17 Cookout Side Dishes

Check out this great list of 17 Cookout Side Dishes!

Summer is just around the corner, and the grills are already being fired up!  4th of July picnics and BBQ’s are in just a few weeks (and hopefully we can still celebrate with some social distancing in small groups!)  If you need a quick reference on some awesome cookout side dishes to go with your awesome grilled meats, then check out this list of 17 great cookout side dish recipes!

I split them up into 3 categories – Pasta Salads, Cookout Side Dishes with Potatoes, and All Other Awesome Cookout Side Dishes.  Come back and let us know which ones you try and love!

Pasta Salad Cookout Side Dishes

1.  5 Ingredient Thai Peanut Salad

This is super duper easy, frugal, tastes awesome, and works as a main dish  or a side dish.  It makes enough so it would also be a fun and tasty salad to bring to a pot luck!

2.  5 Ingredient Pasta Salad

Bringing an easy and delicious pasta salad to any of these events is perfect. Here is a super duper easy, 6 ingredient, vegetarian Pasta Salad recipe that everyone will love at your event.

3.  Citrus Pasta Salad with Grapes & Red Walnuts

An orange-honey dressing makes this sweet and savory Citrus Pasta Salad pop with summer flavor.

4.  Modern Macaroni Side Salads for Cookouts

A modern take on the classic to healthify your summer. Magically grain-free & gluten-free macaroni mixed with fresh summer veggies and a creamy vegan veggie based puree to kick the mayo to the side!

5.  Southwestern Bacon And Cheese Pasta Recipe Easy Cookout Side Dish

As far as I am concerned, there is nothing better than cheese. So when you’re looking for something a little more festive for a barbecue or gathering, bacon and cheese is going to be your answer! This Bacon and Cheese Southwestern Pasta is light and delicious.

Cookout Side Dishes with Potatoes

6.  Homemade Sweet Potato Veggie Chips

Keep in mind that healthy doesn’t mean bland or unappetizing food. For example, at your next cookout, instead of breaking out a bag of greasy chips, whip up a batch of homemade sweet potato chips and kale veggie chips. With these yummy homemade sweet potato chips, you won’t be sacrificing taste but you will be giving everyone a nutritional boost.

7.  Sweet Potato Salad with Pineapple

Who is ready for a good side salad? This is a quick, and easy recipe! You all love that don’t you? I know I do. Not only does it look pretty it tastes yummy. You might remember, I made it to go with a grilled chicken and barbecue chicken sliders recipe that I made it for a football party? And promised to share it.

8.  Avocado Potato Salad – perfect avocado side salad dish for a cookout!

With Labor Day BBQs around the corner, I wanted to post Pete’s recipe for Avocado Potato Salad. It’s so good. Plus, it’s a great BBQ salad. It’s one you can make beforehand and keep in the fridge until it’s time to travel to your BBQ (or just bring it out, if you’re hosting it).

Plus, our version is so healthy. We don’t use any mayo in it, so it’s a lot healthier than the traditional version where your potatoes are swimming in calories.

Other Awesome Cookout Side Dishes

9.  Pistachio Pudding Cool Whip Salad

Here is one of my favorite side dishes to bring to a summer pot-luck – Pistachio Pudding Cool Whip Salad!  It is also perfect to have for an Easter Sunday side dish!

10.  Broccoli Quinoa Salad

This easy simple formula will allow you to make any kind of Grain Salad!  Like this Broccoli Quinoa Salad with Grapes and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds.

11.  Avocado & Corn Salad

Try this delicious avocado corn salad recipe this summer for a refreshing and light side dish the entire family will love. I love the taste of creamy avocado and adding that to an amazing corn salad makes it just perfect. Grab your ingredients and try this one tonight!

12.  Roasted Eggplant “Hummus” Dip

Eggplant is such a versatile vegetable that often gets overlooked.  When it is baked, it gets a wonderfully creamy flavor.

This recipe for Roasted Eggplant “Hummus” is a variation on Baba Ganoush – a Middle Eastern eggplant dip.  It is delicious served with slices of crusty bread, Pita Chips, as a sandwich spread, or even mixed together with rice and vegetables.

13.  Smokey & Sweet Peanut Slaw

Smokey and sweet, this slaw has it all. Crunchy cabbage,  crispy Asian pear, shredded carrots, and a smoky peanut sauce to bring it all together. This gluten-free and vegan side dish will bring new meaning to the term coleslaw.

14.  Easy Summer Cucumber Salad

Cucumbers are a good source of B vitamins. Cucumbers are 95 percent water, therefore keeping the body hydrated while helping the body eliminate toxins. They have most of the vitamins that the body needs in a single day. Leave the skins on for an additional amount of vitamin C.

15.  Sweet & Spicy Baked Beans

Baked Beans…the ever popular, summer side dish that’s a must at every family BBQ! Let’s face it, it’s not a real BBQ without them. Matter of fact, if they’re not present, you just might get the side eye from one of those cousins, right!

Growing up, we always made the classic dish with pork. But now in an effort to eat a bit healthier, we enjoy this tasty PORK FREE version. We substitute sweet and hot turkey sausage for the pork and it makes for a hit of a dish. That fantastic, sweet heat of a combo is perfect for drawing you in to each and every delicious bite.

16.  Chickpea Pesto Salad with Pine Nuts

Here is an amazingly easy salad recipe that is full of flavor: Healthy Chickpea Pesto Salad with Pine Nuts. This one is great for any summer picnics or cookouts, or any potluck meal! There are only 6 ingredients that you just pour into a bowl and mix!

17.  Creamy Chia Seed Fruit Salad Dressing Recipe

This recipe for Creamy Chia Seed Fruit Salad Dressing is one that came from my mom. Growing up whenever we had a fresh fruit in the summer time, my mom always dressed it with this creamy and sweet dressing.

She would use poppy seeds instead of Chia Seeds, but since I had Chia Seeds on hand, I decided to try it with those instead. You may think that sour cream and fruit don’t go together, but after you try it, you’ll realize that it tastes like cheesecake mixed with fresh fruit.