We have you covered for how to embrace the season and make a perfect picnic basket.
Spring has sprung! It’s time to feel the sunshine on your face and soak up the sounds of nature. But every outdoor outing needs quality food to treat your tastebuds while spending time with friends. This spring, we’re embracing fresh, seasonal ingredients that are easy to eat open-air. While sometimes you just want to pick up tasty pre-made food for a picnic, nothing hits the spot like a meal made with love.
Our menu options cover all the courses so you can enjoy smooth sandwiches on flaky bread with crunchy chips on the side. Wash it all down with our very own enhanced lemonade tea, and end with an indulgent dark chocolate dessert.
So, pack your picnic basket, gather your loved ones, and enjoy the outdoors and the bounty of the season—spring is in full swing. Try out our favorite 17 recipes for the perfect picnic spread.
The ingredients for these fresh-tasting sandwiches will keep a few days in a backpack (stash the kale and avocados near the top so they don’t get crushed)—so it’s great for camping, too. Parmesan will last a week if you bring a chunk and grate it as needed. The recipe comes from the outdoor cooking experts behind the blog Dirty Gourmet.
For a sandwich rendition of the classic Italian salad, Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop in the Seattle area loads up rolls with cherry tomatoes (such as Sun Gold) and mini mozzarella balls. A thick layer of pesto makes it extra-memorable. The shop wouldn’t reveal how the pesto keeps its bright color when they bake the sandwich in the oven, but we suspect they blanch the herb leaves, as we’ve done here.
“My mom’s concept of egg salad is to incorporate as much herbs as possible,” says Avery Ruzicka of Manresa Bread about her family’s bright, fresh recipe. For hard-cooked eggs with tender whites and moist yolks, she brings them to a boil in a pan covered with 1 inch water, lets them stand off the heat 7 minutes, then sets them in a bowl of ice water.
The vegetables in these sandwiches don’t get soggy as they stand, and the flavors benefit from a little time together.
This herb vinaigrette-dressed pasta salad keeps better than a mayo-based one from the deli—and tastes better too.
A refreshing option for dinner on a warm night. The ingredients can be prepped and pasta cooked a day ahead of time and chilled (add 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil to the cooked pasta). Toss everything together just before serving.
Meet your new picnic staple: a potato salad classic enough to satisfy purists, but with onions, peas, and tarragon for fresh flavor and pretty hits of green.
Matthew Lewis, chef and owner of the Where Ya At Matt? food truck in Seattle, makes this side dish in the height of summer, when melons are at their best. The cool, sweet juice of the fruit really hits the spot on a hot day.
In this fresh, easy spread, the chile-herb sauce serves as both a dip and a swirl-in for flavoring hummus.
Picnic tips: Roll lettuce in a towel, enclose in a plastic bag, and stash at the top of the cooler so it doesn’t get crushed. Add the sauce to the hummus at the picnic.
“It’s important to find a variety of potato that gets crisp when fried,” says Lulu chef David Tanis of this simple yet herbaceous appetizer or side dish. “We sometimes use a Yukon Gold type or Rose Fir. You can try to use small russets, but the only real way to know if they will work is to test a few slices.”
A play on the classic iced tea and lemonade drink made popular by legendary golfer Arnold Palmer. In this version, the combination of lemon-scented ingredients gives a gentler citrus flavor.
The delicate floral aroma of this drink makes it perfect for sipping in the garden; the antioxidants and low caffeine levels in green tea mean you can enjoy it all day long. The tea keeps up to two days.
“This is the kind of cool drink you want when you’re out in the sun,” says Maeve McAuliffe of Rory’s Place. Make the cucumber mixture ahead of time and top it off with ice and club soda (or even Champagne).
These macaroons are the most delicious we’ve ever tasted in the Sunset Test Kitchen. The recipe comes from Karen Dannenbaum of Topanga, California, who inherited it from her mother, Elsa, an outstanding cook. Of all the recipes Elsa left behind in her handwritten notebooks, “this was one of her best, and a family favorite,” Dannenbaum says. She also included an option for double-dipping the cookies in melted white chocolate over the dark. We loved them as-is, but if you’d like to double-dip, feel free!
Inspired by French financiers, these small cakes are dense with the warm flavors of almond, orange zest, and butter. The grapes become a little jammy after baking, which complements the cakes’ richness.
These gourmet doughnuts can be prepared ahead, requiring only a quick baking before you’re ready to go.
Chewy, and big enough to share—though you may want every bite. For the richest flavor, use dark chocolate and cocoa such as Scharffen Berger.
This herb vinaigrette-dressed pasta salad keeps better than a mayo-based one from the deli—and tastes better too.
Matthew Lewis, chef and owner of the Where Ya At Matt? food truck in Seattle, makes this side dish in the height of summer, when melons are at their best. The cool, sweet juice of the fruit really hits the spot on a hot day.
In this fresh, easy spread, the chile-herb sauce serves as both a dip and a swirl-in for flavoring hummus.
Picnic tips: Roll lettuce in a towel, enclose in a plastic bag, and stash at the top of the cooler so it doesn’t get crushed. Add the sauce to the hummus at the picnic.
“It’s important to find a variety of potato that gets crisp when fried,” says Lulu chef David Tanis of this simple yet herbaceous appetizer or side dish. “We sometimes use a Yukon Gold type or Rose Fir. You can try to use small russets, but the only real way to know if they will work is to test a few slices.”
A play on the classic iced tea and lemonade drink made popular by legendary golfer Arnold Palmer. In this version, the combination of lemon-scented ingredients gives a gentler citrus flavor.
The delicate floral aroma of this drink makes it perfect for sipping in the garden; the antioxidants and low caffeine levels in green tea mean you can enjoy it all day long. The tea keeps up to two days.
“This is the kind of cool drink you want when you’re out in the sun,” says Maeve McAuliffe of Rory’s Place. Make the cucumber mixture ahead of time and top it off with ice and club soda (or even Champagne).
These macaroons are the most delicious we’ve ever tasted in the Sunset Test Kitchen. The recipe comes from Karen Dannenbaum of Topanga, California, who inherited it from her mother, Elsa, an outstanding cook. Of all the recipes Elsa left behind in her handwritten notebooks, “this was one of her best, and a family favorite,” Dannenbaum says. She also included an option for double-dipping the cookies in melted white chocolate over the dark. We loved them as-is, but if you’d like to double-dip, feel free!
Inspired by French financiers, these small cakes are dense with the warm flavors of almond, orange zest, and butter. The grapes become a little jammy after baking, which complements the cakes’ richness.