Barring a steak frites feast or Korean barbecue blowout, meat is not always the main attraction at a great meal—not even at a summer grilling bash. The focus may not necessarily be a vegetarian equivalent of a meaty main, either. The side dish can grab center stage instead, stealing the spotlight because it’s just so damn delicious. When you’ve got a stellar side dish on your hands, you start with that and then plan the rest of your meal by how well it will complement your star.
To come up with a side dish so compelling that it motivates the character of your whole meal, start with the current season. If it’s summer, you’ve got a bounty of potentials to choose: corn, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, summer squash, green beans, beets, avocado, celery, cabbage, peas, and radishes. Plus there are the usual carb players: potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, rice. And remember the rule that quality cheese improves almost everything. (That’s our rule, at least.)
As you set the serving plates on the table, watch out for that sidekick. Its impact can be powerful enough to earn all the accolades. But that’s fine with us. A starring side dish elevates the whole production.
Grilled Corn with Cayenne, Lime, and Cotija
Chowhound
If you thought fresh summer corn on the cob was plenty flavorful enough, well, that’s true. But there’s a way to make it unexpectedly better, so much so that the grilled steak or burgers won’t be the talk of the meal. It might be even better to have a Mexican-style main dish, such as tacos, tamales, chiles relleños, enchiladas, or fajitas to go with this side. Speaking of this side: Slathering each cob with mayonnaise, spice, crumbly Mexican cheese, and tangy lime juice is a combination that might not come to mind at first. But oh, does it work. There’ll be explosions of flavor in your mouth! Don’t take it from us that it works. Try it. Get our Grilled Corn with Cayenne, Lime, and Cotija recipe.
Grilled Watermelon, Feta, and Mint Salad
Chowhound
Grilled watermelon combines two of the best things about summer: cooking out and feasting on fresh, juicy fruit. Lots of summer fruit is great grilled, but there’s something especially appropriate about placing watermelon on the fire. Pair its smoke-kissed sweetness with salty, sharp feta cheese and refreshing mint for a sparkling summer salad that will outshine pretty much anything else near it. For that reason, you should keep your main course on the simple side; think grilled shrimp or grilled chicken, with understated seasonings, maybe with a Greek bent (lemon, thyme, oregano) to complement the feta. Get our Grilled Watermelon, Feta, and Mint Salad recipe.
Panzanella Tuscan Bread Salad
Chowhound
Summer tomatoes are the best because this is when they’re in season, and freshness is never more important in a vegetable’s taste than in a tomato. Have you tried those bland, watery types of tomatoes at the supermarket? Gather some ruby red tomatoes, or any vivid color if you can get your hand on the less common heirloom varieties. This is the time to harvest your garden or peruse the local farmers market. The salad is also useful as a vehicle for using up your almost stale Italian or French bread. It has to be that crusty kind though, to hold its own in the savory anchovy-laden lemon-garlic vinaigrette. Crunchy cucumbers and freshly torn basil provide even more texture and fragrance. Get our Panzanella Tuscan Bread Salad recipe.
Creamy Cucumber Salad
Chowhound
Really, a dish doesn’t have to be complicated to be the highlight of the meal. For example, our popular cucumber salad, which possesses one of our favorite textures of all time—creamy. To get that creaminess, you have to salt the cucumbers and let that salt draw out the excess water that’s inherent to cucumbers. Then the sour cream can do its magic. Fresh herbs, in this case dill, are the final touch that makes this simple salad wake up your senses to the bounty that summer provides. This would be a great side dish to salmon, fish, crabs, lobster, chicken, pork, or even beef. Get our Creamy Cucumber Salad recipe.
Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Sour Cream and Lime Sauce
Chowhound
Potato salad, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fried potatoes: We’re familiar with all these tuber techniques. Grilled sweet potato wedges? Not so much. Thick wedges of the vibrant orange potato are boiled, cooled, rubbed with a spicy-smoky mix of cayenne, cumin, and oil, and then grilled. The cooling sour cream, lime juice, and cilantro sauce can be dolloped on top or served as a dip. This is not your average preparation of sweet potatoes. It’s a summer version that couldn’t be further from the winter holiday variety with all that brown sugar, marshmallows, and cinnamon. It’s motivation to think of what other dishes you’d like to grill to accompany this sure-thing. Get our Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Sour Cream and Lime Sauce recipe.
Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Black Beans and Cheese
Chowhound
Don’t even think about it. It’s tempting. You might want to make this the main dish in your meal because it looks like it’s got it all. You’ve got your protein (black beans), your vegetable (poblanos and tomatoes), your carb (basmati rice), and your cheese (what, that’s not an essential food group?). But this would be great with chicken or even a marinated skirt steak and salad. You cut and gut the seeds and membranes out of the poblanos just like you would with a Halloween jack-o-lantern pumpkin. Poblanos are very mild peppers, by the way. Inside those peppers go the rice, tomatoes, scallions, Cotija cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and cumin. You secure the pepper lid back on with toothpicks and bake until the poblano skin is all blistery and wonderful. Get our Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Black Beans and Cheese recipe.
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