No-Cook Meal Ideas for Summer

In the heat of summer, it's nice to avoid overheating the kitchen while making your meals. Here are a few no-cook meal ideas to help you stay cool while staying full!

No-Cook Meal Ideas

When we think of making dinner, it's common to think of turning on the oven, firing up the grill, or lighting the stove. Why's that? Sometimes, nothing beats a nice hot meal.

Plus, some things—such as many meats—just need to be cooked before they become safe to consume. So we end up investing some serious sweat equity in the kitchen just to get some food on the table.

It doesn't always have to be this way! A hot summertime is a great season to minimize time spent using an extra furnace in your home. Here's five easy ideas to get you brainstorming about ways to spend less time tending the fire and more time relaxing in comfort.

Easy No-Cook Meals

Some no-cook meals are just that: there's no heating in the preparation from start to finish. Technically Oreos are a no-cook meal, with that broad of a definition, though it probably isn't the best to specialize that much...

That said, sometimes it's just as valuable to have meals that minimize cooking (one-cook meals, I guess you could call them). One of the nice things about meal-prepping in the summer is that you can do the heat-centric work (cooking meats, pastas, rice, etc.) toward the beginning of the week, and enjoy things at a cooler temperature in the following days.

These five no-cook meal ideas contain a couple of meals that might involve cooking at some stage, but are delicious served cold. Plus, some of that cooking could be avoided, such as by using canned chicken for the Chicken Salad or buying pre-made pasta salad.

1. Pasta Salads

Pasta salad is slightly more complicated than it may seem at first blush. Some people just think of it as a standard pasta dish served cold, yet I defy them to find anyone (outside of college) who's choosing to have their spaghetti and meatballs chilled.

The question about the identity of a pasta salad—is it pasta served as a salad, or is it salad made with pasta?—is something like the question of zebra's stripes. Whatever it is, really, it's certain you can find one that you'll like. One of my favorites? This Summer Orzo Pasta Salad.

This is a pinterest pin for orzo pasta salad. There is a big glass bowl filled with orzo, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, feta cheese, and dressing.

Not into pasta salads? What about a healthy broccoli salad? Or a Copy Cat Chick fil A salad?

2. Charcuterie Boards

Some people see the word charcuterie and their eyes glaze over. Others start drooling. Whatever your feelings, it's a great way to avoid doing any cooking for a delicious snack—or entire meal!

There's like more going on in the cured meats section at your local grocery than you realized. Of course, there are pre-made charcuterie packs on offer, but you'll have more fun if you make your own.

How to make a charcuterie board

Get some cured meats.
Grab a couple of fun-looking cheeses.
Grapes? Berries? Jellies? Jams? Give them a go.
Olives? Savory spreads? Grab those too.
Crackers? Breads? Mini toasts? Do it.
Got a big fancy wooden board? Use it. You can also just use whatever you've got, such as a large plate or baking sheet. Whatever you use, arrange everything in a way that makes you feel fancy.
Enjoy your delicious charcuterie board.

3. Spring Rolls

There's a decent amount of variation in what people mean by "spring roll." I'm thinking rice paper wrappers, fresh veggies, and a delicious peanut sauce for dipping. The kind that are so freakin' tasty and so cool you'll almost swear they're quenching your thirst.

I'm referring to a fresh Vietnamese spring roll. There can be some cooking involved here (noodles, shrimp, etc.), but again that can be circumvented depending on how dedicated you are to staying cool.

Don't be intimidated by the rice paper! The ability to make an excellent spring roll is well within your ability, and you owe it to yourself to try!

4. Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I probably don't need to explain what a chicken salad sandwich is. Get one of your favorite chicken salad recipes, put it on some bread, and profit.

Like I mentioned before, you can use canned chicken if you want to avoid the whole chicken-cooking process, but chicken salads are also good for batch-cooking, so you'll only have the bear the heat once.

You could also substitute tuna, egg, or tofu for chicken here. It's all pretty yummy.

This is a pinterest picture for a healthy chicken salad recipe. The image has a big glass bowl filled with the healthy chicken salad. The chicken salad has chicken, grapes, almonds, red onions, and pickles all mixed together in a sauce. There is a smaller glass bowl of wheat thin crackers. There is also a hand holding a cracker with healthy chicken salad on the end.

5. Poke Bowls

Are you skeptical of fads? You might have steered clear of Poke restaurants, as it seemed like these were popping up all over the place in the past decade or so (at least in the U.S.). If you've done that, you've been missing out a pretty tasty thing—plus the restaurants are like frozen yogurt shops for your main course!

You can make yourself a poke bowl at home. Yes, you'll have to apply some heat to your rice to cook it, and you might choose to sear your protein (such as tuna or salmon), but these are a cold-first dish that make for a delicious summertime meal.

Need a recipe? Try my spicy tuna poke bowl.

The is a pintrest pin for spicy tuna poke bowl

6. Overnight Oats

Having these in the fridge as a go-to breakfast pick-me-up is a WONDER in the summer. I can prep several at a time and know that I'll be able to find what I need. If you tend to avoid overnight oats because you don't like oatmeal, I promise you can find a recipe that'll be a winner for you.

I've collected several of my favorite overnight oats recipes, but I feel like I am always trying to branch out.

These cookies and cream overnight oats are my all-time favorite oats recipe (there's actual Oreo cookies in it!!)

This is a bowl of cookies and cream overnight oats. There is a bowl filled with light brown, chocolate oats topped with crushed oreos. There is also a spoon holding up a bite of these oats.

Here's a roundup of 10+ healthy oats recipes to try!

This is a pinterest pin for a blog post about overnight oats recipes. There are several pictures of jars and bowls of oats.

7. No-bake snacks

While you're keeping the oven off, you might want to make something that isn't a whole feast. Sometimes you need something a bit lighter, and there are some serious winners in the no-bake snacks department.

Here's a few of my favorites!