15 Light Summer Meals to Keep on Repeat

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Vicky Wasik

Chili, mashed potatoes, and stews are to comforting winter meals as salads, sandwiches, and simple pastas are to light summer ones. This is a time when we want our food to feel breezy and refreshing, and also require less cook-time (or none at all!). We’ve put together a list of 15 light summer meal recipes you’re sure to have on repeat all summer long.

White Bean and Tuna Salad

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Sasha Marx

This white bean and tuna salad is the perfect protein-packed light meal for when you don’t want to do any cooking.

Peruvian Tiradito With Aji Amarillo and Lime

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Vicky Wasik

Sashimi-style slices of fish are dressed in a chile-citrus sauce for this breezy, refreshing meal.

Pasta With Burst Cherry Tomatoes and XO Sauce

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Vicky Wasik

This easy pasta dish is further proof that all you need to elevate a quick weeknight dinner is the right condiment.

Ensalada de Tomate con Ventresca de Atún (Spanish-Style Tomato and Ventresca Tuna Salad)

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Sasha Marx

Olive oil-packed tuna belly and peak season tomatoes are the keys to this no-fuss, no-cook salad.

Chinese-Style Layered Omelette

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Vicky Wasik

With just eggs, salt, scallions, and soy sauce, you can make a luxurious weeknight meal in about 15 minutes.

Tortilla Española (Spanish Egg and Potato Omelette)

Slice of tortilla espanola on a plate
Vicky Wasik

This classic Spanish omelette is made of egg, potato, and onion cooked in olive oil. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Mayo-Free Mediterranean Tuna Salad Sandwiches

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Vicky Wasik

Loaded with Mediterranean flavors, including plenty of fresh olive oil, capers, olives, fennel, celery, and a splash of lemon, this tuna salad sandwich is sure to be a hit.

Pasta With Swordfish, Tomato, and Eggplant (Rigatoni Con Pesce Spada)

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Vicky Wasik

Rigatoni with swordfish, tomatoes, and eggplant is an easy, breezy Sicilian summertime classic.

Classic Tomato Sandwich

Classic tomato sandwich on a cutting board, cut diagonally and stacked
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

A Southern tomato sandwich is all about showing off the peak-of-season summer tomatoes.

The Best BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato) Sandwich

Two halves of a BLT stacked on top of each other
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Use the best tomatoes. Put away the fancy bread. And most importantly: Don’t mess with it.

Classic Panzanella Salad (Tuscan-Style Tomato and Bread Salad)

classic Panzanella salad served inside a dish
Serious Eats / Qi Ai

Dried bread and salted ripe tomatoes make this the best bread salad of the summer.

Andalusian Gazpacho

A bowl of Andalusian gazpacho in a ceramic bowl set on a plate. On the right hand periphery are another bowl of soup and a couple of pieces of torn bread.
Serious Eats / Qi Ai

Keys to making a better gazpacho: ripe tomatoes, salt, and a freeze-thaw step.

The Best Caesar Salad

A composed caesar salad in a ceramic bowl on a white stone background.
Diana Chistruga

The crowd-pleasing salad of crisp romaine leaves, crunchy croutons, and a little or a lot of anchovy can easily be altered to your liking.

Summer Tomato Tonnato

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Vicky Wasik

This simple no-cook salad combines peak summer tomatoes and Italian tonnato (tuna sauce).

Caprese Salad

An oval ceramic platter holding caprese salad. The platter is on a dish cloth. There is a pair of forks to the left of the platter, and in the bottom right of the image is a wooden cutting board holding torn chunks of bread.
Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

The only trick here is to use high-quality, in-season ingredients… and not adding balsamic.