30 Easy Summer Lunch Ideas
These easy summer lunch ideas are perfect for chilled meals when it is too hot to cook, you need a light and healthy lunch to bring to work, or your want something easy the kids can make for themselves.
When the temperatures climb, the last thing anyone wants to do is heat up the kitchen to make lunch.
Whether you're feeding hungry kids home for summer break, packing a lunch for work, or just looking for something lighter than your usual meals, these easy summer lunch ideas will help keep everyone well fed this season.
I've included everything from fresh salads, simple wraps, make-ahead lunches, and kid-friendly favorites.
Many of these can be prepared in advance so you can mix and match ingredients throughout the week for quick, stress free meals.
Stock your fridge for summer with a few simple staples like cooked chicken, hard boiled eggs, fresh fruit, and crunchy vegetables, and you're minutes away from a healthy summer lunch any day of the week.
Stock your Summer Lunch Fridge
If you're too tired to make a full blown recipe, just make a habit of prepping these easy ingredients in the fridge and pantry for simple lunchtime snacking:
Proteins:
- Hard Boiled Eggs
- Shredded Chicken or a batch of Cubed Chicken
- Chicken Salad
- Pimento Cheese
Produce:
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Bell Peppers
- Grapes
- Strawberries
- Prepped Romaine for Salads
Flavor Boosters:
Crunchy Starches:
- Crackers
- Crostini
- Tortilla Chips
- Pita Breads
Fresh Salads
When the produce is fresh and plentiful, a crispy cold salad always feels like the perfect choice for a summertime lunch.
I keep a big bowl of washed and prepped romaine lettuce for turning just about any leftover into a salad for lunch the next day.
Most of these salads could be prepped ahead and stored as individual elements for easy assembly all week long.
Chicken Peach Salad
Fresh peaches and a blueberry vinaigrette? This chicken peach salad is basically summer on a plate. You can prep the baked chicken breast and blistered peaches in advance and just store them in a salad kit in your fridge for the week.
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Another fantastic salad kit for your fridge, make the elements for building my favorite buffalo chicken salad and then just assemble and eat!
Strawberry Feta Salad
The easiest sort of lunch to have in the summer is a fresh crisp salad topped with seasonal produce.
I love this easy strawberry feta salad recipe because you can keep all the elements prepped in the fridge and just assemble your salad at lunchtime every day. This is an excellent meal prep recipe, too.
Want more protein? You could top it with shredded chicken or grilled shrimp.
Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes
If you make a big pot of my chicken pasta salad with grapes you can keep it in the fridge for days! I enjoyed this as a lunch for a whole week before I finally finished off the recipe.
Heavy on the salad greens and veggies, lighter on the actual pasta, this sweet and juicy chicken recipe is so good chilled from the fridge.
Deli Grinder Salad
Keep the base ingredients for this easy grinder salad prepped and ready for quick assembly in minutes. It's a delicious way to eat your sub sandwich but carb free!
Lemon Orzo Salad with Shrimp
When the tomatoes are fresh and in season and you can get your hands on some fresh dill, this lemon orzo salad is a true winner.
Eat it as a vegetarian pasta salad or top it with cooked shrimp or chicken.
Couscous Salad with Oranges and Chicken
You could make a batch of my couscous salad with oranges to enjoy as a vegetarian lunch idea or top it with chopped up cooked chicken or shrimp.
While the original recipe suggests serving it warm, room temperature or chilled is delicious too.
Raw Veggie Salad
I've been keeping a big bowl of this raw veggie salad in my fridge for easy lunches all week. I serve it topped with some crumbled feta cheese for more protein but it would pair really well with any leftover grilled chicken, pork, or shrimp you have on hand, too.
Caprese Salad
If you want the flavors of the bruschetta but carb-free without the crostini, slice the tomatoes instead of chop them and layer with slices of fresh mozzarella and basil. This simple caprese salad also makes an excellent base for a grilled sandwich!
Sandwiches and Wraps
Sometimes I like it hot, sometimes I like it cold. A summer sandwich can really go either way.
To avoid warming up the house, I just pop the bread in the air fryer to toast or broil or heat through.
BLT Sandwich
A summertime staple, you can't go wrong with a BLT sandwich with crispy lettuce, in-season tomato slices, and my sweet and peppery bacon.
Deviled Egg Salad
My deviled egg salad is perfect to keep in a container in the fridge. You can layer it between two slices of bread to make a sandwich, roll it in a tortilla wrap, or eat a scoop over a bed of salad greens or with crackers for scooping.
Air Fryer Chicken Pesto Sandwiches
If you keep some prepped shredded chicken in the fridge, making these easy creamy chicken pesto sandwiches in the air fryer would only take a few minutes.
I like mine layered with fresh tomato slices on a crispy ciabatta roll from Costco.
Caesar Salad Wrap
Keep a bottle of Caesar salad dressing on hand, you can drizzle it over some salad greens and roll them up with chopped chicken or shrimp inside a large flour tortilla to make an easy Caesar salad wrap.
Chicken Gyro Pita Wrap
When you grill chicken for dinner, make a little extra and keep a container of homemade tzatziki sauce in the fridge.
Wrap the leftover chicken with some fresh tomatoes and red onions or these pickled red onions in a warm pita for a delicious chicken gyros wrap.
Snack Plates and No-Cook Lunches
One of my current favorite lunches is to assemble a quick "nibble plate" or a large selection of bite-sized snacks that cover all the food groups!
I slice up a hard boiled egg and sprinkle a little seasoned salt over the top.
Then I pile up a random assortment of raw veggies and a scoop of veggie dip.
Then I add a handful of whatever crackers are in my pantry and some sliced cheese.
Lastly, I add some fresh fruit, whatever we have on hand.
Nothing is cooked or warm, everything is nice and chilly. This makes a great easy dinner idea for super-hot nights, too.
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Chicken Salad
Chicken salad of all kinds is another excellent addition to a nibble plate or you could eat it over salad greens or on bread to make a sandwich.
My festive cranberry chicken salad was created for the holiday season but it is just as delicious in the summertime.
Bruschetta Snack Plate
You could prep a variety of fresh salsas and a batch of homemade crostini and keep them on hand for a veggie-forward way to eat a nibble plate for lunch.
My easy bruschetta al pomodoro is the classic Italian appetizer that is the perfect partner to the summer season when tomatoes are sweet and the basil is exploding in your patio garden.
Pimento Cheese and Crackers
If you don't want to slice your cheese, you can make a nibble plate with a cup of homemade pimento cheese and crackers. Add some fresh tomatoes, sliced bell peppers, or whatever other raw veggies you want to round out the lunch.
Roast Beef Crostini
If you want a little more meat on your nibble plate keep some sliced roast beef and my easy homemade horseradish sauce for making these delicious roast beef crostini bites.
If you don't want to mess with crostini, you could use the same sauce and slices of tomatoes to make a roast beef and horseradish sauce sandwich instead.
Chicken Enchilada Dip
Creamy cheese dips that you can make ahead and keep in the fridge are perfect for easy lunches or snacks during the summer.
This spicy chicken enchilada dip pairs great with tortilla chips or hearty crackers. Enjoy some veggies on the side.
Cream Cheese with Pepper Jelly
Just two ingredients, this cream cheese with pepper jelly was one of my favorite lunch staples when I was healing from surgery a few years ago. It is just a light and easy meal (or a heavy snack, however you want to look it.)
I enjoyed mine with a side of fresh grapes or cantaloupe but it would pair really well with some prosciutto too.
Air Fryer Shrimp Cocktail
Pretend you're at some fancy-schmancy summer resort and spoil yourself with a chilled air fryer shrimp cocktail platter.
Pair the cooked and chilled shrimp with your favorite shrimp dipping sauce.
Poolside Dip
You know it is summertime when a batch of this creamy pool side dip is in the cooler along with some crackers as you head off to go swimming.
No pool? No problem. Why save it for swimming when you could enjoy the sweet crips veggies hiding in there right now??
Easy Kid Lunches
Don't miss my full list of 30 easy summer lunches for kids, but I wanted to take a moment to call out a few of my personal favorites. These are perfect for making the kids and enjoying yourself, too.
Crescent Roll Veggie Pizza
My kids love finding this chilled veggie pizza in our fridge. It makes a fun "open face sandwich" sort of lunch and it lasts for a couple days.
Jerk Chicken Quesadillas
Keep packets of this jerk chicken and peppers filling in the fridge and your kids could make just one or two jerk chicken quesadillas for their lunch whenever they want.
Sweet Corn Pizza
I used an individual pita as the crust for making this sweet corn pizza for my daughter's lunch last summer and it was a huge hit.
We mixed and matched some leftovers and I had it prepped in minutes. She could totally do it herself, too.
Firecracker Cream Cheese Pinwheels
I think appetizers can make some of the best lunches, why wait for a party when you can enjoy them with your family?
My kids love these spicy firecracker cream cheese pinwheels. Store them under plastic wrap to keep them fresh in the fridge.
Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets with Dipping Sauce
I always have a bag of frozen chicken nuggets in my freezer and I've taught the kids how to bake them in the air fryer by themselves.
I keep a few yummy dipping sauces on hand for a special treat. This copycat Chick-Fil-A sauce is always a hit.
Breakfast Burritos
Prep a batch of my make-ahead breakfast burritos at the start of summer and you'll have a grab-and-go breakfast or easy lunch any time. Just reheat them in the microwave.
This is an excellent choice for sleepy teens that wake up closer to lunchtime than breakfast!
Breakfast Quesadilla
I love how easy it is to make a quick breakfast quesadilla, it's the perfect "brunch" for when you're too close to lunch but still want to have some eggs.
I've taught my kids how to make this themselves so they have a warm protein-rich snack any time of day.
More Summer Tips
Want to save even more time this summer? Why not get dinner started in one of these summer crockpot recipes while you're prepping the produce for lunch?
Or buy a little extra of those fresh in-season berries and plan to make one of my favorite freezer jam recipes to enjoy all year.
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