It feels like you’re boiling and the stove and oven aren’t even on? An egg on the sidewalk would surely cook itself? You can see the steam rising from the asphalt? These are sure-fire signs that you need some summer dinner ideas for hot days!
Growing up in the Valley in LA, the summer days often topped 100°F and nights were only slightly cooler. I’m sure you’ve been there too.
As an adult, I now wonder what in the world my parents made for dinner on these hot days. Even in temperate Seattle, we get some pretty sweltering afternoons and of late I feel like I barely want to eat, let alone figure out what to make and create any more heat with appliances.
If it were just me I’d probably eat out or call ice cream dinner – no shame – but since I now have someone counting on me to get anything relatively healthy on the table at regular intervals (two people if you count my two-year old!), I’m finding I can’t just quit making dinner altogether.
This has inspired me to try and think of some summer dinner ideas for hot days. These are meals that are well-rounded but don’t require turning on the stove and oven.
In hopes that some of these might help you with your “need to feed people” challenges, today I’m sharing some of the things I’ve found that work well.
15 Summer Dinner Ideas for Hot Days
- Rice noodles with veggies in an Asian dressing: Rice noodles like these ones don’t need to be cooked, just soaked in some boiling water
- Hand rolls made with avocado and crab salad – skip the rice if you haven’t pre-cooked it!
- Mock tuna salad with garbanzo beans
- Kabobs on the grill
- Any kind of grilled meat served alongside grilled veggies – I use a tray like this to grill any veggies without having them fall through the grates of the grill
- Zoodles: Instead of cooking them in a pan, salt them for 30 minutes, then rinse and serve them with a raw tomato sauce (a lot like bruschetta). Bonus points if you add some grilled shrimp!
- Take leftover rice or other grains and mix with veggies and dressing (and cheese) for a cold grain salad
- Family charcuterie
- Frozen veggie burgers, cooked on the grill, served over massaged kale salad
- Watermelon feta salad
- If you have an InstantPot, use that for something like this. It won’t heat up the kitchen nearly as much as the oven or stove!
- Grill sausages and serve them alongside a salad
- Tomatoes, avocado, salt, and pepper diced and mixed together – done!
- Let someone else (anyone else) do the cooking for you! We like Munchery, Lish, and any sort of delivery local delivery