• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Smart In The Kitchen

Dinner is done!

  • Smart Recipes
  • Cooking Classes
  • Meal Plans
  • Gift Cards
  • Videos
  • About

Quick Dinner Ideas

July 12, 2020 By msmart Leave a Comment

Red Cabbage Salad with Herbs Whole30 Recipe from Smart in the Kitchen

20+ Easy Summer Dinner Ideas

Summer is the time to rely on simple and quick dinner ideas. The best thing about summer is the change in routine, the easy living, the more relaxed “summer casual” vibe. When you rely on the season’s bounty, the flavors shine through without the extra fuss.

During summer, I especially want quick dinner ideas because I want to spend less time in the kitchen. For one, it’s hot! I want a quick dinner that won’t heat up my house. Also, my family is home and I want to spend my time talking to them, not working on dinner. I want quick dinners that are fast, healthy and simple and that don’t take a ton of prep or need serious clean up. Here are some of my favorites to help you feed your people all summer long.

gnocchi with pesto

Meatless

Spaghetti and Spiralized Zucchini with lemony pesto. If you don’t want to make pesto, use good quality store bought. Or use Rao’s Original Marinara. I love adding spiralized zucchini to pasta to increase the vegetable content and cut down on carbs. Use your favorite brand of spaghetti, or gluten-free or whole wheat.

Cauliflower Gnocchi with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto. This homemade pesto is super fast, and you can use leftovers for another easy pasta dinner down the road. But! If you don’t feel like making it (I see you, friends!) just use good quality store bought pesto.

Meatless Tacos. We love an easy black bean and cheese taco, maybe topped with kale guacamole or pickled red onions. You can either make your own batch of black beans in the Instant Pot or crack open a can of black beans and warm them up with 1/4 cup of your favorite green or red salsa. If you’d like to add some roasted veggies, roast a sheet pan of chopped cauliflower, zucchini and shallots sprinkled with avocado oil, lemon and salt. If you don’t use all of them for tacos, you can add to salads during the week.

Penne and tomato confit. Or any pasta tossed with cherry tomato confit. Amazing!

Store bought cauliflower crust pizza. Top with tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella and basil. Done and done.

Snack Dinner! Make a favorite dip and surround it with endive, carrots, cucumber slices, bell pepper slices and cherry tomatoes, flat bread or crackers, maybe some grapes or stone fruit, olives and cheese. Let your family go to town. Other tasty dip contenders: white bean dip, artichoke jalapeño dip or cauliflower hummus.

Fish

Tuna poke. Serve it over steamed sushi rice or with cucumber salad or edamame. To make the cucumber salad, slice a peeled English cucumber and combine with a tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons tamari or coconut aminos, a tablespoon of avocado oil and salt. Some very thinly sliced red onions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds would be delicious.

Simple roasted salmon and a tossed green salad. Make a batch of super simple salad dressing to keep on hand for quick side salads.

Fish tacos. To make this even faster in the summer, I simply sprinkle the fish with a little seasoning salt and call it a day.

Tuscan white bean and tuna “salad”. Quick, full of protein and no actual cooking required!

Fish en papillote. Set out parchment paper packets, fish fillets and all the toppings. In summer, I like to use cherry tomatoes, thin haricot vert, lemon slices and pesto. Let everyone make their own fish packet and mark the outside with their name. Bake on a sheet pan for 7-10 minutes at 450 degrees.

Breakfast for Dinner

Chorizo and eggs. Sauté about 4 ounces Mexican chorizo or soy chorizo and break it up with a spatula, add 4-6 whisked eggs and cook until just set. Heap into tortillas with avocado slices and salsa.

Any frittata! Either a Whole30 version without dairy and cheese or a spinach and feta version. This blistered green bean and corn frittata sounds like a summer win.

Avocado toast (I like mine with micro greens and a poached egg on top), smoked salmon toast or smoked trout and cream cheese toasts. Add a side of melon and prosciutto or an arugula and watermelon salad. If you don’t want the carbs, roast 1/4-inch slices of sweet potato at 450 degrees for 25 minutes and load them up.

honey hoisin pork tenderloin

Grill It!

Honey hoisin pork tenderloin comes together super fast. Throw some asparagus on the grill when you flip the pork.

Chili-lime flank steak can be chopped for tacos or sliced against the grain. Add colorful bell pepper slices and zucchini to the grill while the steak cooks. Red cabbage salad would also be a super tasty side.

Grilled spatchcocked chicken. The timing on this recipe seems a little long to me, grill until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 163-165 degrees.

Grilled cedar plank salmon. Toss an easy caesar salad on the side.

Grilled chicken kabobs with veggies are a one-stop meal.

Grilled shrimp with cilantro pesto. Add some angel hair with lemon and asparagus on the side.

20+ Easy Summer Dinner Ideas from Smart in the Kitchen

Filed Under: Uncategorised, Weekly Meal Plans Tagged With: dinner for my family, dinner recipes, dinner tonight, easy dinners, family dinner, fast dinner, good quick dinner, quick dinner ideas, quick easy dinner, summer dinners, weeknight dinner

Previous Post: « Live Stream Cooking Classes
Next Post: Sesame Noodles with Napa Cabbage »

Reader Interactions

By Category

By Date

Search

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Primary Sidebar

Marcia Smart
Marcia Smart is a cooking instructor, recipe developer and food writer who wants to help you make good, simple meals for your family and friends. She craves food that's seasonal and delicious and wants to share it with you. A California girl living in a Houston world with her husband and three children.

FIND ME HERE

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

Smart in the Kitchen

FOLLOW ME ON YOUTUBE

Recent Posts

  • Whole30 Meal Plan // January 2021 // Week 4
  • Whole30 Meal Plan January 2021 // Week 3
  • Whole30 Meal Plan // January 2021 // Week 2
  • Any Greens Pesto
  • Whole30 Meal Plan // January 2021 // Week 1

GET SMART IN THE KITCHEN RECIPES AND NEWS

Categories

  • All Recipes
  • Appetizers and Snacks
  • Basics
  • Breakfast and Brunch
  • Casseroles
  • Cocktails
  • Condiments
  • Dairy-Free
  • Dessert
  • Dinner
  • Entertaining
  • Fall
  • Freezer Friendly
  • Friday Love List
  • Gift + Product Guides
  • Gluten-free/Gluten-free adaptable
  • Grain-free
  • Grilling
  • Holidays
  • Instant Pot
  • Kitchen
  • Mains
  • Meat
  • Meatless Mains
  • Mediterranean
  • One-Pot Meals
  • Pasta
  • Poultry
  • Retreats
  • Salad Dressings
  • Salads
  • Sauces and Salsas
  • Seafood
  • Slow Cooker
  • Smoothie
  • Soups
  • Spice Mix
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Thanksgiving
  • Travel
  • Uncategorised
  • Vegetable Side Dish
  • Weekly Meal Plans
  • Wellness
  • Whole 30
  • Wine
  • Winter

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • June 2015
  • April 2015

Copyright © 2021 · Smart In The Kitchen