25 Make-Ahead Recipes for Summer Cookouts

Updated June 05, 2019
Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall and Kady Wohlfarth; Prop Styling: Kay Clarke

Sure, the warm weather is nice and we love the gorgeous seasonal produce—but summer entertaining ain't no picnic. Next time  you're headed to a cookout or a potluck, make your day much easier by preparing a dish ahead of time. From easy pasta salads to slow cooker recipes to delectable desserts, we've got your summer party covered. Check out our 25 best make-ahead summer cookout recipes here. 

Start Slideshow

1 of 25

Slow-Cooker Beef Nachos

Credit: Laurey W. Glenn; Styling: Caroline M. Cunningham

Slow-Cooker Beef Nachos Recipe

These slow-cooker beef nachos deliver big flavor using simple ingredients and make a great party appetizer. From the Kitchen of Julie Hutson, Callahan, Florida. "This is surprisingly yummy to have such simple ingredients."

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 25

Three-Bean Pasta Salad

Credit: Hector Manuel Sanchez; Prop Styling: Lydia Pursell; Food Styling: Toni Brogan

Three-Bean Pasta Salad Recipe

We combined two potluck classics—pasta salad and three-bean salad—to make one tasty new side dish. Blanched celery is the unexpected star in this side dish; it has a tender-crisp texture and bright green color. Swap out the canned beans for your favorite cooked field peas.

3 of 25

Mexican Corn Salad

Credit: Caitlin Bensel

Mexican Corn Salad Recipe

Mexican street corn morphs into an epic salad in this dish. Beautiful to behold, this salad shines thanks to the combination of colors and textures. This potluck-perfect side is easy to make ahead of time, and it gets even more flavorful when it sits overnight.

Advertisement

4 of 25

Strawberry-Rhubarb Salad

Credit: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas

Strawberry-Rhubarb Salad Recipe

This salad is a delightfully unexpected way to use the fresh rhubarb and berries that are just coming into season. The dressing on this bright, beautiful salad is a happy meeting between sweet and tart flavors, the almonds add a nice crunch for variety of texture, and a hint of mint makes a fresh dish feel even more so.

5 of 25

Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs

Credit: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller

Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs Recipe

Barbecue season is here, but we'll let you in on a secret: All you really need for crowd-pleasing baby back ribs is the right recipe and a slow cooker. Savory, tender, juicy, and slow-cooked to perfection, this recipe for Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs is our newest and best.

6 of 25

Warm Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Eggplant

Credit: Victor Protasio

Warm Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Eggplant Recipe

Congratulations—You just found your new go-to pasta salad! This veggie-packed beauty is nice and filling, thanks to meaty eggplant. If you can’t find burrata, simply tear 6 ounces of fresh mozzarella into bite-size pieces. Heading to a potluck? Feel free to make this recipe ahead of time.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 25

Tomato, Peach, and Corn Salad

Credit: Greg DuPree

Tomato, Peach, and Corn Salad Recipe

The summer's favorite produce is compiled together to create this vibrant and beautiful salad. The salad is tossed in a sweet and savory honey vinaigrette and topped with feta for a stunning finish.

8 of 25

Blackberry-Peach Cobbler Bars

Credit: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Heather Chadduck

Blackberry-Peach Cobbler Bars Recipe

Toffee-glazed pecan pieces add a streusel-like crunch to the tops of these Blackberry-Peach Cobbler Bars. One reviewer called these potluck-perfect bars "easy to make and quite delicious." Another said "they get rave reviews from everyone."

9 of 25

Peach and Celery Salad

Credit: Caitlin Bensel

Peach and Celery Salad Recipe

The flavors of peach and celery meld beautifully in this no-cook side, while pistachios amp up the crunch factor. This easy side salad, which uses gorgeous seasonal produce, is sure to be a hit at any summer get together.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 25

Easy Blackberry Cobbler

Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Prop Styling: Christina Daley; Food Styling: Marianne Williams

Easy Blackberry Cobbler Recipe

Rather than breaking a sweat over the perfect pie crust and lattice top for your farmers' market blackberries, use them up in a hassle-free cobbler. All you need are fresh berries plus 5 more ingredients to whip up this Easy Blackberry Cobbler recipe.

11 of 25

Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Slab Pie

Credit: Jen Causey; Food Styling: Karen Rankin; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson

Puff Pastry Summer Fruit Slab Pie Recipe

This show-stopper is easy to assemble, but so impressive. The only component of this effortlessly elegant tart that needs to bake is the puff pastry base itself. Once it’s baked and cooled, you’ll top it with a creamy, fluffy spread of sweetened mascarpone cheese mixed with marzipan (i.e. almond paste), vanilla, freshly whipped cream.

12 of 25

Grilled Corn Pasta Salad

Credit: Photo courtesy of The Food Gays

Grilled Corn Pasta Salad Recipe

This vibrant, flavor-packed summer side dish combines a bounty of favorite seasonal flavors into a single, epic pasta salad. The recipe comes from our friends The Food Gays, and they developed this colorful grilled corn dish as a fresher, brighter alternative to the typical mayo-based pasta salads that often show up a summer parties.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 25

Yellow Corn Salsa

Credit: Time Inc. Video Studio

Yellow Corn Salsa Recipe

A simple and sunny combination of sweet summer corn, yellow squash, onion, and jalapeño make a delicious earthy-sweet salsa, perfect for topping tacos, adding to burrito bowls, and creating the yellow band of our vibrant “Rainbow” Salsa. 

14 of 25

Perfectly Easy Blackberry Pie

Credit: Lee Harrelson; Styling: Jan Gautro

Perfectly Easy Blackberry Pie Recipe

If you haven’t eaten any blackberry pie yet, is it really summer? This perfectly easy blackberry pie comes together in a little more than an hour and highlights one of summer’s best fruits. This recipe works with either fresh or frozen blackberries (or a mixture of the two), but fresh blackberries have more flavor and won’t take as long to cook. Serve with vanilla ice cream or lemon sorbet. 

15 of 25

Easy Chicken Salad

Credit: Emma Crist; Styling: Emma Crist

Easy Chicken Salad Recipe

This 20-minute chicken salad recipe is creamy, flavorful, and packed full of healthy veggies and protein-rich meat. To make our easy chicken salad recipe, we lightened up the typical mayonnaise base by adding in 1/2 cup of low-fat, plain Greek yogurt, but you can use one full cup of mayonnaise if you'd like.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 25

Everything Bagel Salad

Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Katelyn Hardwick; Prop Styling: Claire Spollen

Everything Bagel Salad Recipe

Your favorite brunch special just took on a new, heartier format. Everything here comes through: The bagels, capers, lox, raw onions, and cream cheese are all balanced out by spinach’s natural mild sweetness.

17 of 25

German Chocolate Brownies

Credit: Annie Campbell

German Chocolate Brownies Recipe

This recipe is a combination of my nana’s greatest hits—brownies and German chocolate cake. The fudgy brownies allow the frosting’s coconut flavor to shine and are decadent without overwhelming the palate.

18 of 25

Easy Slow-Cooker Jambalaya

Credit: Jen Causey; Food Styling: Tori Cox and Gordon Sawyer; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis

Easy Slow-Cooker Jambalaya Recipe

Have dinner ready when you come home with this ultimate, slow-cooker Jambalaya. Featuring chicken, shrimp and smoked sausage, this classic Creole rice dish is perfect for the slow-cooker as all the flavors blend together over time in a marvelous way.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

19 of 25

Crock-Pot BBQ Ribs

Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Anna Hampton; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis

Crock-Pot BBQ Ribs Recipe

If you’re skeptical about ribs in a slow cooker, prepare to be amazed by the tender and delicious results. Cooking ribs doesn’t get easier than this two-step method, and while they serve as the perfect summer entrée, you can make these ribs just as easily at any time of year.

20 of 25

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Credit: John Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe

Tex-Mex chicken enchilada casserole is a delicious dinner main when you are craving Southwestern-style comfort food without the notorious gut-busting casserole calories. Scoring in at under 375 calories, this lightened up enchilada bake is a win-win for your taste buds and keeping your diet in check.

21 of 25

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint Recipe

There’s more than one way to enjoy the classic sweet flavor of fresh watermelon besides eating it right off the rind. This watermelon feta salad is a light and refreshing complement to any summer meal, no matter if it’s for a cookout, potluck, or regular weeknight dinner.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

22 of 25

Southwest Black-Eyed Pea Dip

Credit: Antonis Achilleos

Southwest Black-Eyed Pea Dip Recipe

This cheesy appetizer will be the talk of any game day gathering. We took the ingredients in Texas caviar (a classic chilled Southern dip made with black-eyed peas) and turned them into a warm and gooey multi-layered dip topped with diced tomatoes, zesty cilantro, and spicy jalapeños.

23 of 25

Green Bean Casserole

Credit: Caitlin Bensel

Green Bean Casserole Recipe

We’ve given the classic casserole an upgrade by swapping sodium-heavy canned soup for a rich and chunky homemade mushroom sauce. For bean blanching instructions, see the note on the recipe at left.

24 of 25

Easy Margaritas for a Crowd

Credit: Emma Crist; Styling: Emma Crist

Easy Margaritas for a Crowd Recipe

Look no further than these large-batch margaritas when you're hosting your next big fiesta and can't spend hours juicing limes. This margarita recipe is a revelation--the secret ingredient is a can of frozen limeade concentrate which, once emptied, doubles as a measuring cup for the remaining ingredients.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

25 of 25

Oreo Cookie Pie

Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall and Kady Wohlfarth; Prop Styling: Kay Clarke

Oreo Cookie Pie Recipe

Oreos on Oreos on Oreos. This Oreo pie recipe is super easy and a must-make for any fan of Milk's Favorite Cookie. 

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Up Next