25 Best Labor Day Recipes

Celebrate the end of summer with our best Labor Day recipes! They include fun appetizers, picnic salads, grilling recipes, no-bake desserts, and more.

Looking for Labor Day food ideas? You’re in the right place! Below, I’ve rounded up our best Labor Day recipes for an epic end-of-summer cookout. You’ll find easy mains that you can toss on the grill, fun appetizers, seasonal side dishes, and—of course—summer desserts to round out the meal. I don’t know exactly what I’m making for our BBQ yet…but I do know that corn, tomatoes, and peaches will be on the menu. If you ask me, summer food is the best food. Celebrate it this weekend with these Labor Day recipes! Labor Day Appetizer Ideas Corn Salsa Crisp, juicy sweet…

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Fresh Tomato Sauce

Learn how to make tomato sauce at home! Made with fresh tomatoes, this simple, flavorful recipe is perfect for serving on pasta, pizza, and more.

For me, making this homemade tomato sauce recipe is one of the highlights of late summer. Like bruschetta or a good Caprese salad, it’s something I only make at this time of year, when fresh tomatoes are sweet, juicy, and abundant. This tomato sauce has a slightly looser, chunkier texture than my traditional marinara sauce, and its flavor is sweeter and fresher. If you have a garden full of tomatoes, it’s a great way to use them up, but even if you don’t, I hope you’ll try it. You can toss it with pasta or zucchini noodles, spread it on…

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Moscow Mule

Learn how to make a Moscow mule! Served in an iconic copper mug, this classic cocktail is a refreshing combination of vodka, ginger beer, and lime.

Have you ever made a Moscow mule? Served in a copper mug, this cocktail looks fancy, but don’t be fooled. With just three ingredients—vodka, ginger beer, and fresh lime juice—this classic drink couldn’t be easier to make at home! A Moscow mule is fizzy and refreshing, with a delicious gingery bite. I love sipping one on a warm summer evening or a crisp fall night. The combination of bright lime, warming ginger, and, well…being served in a mug makes it a great all-seasons drink. I’m sharing my go-to Moscow mule recipe at the bottom of this post, with my best tips…

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Air Fryer Green Beans

Learn how to cook fresh green beans in the air fryer! A delicious weeknight side dish, they're lightly crisp, tender, and ready in 10 minutes.

Have you ever tried cooking green beans in the air fryer? They come out lightly crisp, tender, and beautifully caramelized. And best of all, they’re ready in 10 minutes. Just like my air fryer zucchini and air fryer corn on the cob, these air fryer green beans are a perfect healthy side dish for busy weeknights. Fresh green beans are one of my favorite vegetables to cook at this time of year, so in the last few weeks, I’ve had this air fryer green beans recipe on repeat. I’m sharing a few of my go-to serving suggestions below, but to be…

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Blistered Shishito Peppers

Looking for a fun summer appetizer or snack? Make these blistered shishito peppers! Tender, charred, and occasionally spicy, they're always a hit.

appetizers / snacks & dips

This blistered shishito peppers recipe is the simplest summer appetizer. It relies on just 3 main ingredients—shishito peppers, salt, and oil—but it’s still flavorful, satisfying, and totally addictive. You might think you’re going to eat one pepper, maybe two, but before you know it, you’ll have devoured half the pan! Um…yes, I’m speaking from experience. If you’re not familiar with shishito peppers, they’re small, thin-walled peppers that are traditionally used in Japanese and Korean cooking. These days, you can often find them at farmers markets and at major grocery stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Most of the time, shishitos…

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Pasta Puttanesca

This pasta puttanesca recipe stars a flavorful tomato sauce packed with garlic, olives, and capers. Perfect for weeknights, it's ready in 30 minutes!

Pasta puttanesca is a perfect example of what I love about Italian cooking. This Southern Italian dish features a garlicky tomato sauce spiked with briny olives, capers, and anchovies. It requires simple ingredients and minimal prep, but it still delivers rich, bold flavor. I shared a puttanesca recipe with zucchini noodles in Love & Lemons Every Day, but since this classic pasta is one of my weeknight favorites, I thought it was about time I shared a more traditional recipe too. It calls for 10 ingredients, cooks in under 30 minutes, and is absolutely delicious. I hope you love it as…

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Homemade Salsa

Break out the tortilla chips! This homemade salsa recipe is zesty, fresh, and super easy to make. Enjoy it as a dip, or pile it onto tacos, nachos, and more.

appetizers / cooking basics

If I learned one thing from living in Austin, it’s that homemade salsa is infinitely better than any kind in a jar. I loved sampling salsas at restaurants and taco trucks. Each one was different—some were made with roasted ingredients, others got a smoky, spicy kick from dried chiles, and still others were nice and fresh. This variety inspired me to start experimenting with making homemade salsa. I might pull out dried chiles in the winter, when good tomatoes are hard to find, or roast tomatillos if I see them at the farmers market. But on hot summer days, this…

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Corn Salsa

This corn salsa recipe is easy to make with fresh corn, peppers, cilantro, and lime. Zesty, sweet, and spicy, it's delicious on tacos, burritos, and more!

This corn salsa recipe is full of fresh summer flavor! Sweet, juicy corn kernels play off crisp bell peppers and red onion, spicy jalapeños, cilantro, and zesty lime. I love to serve it as a summer appetizer with tortilla chips, and it’s also great on burrito bowls, taco salads, and more. Think Chipotle’s corn salsa, but better. Like many of my favorite summer recipes, this corn salsa is easy to make. Simply dice up the veggies, chop the corn kernels off the cob, and stir everything together. If you’re doing the math, that means that I use raw corn in…

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30 Best Summer Vegetable Recipes

These summer vegetable recipes star veggies like corn, tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini. Try one to make the most of the season's best produce!

These summer vegetable recipes are my unofficial summer cooking bucket list. They’re the dishes I come back to every July and August, when zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, corn, and more are in full swing and I want to make the most of them. If you’re looking for ways to use your latest farmers market haul or garden bounty, I think you’ll love these summer vegetable recipes too. Most of them are super simple—think quick sautés and salads you can throw together on a weeknight. A few are a little more involved (looking at you, tomato galette), but I think they’re well…

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Air Fryer Corn on the Cob

Air fryer corn on the cob is the fastest, easiest way to cook corn! It's ready in minutes, and it comes out tender, juicy, and flavorful every time.

Air fryer corn on the cob has been a total game changer for me. It’s the quickest, easiest way I know to cook corn on the cob! This recipe takes just 10 minutes from start to finish, and it yields perfectly cooked, tender sweet corn. Bonus: it doesn’t heat up your kitchen in the process. I won’t lie—I still make boiled corn on the cob and grilled corn on the cob for summer cookouts and BBQs. But when I want to make a small batch in as little time as possible, this air fryer method can’t be beat. It’s perfect…

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Cucumber Tomato Salad

This cucumber tomato salad is a refreshing summer side dish! A tangy vinaigrette brightens juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, onions, and herbs.

summer / salads

This cucumber tomato salad recipe is the simplest summer side dish! Making it is as easy as tossing sliced cucumbers, juicy tomatoes, crisp onions, and herbs with a tangy 5-ingredient dressing. I make some version of it every week in the summer, changing up the herbs to use what looks best in my garden or tossing in fun add-ins like avocado or cheese. Bright and refreshing, it pairs well with almost any meal, from fresh summer pastas to veggie burgers off the grill. Whether you make it as written or make it your own, this recipe is a great one…

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