14 Delicious Recipes for a Memorial Day Weekend Picnic

Practically any ingredient can fill a rice paper roll so long as it's soft or thinly cut so it can be easily manipulated and contained. Use this recipe as a road map for quantities of ingredients and assembly instructions. Once you learn the basics of rolling, swap the shrimp for pork, chicken, or tofu, or the fresh carrots and cucumbers for sautéed shiitake mushroom caps. The key is preparing the chosen ingredients then gathering them near where the rice paper sheets will be moistened, filled, and rolled. When you're packing them for the picnic, weave plastic wrap between them so they don't stick together, or arrange them in a circle with the corners barely touching. Covered with plastic wrap, they can sit at room temperature for up to three hours.

The secret to incredibly flavorful chicken cutlets is a quick marinade in feta brine in advance of grilling. Food & Wine's Justin Chapple then whips the feta cheese with lemon juice and olive oil to use as a spread for the excellent sandwiches here. Make sure to wrap them well and keep them in a cold cooler for transporting.

This traditional Italian salad from chef Chris Behr is incredibly versatile. He folds in blanched fresh peas and halved pitted olives, and adds roasted almonds for crunch. Pack the remaining pesto and some extra olive oil for serving.

This easy recipe by Basic Kitchen's Robin Hollis is endlessly riff-able: The lightly sweet, nutty sesame sauce makes a great starting point for additions such as salmon, grilled chicken, a fried or boiled egg, or extra veggies. Lightly toast the sesame seeds before using to release their aromatic oils.

Chef Carla Hall makes her own crunchy crackers to serve with this cheese spread, a riff on a Southern classic. Make everything in advance ahead of the picnic—the cheese can be refrigerated for up to one week, while the crackers can be stored in an airtight container overnight.

If you have access to a grill on your picnic, these burgers are a great option. Make the patties in advance, and then grill them on-site. With a few simple toppings—ketchup, mustard, torn lettuce, and sliced tomatoes—and buns to hold everything together, you'll be ready to go.

No summer picnic is complete without these effortless sandwiches from 2007 F&W Best New Chef Gabriel Rucker, the genius behind Portland knockouts Le Pigeon, Canard, and Little Bird Bistro (now closed). Best-quality baguettes get a thick slather of butter and goat cheese, dollops of jewel-toned Blueberry-Beaujolais Jam, and ribbons of salty prosciutto. Wrap these sandwiches in plastic wrap and stash them in the top of your cooler for a perfect lunch on a sunny Saturday.

Food & Wine's Justin Chapple likes making extra-crispy chicken that retains its crunch in the fridge, so it's ideal for picnics or just eating right out of the icebox. If you'd like to get a head-start, the fried chicken can be refrigerated for up to two days.

Farro has a sweet, earthy flavor and delightful chewy texture; it adds a wonderful hardiness to the fresh, crunchy vegetables and salty olives and cheese in this salad. If Meyer lemons aren't available in your area, use regular fresh lemon juice and increase the honey a smidge to balance the flavors in the dressing.

These empanadillas from pastry chef Paola Velez are fried until golden brown, then glitzed up with a pretty pink glaze. If you don't have a cherry pitter, a chopstick does a surprisingly good job of removing the pits. Frozen pitted cherries can be swapped in for the dark sweet cherries if fresh ones aren't available—just thaw and drain them first.

From the Turkish region of Mugla, these tangy, tender vegetarian rice-and-herb-stuffed grape leaves (Zeytinyağli Yaprak Sarmasi) can be made a day ahead, making them a great appetizer for easy entertaining. The brightness of the brined grape leaves is balanced by the rice filling, which is seasoned with fresh parsley and dill and slightly sweet cooked onions. If making the stuffed grape leaves the day beforehand, refrigerate them overnight and bring them to room temperature before serving.

Both buttery and spicy, this Buffalo-style snack mix gets a triple buzz of heat from hot sauce, cayenne, and freshly ground black pepper. It can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

Esquites is the creamy corn salad version of elote, the beloved Mexican street food where corn on the cob is slathered with mayo and sprinkled with chili powder and Cotija cheese. Here, we've taken esquites and turned it into a pasta salad, loaded with charred corn, zucchini, scallions, and poblano chile. A crema-mayo mixture flavored with lime and cilantro adds a bright finish, and Cotija and ancho chile powder seal the deal. The hearty dish is ideal for barbecues or packing for a picnic.

These lacy cookies are studded with tart dried apricot, salty-sweet chunks of toffee, and sweet milk chocolate for the perfect combination of flavors and textures. Be sure to rotate the pans during baking to ensure evenly baked, perfectly crisp-chewy cookies.