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These are my favorite Fourth of July recipes, the grill-out dishes I come back to year after year, and I’m so glad to share them with you. If you asked me to name my favorite way to spend a summer day, I wouldn’t have to think about it for very long. Gather the people I love on the back patio, fire up the grill, set out a table full of good food, and let the afternoon stretch on as long as it wants to.
Grill-outs and barbecues are hands-down some of my favorite gatherings to host. I love the cooking, I love the eating, and most of all, I love that boards and platters and big bowls of salad mean the cook gets to spend the day visiting with guests instead of being stuck in the kitchen. Isn’t that what hospitality is all about?
So whether you’re feeding a crowd or just your own little crew, here are some of my favorite Fourth of July recipes to bring to the table. Every one of them has earned its place at our Independence Day cookouts, and I have a feeling they’ll earn a place at yours, too.
Fire Up the Grill: Fourth of July Main Dishes
My Grilled Cedar Plank Salmon
If you only make one thing on this list, make this. My Cedar Plank Salmon is one of my all-time favorite recipes, and I make it constantly, for good reason. It’s sweet, savory, just a touch smoky from the cedar, and it requires only five ingredients, salt and pepper included. The cedar plank does the work, imparting a delicate, smoky flavor that feels a little bit like magic. Just remember to soak your culinary plank for at least an hour (four is even better) before it goes on the grill, or you’ll end up with flambéed salmon instead.
Best Chicken Bacon Burgers
No Fourth of July cookout is complete without a burger, and these are the ones I reach for. Made with lean ground chicken, fresh cilantro and thyme, and a little smoked paprika, they’re flavorful and decadent and a whole lot healthier than they look. Top them with crispy bacon, savory sauteed red onions, and a slice of gooey, spicy pepper jack, and you’ve got a burger that goes from good to over-the-top fantastic. It might just be the best burger I’ve ever made, and a recipe I make over and over again.
Easy Mediterranean Chicken Skewers
Eating stuff off a stick is just plain fun, isn’t it? These grilled chicken skewers are crazy simple to make. A super lemony marinade loaded with herbs tenderizes the chicken and infuses it with so much flavor that this is the chicken breast you’ll actually want to eat. Thread the marinated chunks onto skewers with zucchini and red onion (or whatever colorful veggies you’ve got on hand), toss them on the grill, and dinner is pretty much a meal on a stick.
Fresh Fourth of July Recipes: Side Dishes and Salads
Antipasto Pasta Salad
Now, I know pasta salad has a reputation for being bland and blah, but not this one. This is the taste of Italy in a bowl, and a wonderful make-ahead side dish for a barbecue. Bowtie pasta tossed with spicy salami, briny olives, creamy mozzarella pearls, sweet roasted red peppers, and fresh tomatoes, all brought together by a bright, robust homemade vinaigrette. Every single bite is a joyous little adventure of spicy, briny, sweet, and creamy. Do yourself a favor and skip the bottled dressing. The homemade vinaigrette is what makes this salad, and it’s so easy you might just throw the bottled stuff away for good.
No Cook Tabouli
When the temperatures climb, and it’s just too hot to think about turning on the stove, this is the dish that saves the day, which makes it an ideal Fourth of July side dish. There’s no heat, no flames, and no cooking involved. The bulgar “cooks” simply by soaking in warm water, and then you fold in lots of fresh tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, and mint, plus a light lemon-and-olive-oil dressing. It’s loaded with heart-healthy ingredients, and those bright, fresh flavors will have everyone going back for seconds, even on the hottest Fourth. Stir in some chickpeas or a little feta, and it’s almost a meal in itself.
Stone Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
This one tastes like summer in a bowl. Juicy peaches, nectarines, apricots, and cherries are at their absolute peak in early July, and this salad lets them shine, dressed in nothing more than a simple, heavenly combination of honey and lime with a few torn mint leaves. It’s a feast for the eyes and the perfect thing to bring to a backyard barbecue. The honey-lime dressing keeps everything fresh and lovely, so it won’t go mushy on you the way fruit salad sometimes does.
Easy Fourth of July Recipes: Desserts
Strawberry Rhubarb Poke Cake
Remember poke cakes? This is my updated, grown-up version of that 1970s classic, and instead of the artificial flavors and colors of packaged Jell-O, it’s made with lots of real strawberries and rhubarb. It’s light, fruity, and that sweet-tart filling tucked into a tender lemon cake is a mouthful of heaven. Make it with the vegetarian ChillOver powder, and it’ll even hold up without refrigeration, which makes it wonderfully easy to transport to picnics and barbecues. It’s a great patriotic dessert for a Fourth of July celebration, or any summertime get-together at all.
Choose-Your-Fruit Shortcake Board
If you want to end your cookout on a real showstopper, this is it. Tender, buttery homemade shortcakes, a big bowl of real whipped cream, and an assortment of summer fruits, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, whatever looks gorgeous at the market, all arranged on a beautiful board. Guests get to build their own and pick a little of each. It’s the kind of dessert that makes hospitality easy: once the board is on the table, the cook is free to step back and enjoy the party. And with all that colorful, red-white-and-blue fruit, it’s a perfectly festive patriotic dessert for the Fourth.
Make-Ahead Tips for an Easy Fourth of July Cookout
The real secret to enjoying your own party is to do as much as you can before the guests arrive.
A few of these Fourth of July recipes are made for getting ahead. The Antipasto Pasta Salad, No Cook Tabouli, and Stone Fruit Salad can all be made the night before and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. The Strawberry Rhubarb Poke Cake actually needs time to chill and set, so it’s a wonderful day-ahead dessert, and the ChillOver version travels beautifully without refrigeration.
You can mix and shape the chicken burger patties and whisk together the skewer marinade in the morning, then keep everything cold until it’s time to fire up the grill. Do the prep early, and you’ll get to spend the Fourth doing the best part: relaxing with the people you love.
