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The Sides To Finish Any Summer Plate
Published about 5 hours ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
Summer sides are the reason plates stop looking civilized five minutes into dinner. A little sauce drifts into the potato salad. Something buttery wanders under the chicken. Crumbs appear. Corn kernels go rogue. Someone starts mixing things together despite insisting moments earlier they were “just having a small portion.” And honestly? Good. A summer plate should not look like it passed inspection at a Swiss boarding school. It should be generous, a little unruly, and fully prepared to ruin a clean napkin before sunset. That’s the glory of sides this time of year. They do the quiet work. They cool down grilled meats, perk up sandwiches, rescue plain fish, and turn “we’re just throwing something together” into a meal that suddenly has opinions. I love a main dish, don’t get me wrong. But in summer? I’m often there for everything around it. The slaw. The beans. The corn. The tomatoes. The salad with too much dressing because someone—me—got enthusiastic with the vinegar. These are the things people keep reaching for. The bowls that get scraped clean. The reason dinner lingers. So pile them on. Let the plate get messy. Summer is no time for restraint. That’s what January is for, and even then I’m suspicious.
My Side-Dish Sermon
Make it bright. Lemon, vinegar, pickles, herbs—summer sides need lift. Otherwise everything starts tasting like sunscreen and fatigue.
Serve at least one thing cold or room temp. A good side should be able to sit out politely while everyone argues over who overcooked the burgers.
Add crunch somewhere. Toasted nuts, crisp vegetables, breadcrumbs, croutons. Soft-on-soft is not a texture. It’s a cry for help.
Think beyond salad. Beans, grains, grilled bread, corn, potatoes, marinated vegetables—there are many roads to side-dish glory.
Make more than you think you need. Summer sides become tomorrow’s lunch, midnight snacks, or the thing you eat standing at the fridge with the door open like a raccoon in reading glasses.
Tomatoes and labneh, or white cheese, are staples on breakfast and supper tables. The cheese is usually eaten with bread, sometimes with za’atar, and the tomatoes are enjoyed plainly on the side. This salad takes those ingredients and makes it into a pretty dish with bread.
This hearty orzo chickpea salad is the perfect warm weather treat! It’s best served cold with fresh herbs. If you’re food prepping this salad, make the chickpeas and orzo pasta in advance. They’ll have time to cool before you put it all together.
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This green bean and pea salad is easy to make and the creamy buttermilk ranch dressing will likely become a staple in your fridge. It certainly is in ours.
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This lime coleslaw, made with green cabbage, red onion, carrot, lime, mayonnaise, vinegar, and parsley, is perfect on sandwiches or at your next summer cookout.
Why, hello! Leite's Culinaria is the James Beard Award-winning site that helps home cooks and bakers put dinner on the table and laughs in the kitchen. Hungry for more? Join more than 30,000 food lovers and subscribe.
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