Salads and Sides for Fourth of July!
The Fourth of July is right around the corner and that means it’s time for a barbecue bash! Prep your burgers and brats — both welcome on a hot holiday — and check out these mouth-watering salads and sides to complete your meal!
We rounded up some habitual barbecue sides (it’s hard to leave them out!), but sometimes a little UN-usual fare makes for a whole lotta food fun!
Savory Sides
The Spicy Southern Kitchen has a Barbeque Ranch Pasta dish that you’ll fall head-over-heels for, with sweet and tangy flavors dressing corkscrew pasta.
Apple cider vinegar gives the fresh black-eyed peas in this hearty salad some tang, while jalapeños bring the heat. The peas are cooked in chicken stock, and the baby spinach and cherry tomatoes will give you a healthy dollop of vitamins A, K and C.
Not quite a side, combining cilantro, chilies and pineapple makes this salsa from Country Living a tasty condiment for your dogs and brats (and it’s great on a chip, too!).
What’s a barbecue without baked beans?! One of the most popular recipes on the Food Network’s Down Home with the Neelys page is the haricot beans in secret sauce. We suspect it has something to do with the original seasoning, or maybe it’s the molasses and beef brisket. You be the judge!
Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond uses cider vinegar in her baked beans with mustard, bacon and a couple of minced chipotle peppers for a savory wallop.
And leave it to the Neelys to give us Sweet and Spicy Coleslaw, another Food Network go-to recipe. But for a different taste sensation, try the Serious Eats Asian Slaw with ginger-peanut dressing. It’s a yummy and healthy way to eat your colors!
Salads with Sass!
Don’t let the pickled part of this salad recipe dissuade you. It only takes three minutes – plus 30 to cool, to prep this Pickled Vegetable Salad with its spicy dressing. Peter Piper would love it.
This Radicchio Salad with Manchego Vinaigrette tastes like it takes more work than it really does. Flavoring the vinegar with an onion makes it super flavorful, with none of the harshness of raw onion. Manchego is cheese (in case you didn’t know!), and if you can’t find it, parmesan makes a good substitute.
The sweet-tart flavor and crisp, juicy texture honeycrisp apples with the Celery, Fennel and Pecorino with Walnuts give this salad a
multi-textured, multi-flavored combo. Basil leaves add pizazz to the lemon and olive oil dressing.
For this tabbouleh-like salad with tomatoes and roasted bell peppers, the Food and Wine chefs simmer quinoa in water and orange juice for a citrus hit. And you can’t beat the nutritional punch that quinoa packs!
Food and Wine Chef Jerry Traunfeld flavors this creamy Chickpea Salad with Aromatic Herbs and Indian spices, among them mustard, cumin and fennel seeds.
Baby potatoes get a chipotle glaze before being roasted, adding incredible flavor to this Healthy Potato Salad, which substitutes Greek yogurt for mayonnaise.
Martha Stewart and All Recipes have a slew of summer salads if we haven’t hit your sweet spot yet, and both Delish and the Cooking Channel have more sides for your cooking and tasting pleasure!
Kitchen Magic in Crystal Valley
The new kitchens in the homes of the master-planned community of Crystal Valley make whipping up a Fourth of July barbecue bash a summer snap! Explore new home designs Castle Rock built by Richmond American Homes, available in ranch or two-story models and priced from the high $300s. And – coming soon – new homes by D.R. Horton and Kauffman Homes!
