The Best Easy 4th of July Recipes to Make for a Crowd

The 4th of July is almost here and that means it’s time to plan the perfect 4th of July menu! Whether you are attending family gatherings or a neighborhood block party good food is always the best part of any Independence Day party!  I decided to put together all of my best fourth of July recipes in one spot to make it easy to plan my own fourth of July menu and hopefully help you too!

I think the best part of backyard barbecues with friends and family is having tons of options with all kinds of side dish recipes and desserts. Main dishes are usually easy to plan, right? Hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, baby back ribs…the basics when it comes to a good BBQ. So, I always like to concentrate on the sides. 

I always think it’s fun to have a pot luck. Ask your guests to bring their favorite recipes for sides, salads and desserts and see what you get! People always bring their best recipes to share. It’s the perfect way to find some new favorites yourself and add new recipes to your personal cookbook.

APPETIZERS

Party dips are always a hit. If you have enough of them they can be a meal in themselves!  

This seven layer dip recipe is SO easy to make and always a hit at any gathering. I like to make it a few hours ahead so that the flavors have a chance to blend. It’s full of bright colors and flavors and feeds a hungry crowd. Grab a bag of tortilla chips to serve it with and you’re all set to party!

SUMMERY SALADS

Got a last minute invite to some fourth of July festivities? This amazing and delicious tomato salad doesn’t take much time to make at all.

Tomato Salad

It’s basically a Caprese salad in a bowl with a delicious garlic-herb vinaigrette dressing. This cool salad made of fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil is SO yummy, easy and healthy! 

You can find the printable recipe for making this yummy recipe in this post. 

Here’s what  you need for this Tomato Salad:

• 1 1/2-2 lbs grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, halved (I love to buy the multi color tomatoes)
• 1 (8 oz) pkg. fresh mozzarella pearls (usually  in the fancier cheese section of the grocery store)
• fresh basil leaves

Quick and Easy Dressing Ingredients

• extra virgin olive oil
• red wine vinegar
• minced garlic
• honey
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

This is a super easy salad to whip up and I love that it has red and blue berries in it to bring in the patriotic colors. Just pair it with your favorite balsamic dressing. 

SIDE DISHES

 – This Classic Potato Salad recipe is my absolute favorite potato salad recipe. It is SO flavorful packed full of all kinds of yummy things like capers and dill and egg and onions of all kinds. I get SO many compliments on it everywhere I take it.

It’s always nice to offer some vegetarian options for those who might not want a hot dog or hamburger. Here are a few great side options for vegetarians:

-Fresh Corn is so easy to make and always delicious this time of year when it is peak season for sweet corn. Grill it, boil it, however you cook it you can’t go wrong!

 -Watermelon Salad – Such a great summer recipe! For this simple recipe you just need crumbled feta cheese, sweet watermelon that’s been cubed, chopped mint and Persian/English cucumbers (I get mine at Trader Joes.) Mix those ingredients together and toss it together in a dressing of: 

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons lime juice

1.5 tablespoons quality light extra virgin olive oil 

pinch of salt

-Fresh veggies and dip

-An amazing fruit salad with lots of fresh fruit and fresh berries. I like to add a little dressing and little fresh mint to my fruit salad. Here’s the easy dressing recipe: 

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

2 tsp lime zest (zest of 2 medium limes)

Whisk these ingredients together and stir together with your chopped fruit. 

DESSERTS

Nothing is better for a fourth of July party than a great Patriotic Dessert. The classic recipe for strawberry shortcake calls for pound cake, but I’ve mixed it up a bit with my no bake strawberry shortcake recipe that is always a total hit. The red, white and blue sprinkles and star topper make this extra fun. Fluffy white whipped cream, donuts and gorgeous deep red strawberries make this dessert beautiful, easy and delicious. It is SO easy to make!!

These incredible snickerdoodle ice cream sandwiches are the perfect dessert for a hot summer day. You can use homemade cookies or store bought, but the important part is that you have some pretty gold sprinkles on hand to roll them in on the edges of the ice cream to make them look fancy. 🙂

There’s nothing more American than apple pie. This incredible dutch apple pie recipe has a sweet and crumbly streusel like topping combined with tart, firm apple slices swimming in butter, cinnamon and sugar inside. Is your mouth watering yet? 

I love to make these tie dye cupcakes for lots of occasions, but I think they look their prettiest in red, white and blue. You can find the easy tutorial for the cupcakes here. You can make them with any cake batter…a box mix or homemade. The secret is in how you add the batter to the muffin cups. Simply make sure you add equal parts red, white and blue batter to each of the cups and you’ll be all set! Top these with a great cream cheese frosting or classic buttercream and of course some patriotic sprinkles!

These cute little patriotic party diy cupcake toppers are SO fun and easy…and they make the cupcakes just look WAY too cute!  I added our custom DIY Cupcake sprinkle mix to them as well.  Here’s one of my favorite party time saving tips…cute diy cupcake toppers like this can be made WAY in advance and are super easy.  When you pair them with your cupcakes, simply adding your homemade patriotic cupcake toppers and some sprinkles makes them look like a million bucks, but takes no time at all.  You can find the tutorial for these cute DIY Cupcake Toppers here.  If you’re looking for the easy DIY Sprinkle Mix, you can find it here.

If you are looking for a creative Patriotic party backdrop that is SUPER easy to make, check out this post.

I hope you have the BEST 4th of July!! 

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Happy cooking!

Tammy