This is the best collection of effortless 4th of July recipes to celebrate summer with friends and family! Plan your Fourth of July recipes for a summertime picnic, party or cookout with these tried and true ideas.
Fourth of July is full of all the goodness that summer has to offer. Warm days, fresh produce, and celebrations with the people you love… what could be better?
Table of Contents
- Recipes for 4th of July
- Iconic Recipes for 4th of July
- Looking for More Fourth of July Inspiration?
This post was originally published July 2, 2020 and update with fresh content and recipe links July 2, 2021.
This year’s Fourth of July celebrations feel different from last year’s! In fact, many of us missed our friends and family, or our town’s parade or fireworks display last summer.
After a quiet fourth spent at home last year, we are ready to create memories and find the joy in our everyday celebrations this weekend.
That’s why I wanted to share some of my favorite tried and true summertime recipes to help you celebrate the 4th of July any which way you’d like!
I like to give a lot of detail in my recipe posts to guide readers through any questions. If you’re just here for the recipe links, keep scrolling to the bottom of this post and you’ll find everything you need, with individual links to each printable recipe!
Recipes for 4th of July
They don’t all have to be red, white and blue, but they’re all red, white and true – these are the best 4th of July food ideas that you’ll be proud to serve. And yes, they look as great as they taste!
If you only get to bring one dish, you have to make it count! This is especially true for those once a year gatherings of family and friends – the ones where memories are made!
Spend more time enjoying the festivities and less time in this kitchen with these easy fourth of July recipes including appetizers, side dishes, desserts and co*cktails – many of which are reader favorites and Pinterest sensations!
Iconic Recipes for 4th of July
There are some foods that just bring back childhood memories, right? They are the ones that make us nostalgic and we want to serve them every year.
Here’s a few ideas if you’re looking for a classic addition to your 4th of July recipe lineup! Think of easy-breezy picnic style ideas and a little red white and blue.
- Fruit Pizza
- Fourth of July Fruit Skewers
- Don’t forget the bomb pops- these are a necessity!
- Potato Salad
- Deviled Eggs
- Pasta Salad
Looking for More Fourth of July Inspiration?
- Fourth of July Picnic
- Fourth of July Party details
- Summer Dinner Ideas
- Easy Summer Appetizers
- Red White and Blue Desserts
- Americana Decorations
Find truly effortless 4th of July recipes to help you celebrate America's holiday! Plan your Fourth of July recipes for a picnic, party or cookout with these tried and true ideas.
Appetizers
Fresh Fruit Skewers
These darling fruit skewers are the ultimate EASY way to serve festive fruit for every occasion!
Perfectly bite-sized and oh-so-charming, you’ll have guests oohing and aahing over your clever display of fruit kabobs.
Irresistible Veggie Dip Recipe
The best veggie dip recipe that will have everyone begging for the recipe! This vegetable dip makes a large batch perfect for get-togethers!
Get the secret that makes it stand above the rest!
Baked Burrata Recipe
Easy Sour Cream Dip
The best Sour Cream Dip that is delicious, mild in flavor and always a crowd pleaser. It’s the ultimate sour cream dip recipe for game day, summer get togethers and beyond! It makes a great vegetable dip or a sour cream chip dip!
This brie and preserves appetizer is so quick and easy to make and is a great option is you are entertaining a crowd.
Made with three simple ingredients, baked brie is nestled in phyllo shells and baked before adding your favorite jam. Simple and elegant, these appetizers are a must for entertaining!
Chipotle Corn Salsa Recipe
This Chipotle Corn Salsa Recipe is delightfully sweet with a little heat! This easy dip or topping for tacos, quesadillas, burritos and more is full of fresh flavor!
Add Chipotle Corn Salsa to your burrito bowls, nachos and salads for the ultimate Chipotle copycat.
Baked Brie Bites with Strawberries | Easy Appetizer Recipe
These Baked Brie Bites are a super simple appetizer that’s made with just 4 ingredients and they are ready to serve in less than 20 minutes.
Brie is baked in phyllo shells and topped with sugary strawberries for an easy but crowd pleasing appetizer.
Bruschetta is a quick and easy appetizer and can be varied in so many ways. This recipe is great for summer, just throw it on the grill or in the oven and you’ll have a new seasonal favorite!
Fruit Dip
This 3 ingredient Fruit Dip is the perfect accompaniment to a beautiful fruit platter. It’s sweet, yet balanced and loved by adults and kids alike!
Fruit Dip with Mascarpone
Easy 3 ingredient, 5-minute mascarpone cream recipe can be whipped up in no time. It’s the perfect fruit dip for cakes and crepes, or simply serve with a fruit platter as an appetizer.
10-minute balsamic cherry baked brie recipe. This buttery brie appetizer allows for effortless entertaining and is always a crowd pleaser!
Watermelon Salsa
Mix it up with Watermelon Salsa! This fruit salsa recipe is bright and colorful. It embraces the fresh flavors of summer blending watermelon with bell peppers, jalapeño, cilantro and lime.
It’s perfect for dipping or for topping tacos, salads and more!
Pan Fried Onion Dip
This pan fried onion dip is bursting with sweet onions and a little heat from a dash of cayenne pepper.
It's absolutely craveable and always such a hit at parties!
Easy Dill Dip Recipe
Classic and flavorful, this easy dill dip recipe is always a crowd-pleaser for holidays, game days and summer gatherings. The flavors really pop in this dill veggie dip with the help of dried herbs and spices.
This creamy dip recipe is an easy make-ahead appetizer you can serve with vegetables, chips, crackers, and bread!
Zesty Pineapple Salsa Recipe
This easy pineapple salsa recipe is vibrant, festive and oh-so-delicious.
The citrus flavor and juicy sweet pineapple plays perfectly against the spicy addition of jalapeño for a flavor explosion you won’t be able to resist!
Side Dishes
Spaghetti salad is an incredibly flexible, fast pasta salad recipe that is such a crowd pleaser! Tossed in a savory homemade Italian dressing, this cold spaghetti salad recipe is a keeper.
It’s a recipe your friends and family will ask you to bring again and again.
Seafood Pasta Salad
A light and refreshing Seafood Pasta Salad recipe for a lunch you can enjoy all week or side dish for get togethers!
This Shrimp Pasta Salad is so easy and uses just a few ingredients. It’s the ultimate summer pasta salad!
Italian Pasta Salad
This easy Italian pasta salad recipe is the perfect summer side dish that takes very little time and effort and is wonderfully light and refreshing! It’s a great make ahead recipe that’s ideal for picnics, potlucks and cookouts.
Basil Lemon Pasta Salad
Lemon Basil Pasta Salad is a light and refreshing alternative to classic pasta salads. It’s full of fresh flavor and is made in minutes with a few simple ingredients.
Incredible Veggie Pasta Salad
This veggie pasta salad recipe is bursting with fresh, vibrant flavors and overflowing with nutrients thanks to an array of fresh sautéed veggies.
It’s a vegetarian pasta salad side dish or an incredible lunch you can feel good about!
Bow Tie Pasta Salad
A light, refreshing pasta salad recipe, perfect for summer picnics and outings.
This bow tie pasta salad has the most amazing pasta salad dressing made with lemon and basil. It’s always a crowd pleaser!
Apple Salad Recipe
This is a fresh, crunchy Apple Salad that is full of flavor! It’s a sweet and savory Apple Salad Recipe with butter lettuce and wholesome ingredients.
Classic Cabbage Salad
This delicious, refreshing Cabbage salad recipe is the perfect choice for potlucks, barbecues and so much more. Learn the secrets to the light and tangy cabbage salad dressing in this fresh and fabulous side dish!
Peach Salad with Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
This peach salad features a memorable sweet and savory honey dijon vinaigrette. This summer salad is perfect to serve as an appetizer or a side and comes together quickly.
The honey and mustard dressing is wonderfully tangy and sweet and really is a must have!
Simple Spring Salad Mix
This spring salad mix is the perfect summer salad to take with you to picnics and pot lucks.
Full of vibrant fruits, pecans and cheese, you can prep the salad at home and whip up some vinaigrette and have a fresh, easy-to-transport salad.
A Fresh and flavorful red, white and blue salad recipe. One of the best 4th of July salads that’s ready in minutes and perfect for picnics.
Vanilla Fruit Salad
This Fruit Salad is a family favorite with a light and flavorful fruit salad dressing. It’s easy and perfect for snacks, sides and school lunches!
Ready to eat in a matter of minutes, this healthy snack can be easily customized to include your favorite fruits.
Homemade Creamy Potato Salad Recipe
This creamy potato salad recipe with egg is the best way to use up all those extra eggs from the Easter holiday.
This easy homemade potato salad recipe uses a few key ingredients including gherkins and mustard, and one little secret technique! It is a creamy, dreamy deviled egg potato salad to serve to your family and friends.
The Best Deviled Eggs
Secrets to make the best deviled eggs. These deviled eggs with relish make a great appetizer year round or you can dress them up to make seasonal deviled eggs!
Cheesy Corn Casserole
Creamy corn casserole made with cream cheese – this cheesy corn doubles as a dip and is always a crowd pleaser!
Fourth of July Dessert Ideas
Funfetti Flag 4th of July Cheese Ball
This dessert cheese ball is the cutest way to add a little patriotic flair to your Fourth of July dessert display!
It’s perfect for dipping and spreading with an array of fruits, cookies and crackers.
Easy Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
An Easy Strawberry Shortcake Recipe – the quintessential summer dessert! This light and refreshing shortcake recipe is always a crowd pleaser and beautiful, too!
Skip the mix and learn how to make Strawberry Shortcake from scratch topped with whipped cream.
No Churn Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Creamy, smooth, delicious no-churn strawberry cheesecake ice cream made in minutes! You’ll never need an ice cream maker again with this no-churn ice cream!
Drunken Strawberries (Strawberries in Rosé Wine)
Recipe for Drunken Strawberries, Rosé Strawberries or Wine Marinated Strawberries – whatever you want to call them, you’ll be calling them the perfect summer treat!
Perfect to eat by themsleves or top a dessert. Easy to make with just 3 ingredients, you are going to love these boozy frozen strawberries!
Strawberry Muffins
Sweet Strawberry Muffins with a tender crumb and crunchy sugar muffin top. This Strawberry Muffin Recipe is made from scratch in minutes!
5 Minute Skinny Strawberry Tart Recipe
A beautiful quick strawberry tart recipe that takes just 5 minutes to make! It’s the perfect berry tart for brunches, birthdays and showers!
This lower calorie fruit tart comes together with just 4 ingredients and it’s great for a last minute dessert. Packed full of fresh strawberries, it’s so perfect for the summer months!
Lemon Berry Tart
Refreshing Lemon Berry Tart – this delightful dessert is on a sugar cookie crust! It’s the best fruit tart to add a touch of sweetness to any day or night.
Easy Lemon Berry Pie
3 ingredient lemon berry pie – So easy & refreshing! Serve frozen to make it one of the summer dessert recipes you’ll want on any hot summer night.
Frozen Grapes Marinated in Wine
Frozen grapes marinated in wine are the perfect way to chill out pool side, while you’re boating or as an appetizer for any summer get together.
Sugared Champagne Grapes Recipe
They’re the perfect treat to celebrate an afternoon at the pool, a summertime picnic, and at baby or wedding showers.
You can serve them frozen or chilled, either way, you have to try them and let me know what you think.
Fruit Pizza Cookies
These mini fruit pizza cookies are bright, charming, and delicious. Bakery sugar cookies made with staple ingredients and decorated with cream cheese frosting and your favorite fresh fruit.
This is a dessert you won’t want to miss!
Easy Chocolate Pie Recipe with Pretzel Crust
This easy Chocolate Pie Recipe with Pretzel Crust is the perfect duo! The simplicity of the chocolate pie filling with the salty pretzel crust is incredible!
Make it ahead and place it in the fridge or freezer to enjoy with family and friends at your next party or holiday gathering.
You’ll love this beautiful naked cherries and cream cake – A perfect naked cake recipe with step-by-step details to easily create your own cherry cake.
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
This easy and classic lemon pound cake recipe is a refreshing breakfast, brunch and dessert favorite!
It’s just as good as it is simple and beautiful! Finished with a flavourful glaze and deliciously moist.
Easy No Bake Cheesecake Recipe
Easy no bake cheesecake recipe that gives you a fresh bakery taste in minutes. With just a few ingredients, this no bake cheesecake is too good to pass up.
Perfect to make individual cheesecakes or one larger one and finish with your favorite toppings.
No Bake Lemon Pie
Light and flavorful easy Lemon Pie, that’s no fuss, no bake and loaded with beautiful berries - the perfect patriotic dessert celebrating red, white and blue!
Amazing Fruit Pizza
This easy Fruit Pizza recipe is made with a better than the bakery sugar cookie crust, covered in a delightfully sweet cream cheese frosting, and decorated with your favorite fruit – in just 10 minutes hands on time!
Fourth of July co*cktails
Frozen Rosé
Enjoy your favorite blush wine turned into a refreshingly easy to sip two ingredient Frosé Recipe. It’s a pink wine Frozen Rosé slushy, perfect for any brunches, showers or parties.
These grown up wine slushies take just minutes to make and they are the perfect cooling summer drink.
Mojito Receta
This Mojito Recipe (we call it a Mojito Receta for a little Spanish twist!) is the ultimate refreshing summer co*cktail.
It’s an EASY Mojito Recipe that features the vibrant flavor and fragrance of fresh squeezed limes and mint, balanced with rum, soda and sugar.
Mango Margarita
A simple and refreshing Mango Margarita recipe. This co*cktail is full of fresh flavors and it’s so quick and easy to make!
It’s the perfect drink for summer and it comes together with just a handful of ingredientsin less than 5 minutes.
Skinny Margarita
This easy skinny margarita recipe is fresh and flavorful without all the calories! It’s a skinny margarita made with agave and lime that is so good you’ll never use a margarita mix again!
Watermelon Margarita
A light and flavorful watermelon margarita recipe made with fresh watermelon in just five minutes. Get the skinny on this amazing watermelon margarita that comes in at less than 112 calories!
Homemade Margarita
The best Homemade Margarita recipe that will make you want to ditch the margarita mix forever! Made with just a few simple ingredients in minutes!
Simple and Spicy Jalapeño Margaritas
This Jalapeno Margarita recipe has the perfect amount of spicy pepper flavor – just enough kick, but not-too-much. This spicy margarita recipe that is the perfect sidekick to so many of your favorite summertime dinners!
The Ultimate Premium Cadillac Margarita Recipe
Love a classic margarita? Then you’re going to love this smooth, premium margarita with a surprising burst of sweet orange flavor from the addition of Grand Marnier.
Strawberry Lemon Mimosa
This strawberry and lemon mimosa is a wonderfully light and refreshing champagne co*cktail that you can make in a matter of minutes.
Made with fresh strawberries, this wonderful spring co*cktail is perfect for 4th of July Brunch!
Champagne Slushies
Easy champagne slushies are a quick and easy to sip summer strawberry co*cktail recipe.
Made with just two ingredients and ready in a matter of minutes, these refreshing frozen champagne co*cktails are perfect for summer entertaining and 4th of July celebrations.
Easy Paloma Recipe
A Paloma is a popular co*cktail in Mexico, made with grapefruit flavored soda, tequila and lime. This paloma recipe is a delicious alternative to a skinny margarita that is full of flavor yet low calorie!
Fruity Sangria Recipe
This is the ultimate summer sangria – it’s a fruity sangria recipe you’ll return to time and again. Make ahead and serve a large number of guests with this classic peach sangria co*cktail that’s so easy to sip!
Watermelon Mojito
A refreshing Watermelon Mojito recipe with fresh watermelon juice and simple syrup muddled with mint for an incredible easy summer co*cktail.
The Best Spanish Sangria Punch
This Spanish Sangria is the ultimate co*cktail indulgence. Sangria punch serves beautifully for parties, and it’s easy to create a non alcoholic sangria too!
On the Grill
Incredibly Easy Chicken Kabobs
Get all the details on the juiciest chicken kabob recipe you’ve ever tasted! This chicken kabob marinade results in a healthy, vibrant summertime favorite for the grill or beyond.
Lemon Garlic Shrimp Kabobs
Learn the BEST tips and tricks for creating the most delectable summertime dinner- lemon garlic shrimp kabobs! They’re so easy to throw together for the grill, and your hands-on prep and grilling time is under 15 minutes with the easiest shrimp kabob marinade.
Juicy Steak Kabobs
Learn the keys to the most delicious steak kabobs on the grill! This steak kabob marinade is bursting with bold, healthy flavor in every bite. In fact, we tend to use our favorite steak for kabobs instead of traditional grilled steak – it’s just so good this way
Pineapple Shrimp Skewers
Sweet and salty pineapple shrimp skewers perfect for throwing on the grill, bursting with juicy tropical flavor.
Zesty Tequila Lime Shrimp Skewers
f you love the zesty fresh citrus flavor of a good margarita, you’ll love this incredible tequila lime shrimp recipe! It’s the essence of your favorite summertime co*cktail, in the form of incredible shrimp skewers – perfect for throwing on the grill.
Pizza On the Grill
Learn how to make pizza on the grill to take your pizza from ordinary to extraordinary in minutes! Get restaurant style pizza with a thick, chewy, crispy flavorful crust without the fuss for pizza night!
The Juiciest Beer Can Chicken on the Grill
The juiciest Beer Can Chicken in the Oven or on the grill is made with a seasoned rub that creates a crispy caramelized exterior that can’t be beat. The steam from your favorite beer or ginger ale seals in the moisture to make it one of the best chicken dishes you’ve ever tasted!
The All American Burger
Learn everything you ever wanted to know about the crowd pleasing classic All American Burger. We’ll cover everything from the history of hamburgers, seasoning and cooking methods, to a classic easy burger recipe your family will love!
These 4th of July recipes are sure to please groups large and small. Please let me know if you make any of these recipes- I’d love to hear from you!
Happy 4th! Hope you have a beautiful week celebrating.
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