21 Watermelon Recipes to Make This Summer

This incredibly refreshing dish supereasy and perfect on a hot day. The combo of watermelon and jicama is like juicy on juicy, and topping it with tangy lime juice and tart ancho chile powder brings all the flavors front and center.

Although Jacques Pépin cuts a small, seedless watermelon into rounds with a melon baller (adding the trimmings to the salad, too, so as not to waste them), you can also chop the watermelon into cubes.

Matt Neal calls this supremely simple fruit salad the ultimate refresher on a hot day. For a grown-up version, he adds splashes of rum. “It’s even more satisfying, then,” he jokes.

When he has less-than-beautiful fruit, Matthew Accarrino makes this drink with it.

Andrew Zimmerman tweaks a classic Spanish sangria for the summer by using vodka instead of brandy.

This is Michael Psilakis’s modern take on the traditional Greek combination of watermelon and feta cheese.

These popsicles are a great fat-free snack, made with lots of naturally sweet watermelon and only a little sugar. They can be frozen in special popsicle molds or in standard ice cube trays (three cubes equals one serving). Joy Manning has them whenever she feels the temptation to visit the new gelato shop around the corner from her apartment.

“Watermelon juice has such a mild flavor that most thickeners would overpower its taste,” says chef Jamie Bissonnette. “But xanthan allows me to turn it into a soup.”

Grilling watermelon gives it a pleasantly smoky flavor and a glistening surface that’s reminiscent of tuna steaks. Here, F&W’s Justin Chapple tops slabs of the sweet-smoky fruit with warm pickled shrimp, onion, and jalapeño. Fresh parsley finishes off this summery main dish.

In this easy yet sophisticated recipe, chef Daniel Boulud pairs a curry-spiced crab salad with sweet watermelon and bright cilantro and mint.

Pickling watermelon rind has long been a Southern tradition. In this version, low-acid rice vinegar becomes infused with jalapeño and ginger for a brightly flavored brine with a kick. The watermelon rind is sliced very thin for these pickles, making them perfect for piling on a sandwich.

Chef Grant Achatz says of this salad: “I think shellfish benefits from a little sweetness.” He suggests draining the fruit in a colander after you cut it, for a cleaner presentation.

This recipe pairs well with a tangy wheat ale or fruit-forward California Chardonnay.

Tim Byres uses a smart trick here: He sears the tomatoes on one side only, so they’re fresh and smoky at the same time.

For this recipe, summer watermelon and chicken come together in a puckery salad dressing made with lime juice and fish sauce.

Watermelon is a great source of vitamin C. Here, Marisa Churchill turns it into a fat-free granita, which she drizzles with a fragrant cardamom syrup.

It is important to assemble the watermelon and mascarpone parfaits right before serving, so plan accordingly.

Nothing screams summer like slices of salted ripe watermelon, and this simple ice cream takes it to the next level. Coconut milk infuses the ice cream base with its velvety-smooth sweetness; lime provides a gentle flavor lift that subtly intensifies the juicy watermelon flavor. To salt or not to salt—that is the question, and it’s entirely up to you. If you’re skeptical, try it with crunchy flakes of Maldon sea salt; they’ll make you a believer.

At Vicia in St. Louis, Best New Chef Michael Gallina closes the loop in his cooking. This elegant amuse-bouche showcases Gallina’s zero-waste approach: Tomato skins are dried to become an umami-rich flavored salt; the tomato seeds and pulp, plus the brine of pickled green tomatoes, become the base of the Tomato Water Gazpacho.

This recipe is unexpected but works so perfectly you’ll wonder why you weren’t making a watermelon sauce before.

Chef Joe Kindred of Kindred restaurant in Davidson, North Carolina, lets watermelon sit in a savory marinade for 30 minutes to draw out the juices from the fruit and intensify its flavor.