When it’s too hot to cook and you don’t know what to eat, these 70 Light Summer Dinners will become your new go-to’s. You’ll find some new grilling favorites and flavorful dinner salads. From my simple chicken marinades with 10 flavors to the super popular Grilled Caprese Chicken, there’s a little something for everyone. These light dinners are satisfying right through the heat waves of summer days.
Summer is fantastic for the abundance of fresh fruits and veggies. However, nothing like a heat wave leaves you uninspired in the kitchen.
And there seems to be something about hot summer nights that leaves you wondering what to eat for dinner. Luckily you’ll find plenty of inspiration here that won’t heat the house, and leave your tummy satisfied as well.
Light but filling and simple ingredients are my main qualifications for the perfect summer dinner. So I hope you find some new favorites, and you’ll find my personal favorite listed below as well.
Before we dive into the specific recipes for light summer dinners, I wanted to give you my super simple summer dinner formula.
This way you can mix and match according to what you have on hand. And once you get the hang of it, you barely need recipes to cook this way.
Summer Dinner Formula
Protein + 1-2 Veggies + 1 Sauce = endless yummy dinners!
The way this works for us is to choose a protein we want to grill. From there I pick out whatever veggies I have on hand. Often I’ll slice a couple of potatoes to grill as one of my veggies. From there I love to add a sauce to drizzle over everything.
You don’t need much in the way of recipes to cook like this, really just a sauce recipe will do. But I’m including my grill platters below, and some basics to get you started. Once you get the hang of what you like grill, you’ll have endless yummy dinners to come.
Easy Summer Dinner Ideas
Try pairing any of my 10 Best Chicken Marinades with veggies and skip making a sauce. You’ll find 10 dinner ideas listed in that blog post as well for how to use these marinades.
Pair them with my Grilled Vegetables and Sliced Grilled Potatoes which are mainstays in the summer and will give you lots of inspiration to get started.
If you grill up plain protein and veggies, choose a sauce recipe over on my sauce category page that best suits what you’re craving.
Our 5 Favorite Summer Sauce Recipes
- Basil Aioli – perfect for an abundance of fresh basil. This is our favorite sauce to pair together with grilled veggies, potatoes, and grilled protein.
- Cilantro Chimichurri – is great paired with any fish, seafood, steak, pork, or chicken along with veggies. We also love drizzling this over grilled potatoes.
- Garlic Butter Sauce – this sauce can be drizzled over just about anything you can think of!
- Sriracha Mayo – we love making this as a change of pace from the Basil aioli. Make it as spicy, (or not) as you like.
- Honey Mustard Sauce – is extra tasty with grilled chicken, pork, and veggies.
Grill Platters & Sheet Pan Dinners
- Italian Sausage Grill Platter – sausage and veggies grilled up and served with balsamic basil dressing over the top. This is gorgeous for entertaining but easy for weeknights.
- Greek Grill Platter – halloumi cheese and veggies grilled together and flavored with a grilled lemon garlic dressing.
- Lemon Chicken Grill Platter – chicken and veggies grilled together and topped with a lemon basil dressing.
- Teriyaki Salmon Sheet Pan – both easy and light with takeout flavors.
- Lemon Chicken & Asparagus – one of our most popular recipes, this one is sure to please.
- Healthy Chicken Sheet Pan Fajitas – everything you love about fajitas made easily on a sheet pan.
- Garlic Butter Chicken & Potatoes – garlic butter flavors make the classic chicken, potatoes, and green beans a treat made on a sheet pan.
- Honey Garlic Chicken & Veggie Sheet Pan Stir Fry – stir fry flavors without any mess, all cooked together on a sheet pan.
- Italian Chicken and Veggies Sheet Pan – Summer veggies paired together with chicken and Italian dressing cooked on one sheet pan.
Dinner Worthy Summer Salads
- Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Salad – grilled pineapple combined with teriyaki chicken and fresh veggies make this one a crowd-pleaser.
- Turkey Taco Salad – a little lighter with ground turkey, this salad is the perfect combination of fresh & filling.
- Italian Chopped Salad – serve this one as is or add more protein by grilling some steak, chicken, pork chops, or seafood to serve with it.
- Salmon Chopped Salad – this one is the perfect way to use up any leftover grilled salmon you might have. You can also add grilled chicken instead.
- Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad – fresh and crunchy with all the favorite buffalo flavors. Skip the crispy chicken if you don’t want to cook inside and grill the chicken instead.
- Cheeseburger Salad – with secret sauce dressing is one recipe we make every single week in the summer. We simply can’t get enough of this fresh way to enjoy burger flavors.
- Guacamole Chipotle Chicken Salad – grilled chipotle chicken over crunchy romaine with all the guacamole flavors, what’s not to love?!
- Caprese Chicken Salad – with pesto dressing is stunning and perfect for easy entertaining.
- Chicken Shawarma Salad – with tahini dressing checks the box for all the shawarma flavors with plenty of fresh veggies.
- Vietnamese Chicken Salad – think bun noodle bowl flavors but lighter and packed with more veggies.
- Grilled Chicken BLAT Salad – with avocado ranch has those classic sandwich components in a satisfying dinner salad.
- Sweet Chili Chicken Mango Salad – sweet juicy mango paired with slightly spicy chili paired with fresh veggies make this a salad you never get tired of.
- Chipotle Chicken Street Corn Salad – all our favorite Mexican summertime flavors piled into a salad with a cilantro dressing.
And there are so many more! So if you’re looking for more inspiration, head on over to the salad recipe category.
Light Summer Dinners for the Grill
- Grilled Tortilla Pizza – super easy and you can customize this one with your favorite pizza toppings.
- Fish Taco Bowls – so easy and packed with flavor, this is one of our most popular recipes that we also enjoy often.
- Grilled Greek Salmon – salmon grilled on a cedar plank and topped with fresh Greek Salad and tangy feta is the easiest showstopper I’ve ever made!
- Tuscan Steak – so easy to make and perfect for entertaining. My latest menu for entertaining was to pair this one with my Italian Chopped Salad listed above.
- Balsamic Grilled Chicken – topped with Caprese salad and a side of zucchini is one of our favorite weekday dinners a
Gluten-Free Burger Flavors on the Grill
- In and Out Lettuce Burgers – a lettuce wrap burger with In and Out flavor, but you can chop it up as a burger bowl too.
- Aloha Teriyaki Burger Bowls – grilled pineapple together with classic burger ingredients and teriyaki sauce.
- Banh Mi Burger Bowls – all our favorite Banh Mi flavors combined into a veggie-packed burger bowl.
- Caprese Turkey Burgers – classic Caprese flavors turned into a burger on a mushroom bun. Use lettuce buns or anything you like if you don’t like mushrooms.
- Meatlovers Pizza Burgers – Italian sausage burgers combined with pizza flavors make this mushroom burger a crowd-pleaser. You can also use lettuce buns here.
- Gyro Lettuce Burgers – with tzatziki sauce is so fresh and flavorful! All the classic gyro flavors in a simple lettuce burger.
- Pesto Turkey Burgers – on sweet potato buns and fresh tomatoes, so much flavor!
- Mexican Avocado Burgers – with corn salsa and lots of Mexican-inspired flavors.
- Jalapeno Turkey Burgers – with creamy slaw are on repeat in our house during the summer.
- Buffalo Burgers – with blue cheese slaw on sweet potato buns. We make these as sliders and we can’t get enough of them!
FAQ’s
Keep it simple when it feels too hot to eat with lots of fresh veggies and with just enough protein and carbs to feel satisfied. You’ll find over 70 awesome recipes for the hot summer days to choose from here from dinner salads, to sheet pan dinners, and all things grilled!
Any of these 70 recipes are perfect dinners for the summer. Be sure to pick something to make with fresh veggies and fresh fruit in mind, but with plenty of protein and carbs to keep it satisfying.
Easy Summer Dinner Recipes
- Jalapeno Cilantro Lime Grilled Chicken – serve this as is or with my strawberry mango salsa for a showstopper.
- California Sushi Bowls – sushi rice topped with the usual California roll fixings and a Japanese togarashi mayo – so good.
- Smoked Chicken Breasts – can be served with your favorite veggies and sauce. Or make large batches to use in Adult Lunchables or in any chicken salad.
- Honey Sriracha Grilled Chicken – sweet spicy flavors this one is so easy and crowd-pleasing.
- Chicken Zucchini Stir Fry – an easy dish to put together and it uses up so much zucchini too.
- Korean Ground Beef Bowls – easy to make with no special ingredients requires we make this one all the time.
- Sausage Broccoli Pasta – perfect for fresh summertime broccoli, this easy pasta dish is perfect for weeknights or entertaining.
- Shrimp Fajitas – classic fajita flavors made with shrimp. Add all the toppings you’d like!
- Instant Pot BBQ Chicken – bbq flavors made easily in the Instant Pot. We like to serve this with baked potatoes and creamy slaw.
- Ground Beef Stir Fry – super easy to make with any veggies you have on hand in the summer months.
Light Summer Dinners Meal Prep Options
- My Healthy Tuna Salad Meal Prep or Spicy Tuna Salad both make a great light dinner that can be made ahead. Plus no cooking is required!
- Vietnamese Noodle Salad – these noodles keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days and are the perfect combination of fresh but filling. It’s also perfect for summer fresh herbs.
- Try my Best Classic Chicken Salad, Curried Chicken Salad, or Healthy Chicken Salad for more make-ahead no-cook options. Use rotisserie chicken, or grill the chicken so you never have to turn on the stove.
- Both my Thai Chicken Meal Prep and Greek Chicken Meal Prep have minimal cooking and can be adapted to grilling.
- Both my Spring Meal Prep and Summer Meal Prep have lots of options with minimal cooking or grilling. My Summer Meal Prep has almost everything done on the grill. And there are lots of options for how to mix and match your meal prep into meals.
Light Summer Date Night Recipes
- Balsamic Chicken topped with Caprese Salad – entertaining or date nights, this recipe is my go-to. It’s a full meal made on the grill with a side of zucchini.
- Tuscan Steak – super easy and feels like a special occasion kind of recipe.
- Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad – our all-time favorite date night recipe that we make together almost every single week. Make it even easier with rotisserie chicken.
- Creamy Tuscan Chicken – minimal cooking and this one is perfect paired with the abundance of fresh veggies available.
- Easy Antipasto Platter or my Summer Antipasto Platter – there’s no cooking required and both of these recipes are perfect for summer date nights.
- Easy Sausage and Peppers – we love this one with the cherry tomato variation in the summer. When it’s hot outside, I cook this sheet pan dinner on my pellet grill for extra smoky flavor.
- Grilled Bruschetta Chicken – balsamic marinated chicken on the grill and topped with classic Bruschetta tomato topping.
Pasta Salad Recipe Inspiration
I really hope you find some new light summer dinner inspiration today! If you do get a chance to make these recipes, be sure to let me know.