Whenever summer days heat up and the kitchen feels like the last place you want to be, you need summer lunch ideas that come together with ease but taste amazing too. Don’t settle for store-bought sub sandwiches or warm salads, these recipes prove that summer lunches are worth yearning for.

10 Refreshing Summer Lunch Ideas for Any Day of the Week

Lunchtime Tamales Recipe

If you’re looking for something a bit more adventurous than your usual salad, these Lunchtime Tamales may be your answer. Banana leaves wrap up bundles of masa dough with a savory chicken and chipotle pepper filling. Serve with chips and your lunch dreams are answered!

High Protein Chicken Salad with Greek Yogurt

If you’re going to make a chicken salad sandwich, you might as well make it high protein with the addition of greek yogurt. This recipe mixes a greek yogurt and curry powder dressing with chunks of chicken, red onion, celery, cucumber, green apples, golden raisins, and pepitas.

Grilled Summer Squash with Lime Crema and Salsa Macha

Summer squash is one of the ingredient’s of the season with their earthy flavor and tender texture after cooking. After grilling and adding a bit of char, you’ll make a Lime Crema that’s cooling and refreshing to match the bit of spice in the homemade Salsa Macha.

Pink Radicchio Salad with Strawberries and Pink Peppercorn Vinaigrette

For those craving a salad, why not dress up your plate to match the bright palette of summer? This salad uses pink radicchio as its base that’s a bit bitter but perfectly matches the sweetness of strawberries and the forward-flavor of a Pink Peppercorn Vinaigrette.

Chilled Cauliflower Soup

You may be thinking that soup isn’t for summer but this Chilled Cauliflower Soup is here to prove you wrong. Cool down with a bowl full of slow-cooked cauliflower featuring a lemon yogurt drizzle and cilantro mint oil. To complete this dish, we add crushed pistachios on top for a nutty finish.

Heirloom Tomato Tripoline

Heirloom tomatoes are the key to creating a pasta that tastes as fresh as it would be in Italy. All you need for this recipe is your favorite type of pasta (though we recommend tripoline for its long strips), butter, basil, and tomatoes from your local farmers market. Serve with crusty bread for a lunch that’s easy to put together and delicious to taste.

Seafood Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Seafood dishes take us to our happy place: on the beach, lounging in the sun. Our Seafood Stuffed Poblano Peppers use a filling that mixes together crab meat, octopus, and chopped shrimp along with dried apricots, shallots, and Granny Smith apples. Serve with a cashew sauce, orange slices, and mint for a flight to the coast.

Salmon Tartare and Salmon Grilled Cheese

You deserve to indulge this summer. Whether you choose to make a Salmon Tartare or use your salmon in a grilled cheese instead, you deserve luxury on a plate. One pairs with avocado puree, white soy dressing, and goldfish crackers. The other cushions cold-smoked salmon, pickled onions, horseradish vinaigrette, and your choice of cheese between two homemade slices of sourdough.

Eggplant and Smoked Mozzarella Tart

You’ll find eggplant throughout July and at their peak in August so let the summer season guide you to their deliciousness. Use store-bought pie crusts for your tart base before dressing with eggplant slices, goat cheese, smoked fresh mozzarella, honey, and herbs like chives or basil as your garnish.

Crab Pasta Salad

You can’t have summer without a pasta salad. This dishes presence at cookouts and picnics is a crowd favorite and adding crab in just makes it so much better. We recommend you scoop the Crab Pasta Salad into lightly grilled garden peppers and then garnish with parsley.

Story by Kylie Thomas

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