31 Recipes to Make in July

Chef Rocky Barnette of the Capri in Marfa, Texas, calls his eponymous grilled-avocado guacamole “vegan foie gras.”

At Liholiho Yacht Club in San Francisco, chef Ravi Kapur serves his superdelicious take on the Hawaiian classic tuna poke on crispy, deep-fried nori crackers. A dollop of seasoned aioli is the perfect finish. Kapur makes his aioli, but he says any good-quality mayonnaise is a fine substitute.

Chef Aaron Silverman of Rose's Luxury in Washington, DC, tops freshly shucked oysters with a sweet, spicy granita that's made with just apple juice, fresh wasabi and a dot of green food coloring. He loves using supersmall, superclean Kushi oysters from British Columbia, but if they're unavailable, other small oysters from the Pacific Northwest will be equally delicious.

Okra lovers will rejoice in this elegant and delicious recipe. Brining okra gives it extra flavor, while serving it in a bright and tangy sauce made with lebneh (the soft, creamy cheese made from strained yogurt) really brings the dish together.

The chilled soup, which is topped with fiery, crisp serranos and sweet crab, is a nice alternative to a classic tomato gazpacho. 

This simple salad is all about perfect, in-season produce like onion-y ramps and juicy heirloom tomatoes. It sits well and makes a great potluck or barbecue side salad.

This summery salad from chef Ori Menashe will become your go-to this season. It’s sweet and savory, tart, crisp and creamy, rich and refreshing, all in perfect balance.

Onwuachi’s bright, summery salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, gooseberries, avocado, and mint might seem simple at first, but stand back. With its Trinidadian Green Seasoning (which delivers a sinus-clearing wallop of fresh ginger and fruity aromatics from the Scotch bonnet chiles) and a tangy, gazpacho-like Gooseberry Piri Piri (you will want to drink a basin of it), this 30-minute recipe is one of the best things we’ve eaten this year. Serve very cold.

A crusty, high-quality sourdough will stand up to the seeded salsa verde here and keep the bread from disintegrating. Chef Caroline Glover uses cucumbers from Row 7, a co-op of chefs and plant breeders; you can order the seeds at row7seeds.com. Persian cucumbers, which are more widely available, are a great substitute.

Punchy rémoulade cuts through the richness of the crispy buttermilk fried chicken, which is served over a salad of pickled fennel and peaches in this recipe from Top Chef Season 16 winner Kelsey Barnard Clark. Seek out underripe, firmer peaches for the salad—they’ll hold up to the pickling best.

No summer picnic is complete without these effortless sandwiches from 2007 Best New Chef Gabriel Rucker, the genius behind Portland knockouts Le Pigeon, Canard, and Little Bird Bistro. 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 in the top of your cooler for a perfect lunch on a sunny Saturday.

Mary-Frances Heck refers to these lobster rolls as “knuckle sandwiches” because they showcase the knuckles—the segments that connect the claws to the carapace—which are the sweetest, most tender meat on a lobster. Dressed simply with mayo, the cold salad sits in a hot, buttered bun. Her tip for tackling the admittedly tedious work of cracking the shells? Do it with a friend and a cold beer.

A quick brine produces super-moist burgers with chin-dripping juices. The brining also helps the burgers cook faster, so flip them often to help them cook evenly and prevent charring.

Instead of putting caramelized onions on these tasty lamb burgers, Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple whisks onion soup mix into mayonnaise for a very playful and delicious spread.

The late chef Patrick Clark’s crab cakes at Tavern on the Green were legendary, taking on a pop of flavor from chopped fresh jalapeño and a crispy exterior from panko. Chopped whitefish provides the structure in these crab cakes, offering more flavor and a richer texture than traditional binders like breadcrumbs. Look for plastic tubs of jumbo lump crabmeat; it’s fresh and unpasteurized with the cleanest taste and best texture. If whitefish is unavailable, substitute sea bass or cod.

Lobsters are about 30 percent meat by weight, so go for the slightly larger 1 1/2-pound ones, and plan for about two lobsters per person for the weekend. Look for lobsters from Maine, which are harvested sustainably.

2019 Best New Chef Bryan Furman’s method of smoking the duck over a drip pan is quick and efficient, infusing the duck with intense smoky flavor in only 30 minutes without toughening the meat. The combination of jerk seasoning and peach-sweetened barbecue sauce is also a great match for grilled chicken halves.

Salmoriglio is a traditional Southern Italian sauce, and its pungent, acidic, herbal bite complements sweet summer tomatoes and light striped bass. Substitute the bass with another sweet, mildly fatty fish; too rich of a fish will overpower the sauce and potatoes.

Chef Paxx Caraballo Moll uses lemon, lime, and orange along with mango and pomegranate for a huge hit of tropical fruit flavor that skews savory thanks to chopped white onion and serrano chile. The sweet, vegetal balance complements fresh raw diver scallops.

This Soba Bukkake with Chashu Pork and Sesame Vinaigrette recipe from F&W Best New Chef Mutsuko Soma features chilled soba noodles with just a splash of rich broth, called mentsuyu, in the bottom of the bowl. Topped with pork chashu and marinated eggs (steeped in the flavorful pork braising liquid), the dish comes together quickly using dried soba (with Soma’s blessing; look for Shirakiku Hana Tororo Soba), and easily scales up for a crowd.

Chef Zoi Antonitsas is passionate about preserved fish. The salty, briny fillets are her favorite powerhouse pantry ingredient. They can make almost anything into a meal—and a delicious one at that. Use high-quality tins, like Matiz España brand, for the best results.

2005 F&W Best New Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson adds a generous amount of crisp green and wax beans to this light summer pasta for crunch and body, so the dish uses fewer noodles.

Miami chef Brad Kilgore of Alter restaurant makes this incredibly beautiful and inspired dish in summer, when zucchini and summer squash are in abundance. The brilliance lies in the multiple layers of flavor and texture.

F&W Best New Chef 2017 Jay Blackinton, of Hogstone’s Wood Oven on Orcas Island, Washington, emulsifies fresh nasturtium leaves with mustard, apple cider vinegar and oil to form a bright and supergreen-tasting spread for sweet grilled corn. For a most stirking presentation, he sprinkles edible flowers and herbs on the corn as well.

Taramasalata is a Greek dip or spread made with salted fish roe, olive oil and bread (or sometimes potatoes). Chef Zoi Antonitsas’s creamy version is a perfect accompaniment for grilled asparagus.

For this fun, Southern-inspired dessert, Top Chef Season 16 winner Kelsey Barnard Clark uses entire ears of corn—broiling corn kernels and using corn milk from the cobs—to give her bread pudding recipe a summery, fresh-corn flavor. A topping of caramel popcorn adds a sweet crunch and whimsy. Lime zest in the crème anglaise and a splash of bourbon keep it from leaning too sweet.

Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson pairs a subtly tangy berry granita with honey-sweetened pesto in this refreshing summer dessert. Choose the sweetest, juiciest berries for the most flavorful granita.

Crêpes and blackberries go well together—especially in July when the berries are at their peak and a lazy weekend morning spent flipping crêpes yields enough for Gail Simmons’s new favorite cake, layered with rich mascarpone whipped cream, tart berries, and a little lemon zest.

This riff on a classic margarita combines white tequila and fresh lime juice with chunks of frozen honeydew melon and a quick, brightly flavored sweet basil puree.

This spritzy, summery drink from Julia Momose, bar manager of Oriole in Chicago, is a showstopper with it’s distinct pink and yellow layers. It’s also incredibly versatile: Swap in raspberries or strawberries for the blackberries, double the recipe for a crowd, or serve the homemade soda and the turmeric-spiked lemonade on their own.