Recipes Side Dishes 12 Delicious Sides for Burgers By Elisabeth Sherman Elisabeth Sherman Instagram Twitter Website Elisabeth Sherman is a writer, editor, and fact-checker in the food, culture, and entertainment spaces. She has been working professionally at national magazines since 2015. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines and Food & Wine Editors Updated on June 7, 2021 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen Planning a barbecue sometime this summer? If burgers are on your menu, we have some perfect side dishes to accompany them. Think baked beans and potato salad, grilled vegetables, and a showstopping panzanella that makes the most out of this season's tomatoes. And if you're in the mood for a classic burger-and-fries combination, we've included a recipe for waffle fries, too, which get an extra boost of flavor from berbere salt. Read on for even more side dishes for burgers. 01 of 12 Grill-Baked Potatoes with Chive Butter © Marcus Nilsson These super-easy, indulgent potatoes are layered with pats of chive and sour cream butter, then wrapped in foil and grilled until soft and delicious. Get the Recipe 02 of 12 Peach-and-Fennel Slaw To wilt the fennel slightly, Michel Nischan briefly marinates it in vinegar and salt before tossing it with firm, ripe peaches. Get the Recipe 03 of 12 Smoky Glazed Asparagus © Quentin Bacon Chef Nate Appleman swears by coating vegetables with a mayonnaise-based marinade; it creates a beautifully blistered crust when grilled. Here he offers a marinade for asparagus that is also fabulous on broccoli and fennel. Get the Recipe 04 of 12 Quick Red Cabbage Slaw Jen Causey Ten minutes of simple prep work and an hour of hands-off marinating time deliver this almost effortless slaw that scores big in the flavor department. Matchstick carrots make it ultra-easy; just dump, stir, and go. Seasoned with a simple mixture of lemon juice, mustard seeds, and salt, this slaw lends itself a variety of uses — try it on barbecue sandwiches, tacos, and turkey or chicken burgers — or serve it as a side dish at your next barbecue or potluck. Get the Recipe 05 of 12 Grilled Summer Squash with Blue Cheese and Pecans Eva Kolenko For grilled squash with a uniformly crisp texture, chef Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer in North Carolina cuts her squash lengthwise into quarters and then removes the seedy interior. This gorgeous summer squash salad is tossed with a bright, lemony dressing. Get the Recipe 06 of 12 Pasta Salad with Feta and Herbs Eric Wolfinger This Southern-inspired pasta salad from Mason Hereford's New Orleans restaurant Turkey and the Wolf gets a touch of tangy heat from hot sauce and loads of crunch from nutty sunflower seeds. Use Duke's mayonnaise for an extra bite to the dressing. This colorful, eclectic pasta will fit in well with any picnic or cookout spread. Get the Recipe 07 of 12 Gina Mae's Baked Beans Photo by Caitlin Bensel / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell Scholar Regina Bradley (nicknamed "Gina Mae" as a child) added a few special touches to her husband's baked beans recipe to make it her own. "A cookout's DNA is found in the sides and who made them. This task is not for the faint of heart or the thin-skinned," wrote Bradley, in an essay on the hierarchy of the cookout for Food & Wine. "If your beans taste burnt or your potato salad has raisins or olives, we talking bad about you 'til your grandchildren hear about it." For this summer-perfect side, Bradley dresses up store-bought barbecue sauce with extra brown sugar; apple cider vinegar cuts through the smoky sweetness. Get the Recipe 08 of 12 Sweet Corn Succotash with Shiitakes and Sugar Snaps Photo by Tara Donne / Food Styling by Chris Lanier / Prop Styling by Raina Kattelson This bright, buttery succotash by Katy Sparks (BNC 1998) is a perfect summer side dish that comes together in minutes. "My inspiration for this dish is to take a fresh look at an American classic, succotash, which is usually sweet corn cooked together with lima beans or other green beans," Sparks says. "I like to lighten it up with summery snap peas and add meaty shiitakes for depth of flavor. Fresh basil in the smoked paprika butter elevates the whole recipe to something that pairs wonderfully with anything you want to throw on the grill: chicken, pork, fish, burgers, eggplant, and peppers." Get the Recipe 09 of 12 Tomato, Basil, and Cucumber Panzanella with Grated Tomato Balsamic Vinaigrette Victor Protasio This summer blockbuster panzanella from Samin Nosrat, author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, pairs oven-roasted sourdough croutons with juicy ripe tomatoes, raw red onion, and crisp cucumbers. Grated tomato adds a gentle acidity and chunky texture to the vinaigrette, helping it cling to every bite. Staggering the addition of vinaigrette, vegetables, and croutons similarly protects their crunch, and also helps season the salad properly, allowing salt, acid, and oil to be added in stages, as needed. This panzanella is ultimately a deceptively simple salad, one that makes the most of beautiful ingredients and a little time. Get the Recipe 10 of 12 Kwame's Waffle Fries Kyle Schmitz Berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend, brings a citrusy sweet heat to these fried spuds. Chef Kwame Onwuachi mixes it with kosher salt and then sprinkles it over the finished fries. Get the Recipe 11 of 12 Potato Salad with Fresh Corn And Basil Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen Red baby potatoes are ideal for potato salad because their tender skins and creamy interiors hold together, even when cooked. Quickly soaking the onions in vinegar mellows their bite and allows the summery fresh herbs to shine in the dressing. Be sure to taste the salad after chilling and adjust the seasoning before serving. Get the Recipe 12 of 12 Grilled Corn with Cotija and Quicos Aubrie Pick Hot off the grill, charred sweet corn gets slathered in tangy lime mayonnaise and topped with extra-large crunchy quicos, or corn nuts, in Traci des Jardins' version of elote. For a plated version, cut the kernels from the cobs and toss with lime mayo and quicos, then scoop and serve. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit