it easy. If you use crockpot chicken, don’t forget you can put it in a bowl with a hand mixer, which shreds the chicken for you!
- Instapot French dip sandwich: Those who swear by their Instapot love this meal. It’s a hot and hearty dinner ready in minutes.
- Sloppy Joes and french onion dip: Mix and Match Mama has my go-to Sloppy Joe recipe, but she has many varieties that we love as well. And I prefer a Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joe with ground turkey to just about any flavor.
- I just learned about hot ham and cheese sandwiches from a friend who had these growing up. Mix a little Italian dressing with mayonnaise. Spread on the inside of a hamburger bun. Add sliced ham lunch meat and any cheese slice. Warm in a microwave or press in a skillet. Easy dinner with chips or summer salad.
- Skinny Cheeseburger Mac: a one-pot meal that is yummy any time of the year, and it makes enough for seconds every time!
- Summer Orzo Veggie Bake – a one-pot meal packed with lean protein and summer vegetables
Here are some links to other meal plans you may like or choose from!
- Crockpot meals
- Easy Airbnb Travel Meals
- Mix and Match Mama cookbooks that I love: Simmers (Crockpot meals) | Eats (Everyday dinners) | Meal Planner (by season ideas)
- One Pot Cooking by Megan Marlowe – I love this book for the ease of new recipes
- MenuPlans.com is a really easy way to get dinner on the table. Seasonal menus are sent straight to your email.
