No-Cook Summer Dinner Recipes

It’s HOT outside! Keep the oven off and your dinnertime chill with these doable and delicious healthy no-cook recipes.

A Plant-Forward Favorite

Easy Gazpacho
From Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa

1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
4 plum tomatoes
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Large-chop cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and red onions into 1-2 inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse (or a good solid blender) until it is coarsely chopped. Do not over mix to mush!

Combine the veggies in a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients (chopped garlic, through pepper). Stir to combine and chill. The longer gazpacho is in the fridge, the more the flavors will deepen.

Serve with lettuce cups filled with chicken salad, egg salad or tuna salad. OR, if you’re not eating meat/fish, try a quinoa salad.

See our easy salad recipes below!

Jalapeño Dill Tuna Salad
From Diane Sanfilippo

3 6-ounce cans wild albacore tuna
2 jalapeno peppers, minced
3 celery stalks, diced
½ cup diced red onion
1 cup good quality mayo
3 tbsp dried dill
1½ tsp granulated garlic
Sea salt and pepper to taste
2 avocados, halved
Lemon wedges for garnish

Drain water or oil from tuna cans. In a medium bowl, mix tuna, jalapeños, celery and onion. In another small bowl, mix mayo, dill, granulated garlic, salt and pepper. Combine and stir to mix.

Summertime Egg Salad
This one is super simple and only requires a few ingredients. Start by boiling half a dozen eggs. Cool and peel. Grate the hard-boiled eggs into a bowl and mix in 2 tbsp good quality mayo and salt and pepper to taste.

California-Style Chicken Salad
Poach a full chicken breast (2 pieces) in a skillet of water until no longer pink, approximately 10 minutes. Remove chicken and chop into small chunks with a sharp knife, or pulse in a food processor. Add ¼ cup chopped walnuts, ¼ cup red grapes, 2 tbsp good quality mayo, salt and pepper to taste. Mix and enjoy.

For more healthy easy summer recipes and family nutrition inspiration, visit healthynestnutrition.com/blog/. Book a free 20-minute consultation with Healthy Nest Nutrition owner Robin Hutchinson to see if our programs are right for you.