what to make for your 4th of july cookout

curated recipe recs for your picnic/bbq needs!

Jul 03, 2025

So, it’s July 3rd and you need to figure out something to bring to your BBQ/cookout/potluck/picnic tomorrow!

One of my favorite things to do is curate recipes. I’ve been using the app Anylist to save recipes for nearly a decade, so after all that time, I have a personal library of over 2000 recipes saved. I love to curate recs for friends, and I’ll be doing a lot of that in this newsletter, since I consume a lot of recipe content on the internet.

So, here are some of my all time favorite summer cookout recipes if you need some inspiration. I’ve personally made all of these recipes before — these are my tried and true favorites from the archives, so I can attest that they’re delicious.

ps: This newsletter has a new name! Given my focus on cooking and recipes, I’m calling it dinner inspo. Because that’s what I’ll aim to provide in this newsletter — inspiration for your next meal!

Corn salads

Those who know me IRL might describe me as a corn salad enthusiast. I make them every summer. They’re one of my favorite things to bring to any summer picnic or cookout. Here are some of my faves that I’ve made over the years, but know that corn salad is just a template: you can riff endlessly. All you need is corn (preferably grilled/cooked and then sliced off the cobs, but no one will care if you use a bag of frozen corn), cheese, something crunchy, a great dressing, and maybe avocado.

Grilled corn salad with hot honey and lime. I’ve made this one half a dozen times and keep repeating it. It’s pretty perfect.
Spicy corn and shishito salad: Another fun one, and great use for shishitos.
Grilled corn and avocado salad with feta dressing: This is a salad full of delicious things. The only annoying thing about it is you have to buy buttermilk and then figure out how to use the rest. (Pancakes anyone?)
Esquites: Can never go wrong with esquites. I think this Serious Eats recipe is the best.

Pasta salads

Greek pasta salad: This is my go-to pasta salad that I have been making for years. It’s perfect: tons of crunchy vegetables and a red wine-oregano-garlic dressing
Italian-ish pasta salad: So good — tomatoes, salami, mozzarella, pepperoncini.
Caprese pasta salad: Combining caprese + pasta salad is genius. I love this one, and it’s super simple to make.

Other sides

Tomato, peach and burrata salad: Think caprese but take it up one more notch with the addition of peaches, and burrata instead of mozzarella.
Grilled red pepper and torn mozzarella panzanella: A nice little twist on the usual panzanella, fun to make and delicious to eat.

Desserts

No-bake strawberry cheesecake bars: Really a perfect summer dessert. Made these for a 4th bbq a few years back and they’re so delicious and so easy!
Blueberry pie bars: Tried these recently and wow, these are so good.
Blueberry cobbler: A summer classic, and this one is pretty easy and un-fussy to make.
A strawberry cake: To me, the best strawberry summer cake is a tie between Smitten Kitchen’s strawberry summer cake and NYT Cooking’s strawberry spoon cake. Whichever one you pick, you can’t go wrong.

Fun mains for the grill

Gochujang burgers with spicy slaw: One summer I got obsessed with figuring out a way to make gochujang burgers. This recipe wasn’t published yet so I just messed around and came up with my own recipe, but this recipe is pretty close to what I did. (Also I used ground chicken instead of pork, totally works). A pickled cabbage slaw on top to balance out the spiciness from the gochujang is crucial!
Spiced chicken burgers: This title doesn’t do the recipe justice. This recipe is from Chintan Pandya, the chef at NYC’s acclaimed Indian restaurants Dhamaka, Semma, Adda, and Masalawala, and these burgers are SO good. If you can’t find Amul cheese, I just got a block of cheddar and chopped it into small pieces.

Enjoy your summer cookouts! And feel free to share any other favorite cookout recipes in the comments — I’m always looking for new inspiration.