12 Easy Snacks and Appetizers That’ll Steal the Show at Any Cookout

Our favorite appetizers and snacks—including creamy dips, punchy salads, and juicy corn ribs—are perfect for outdoor gatherings.

By
John Becker
John Becker
John Becker
Editor
John Becker is an editor with over a decade of experience researching and writing about food. He revised and updated the latest edition of The Joy of Cooking.
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Published August 21, 2025
Bowl of pickle dip garnished with panko, dill and pickles, surrounded by a wooden plate full of potato chips, on a green tabeltop

Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

Summer is the season for cookouts, picnics, and backyard potlucks. While coleslaw and potato salad are classics for good reason, plenty of other dishes deserve some love, too. Below, you’ll find our favorite appetizers and snacks—including creamy dips, punchy salads, and sweet, juicy corn ribs—perfect for outdoor gatherings. Best of all, many of these recipes hold up beautifully over time, because let’s face it: someone’s always arriving fashionably late, and the food should still taste great when they do.

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  • Cowboy Caviar

    A bowl of cowboy caviar surrounded by tortilla chips with a hand holding a chip topped with the dish

    Serious Eats / Jen Causey

    We love a creamy puréed bean dip, but the pop of tender black-eyed peas, quartered cherry tomatoes, and plump corn kernels gives this salsa-adjacent salad plenty of fun textures. A mix of raw and roasted red bell pepper, fresh jalapeño, and a cumin–ancho–lime vinaigrette adds layered chile flavor that intensifies as the salad rests.

  • Charred Salsa Verde

    Mexican clay bowls with tortilla chips and charred salsa verde on a colorful traditional Mexican textile, with a hand dipping a chip into the salsa

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    Salsa may be the perfect outdoor appetizer: refreshing, crowd-pleasing, versatile, and just as tasty at the end of your gathering as it is at the start. Kenji’s go-to version begins with broiling halved tomatillos, serranos, and onion on a sheet pan until tender and charred. Once cooled, the vegetables are blended with cilantro into a chunky purée, then fried over high heat to intensify their flavor.

  • Kachumbari (East African Tomato Salad)

    Overhead view of tomato salad

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Light, fresh, and with a hint of heat, vibrant kachumbari is a staple tomato salad in many East African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, to name a few. Salting the tomatoes and letting them sit for just 15 minutes draws out excess liquid, enhancing their flavor and preventing the salad from becoming soggy.

  • Tod Man Khao Pod (Thai Corn Fritters)

    Fritters on a blue and white printed plate, on a bamboo mat. Glass of blue water, and red chili sauce on the side

    Serious Eats / Fred Hardy

    Some fritters, such as tempura or stuffed squash blossoms, are best devoured minutes after they come out of the oil. Others hold up surprisingly well, even at room temperature. Falafel is one example; Korean-style pajeon is another (though both are often preferred hot and freshly fried). These corn fritters from contributor Leela Punyaratabandhu are delicious even after an hour. Flavored with red curry paste and thin slivers of makrut lime leaf, they’re especially good with a small dollop of sweet Thai chili sauce.

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  • Egyptian Bissara (Split Fava Bean Dip)

    Egyptian Bissara

    Serious Eats / Greg Dupree

    Cooking the split fava beans in vegetable broth and seasoning the bissara with shallot-infused oil lends the dip a unique depth of flavor. The dip gets its vivid hue from a blend of fava beans, cilantro, parsley, mint, and dill, and is delicious served warm or at room temperature.

  • Black Olive Tapenade With Garlic, Capers, and Anchovies

    20151016-tapenade-vicky-wasik-9.jpg

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    This briny, garlicky Provençal olive spread needs no introduction. Know it, love it, slather it on slices of good baguette and serve next to a cheese plate or alongside a crudité platter.

  • Mala-Spiced Chex Mix

    Overhead view of mala spiced chex mix

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Homemade Chex mix is perfect for grazing while enjoying cocktails, and this spicy-tingly version from our senior editor, Genevieve, is tossed with chili crisp and a potent mixture of whole spices that get toasted, ground, and briefly fried in butter to coax out their flavor.

  • Honey-Mustard Popcorn

    Overhead view of Honey Mustard Popcorn

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    This is a perfect example of how versatile our editorial director Daniel’s honey-mustard seasoning powder can be. Honey powder, buttermilk powder, and citric acid may be a little tricky to source, but the results are worth it. After all, who doesn’t want to honey-mustard-ify their favorite puffed grain? This dry mix lets you do precisely that—no need to worry about the liquid that honey and mustard usually bring.

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  • Muhammara (Syrian Red Bell Pepper Dip)

    A bowl of muhammara garnished with walnuts, pomegranate arils, and a mint leaf, next to pita bread on a green tile surface

    Serious Eats / Melati Citrawireja

    Our associate culinary editor, Laila, hasn't met a person who's tried this dip and hasn't fallen in love with it. The dip captivates with its bold, layered flavors—the loud punch of sweet pomegranate molasses, the rich nuttiness of ground walnuts, the gentle warmth of spices, the assertive depth of olive oil, and the fruitiness of red bell peppers. Try it the traditional way by topping it with good olive oil and scooping it up with pita bread. Or, get creative and spread it on sandwiches, use it as a pasta filling, or serve it alongside grilled meats and fish.

  • Fried Pickle Dip

    Bowl of pickle dip garnished with panko, dill and pickles, surrounded by a wooden plate full of potato chips, on a green tabeltop

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

    This creamy dip starts with a sour cream–mayo base flavored with a ranch seasoning packet, a splash of pickle juice, and finely chopped fresh dill. Chopped dill pickles are folded in, and the dip is topped with a mix of fried panko breadcrumbs and crushed dill pickle–flavored potato chips. Pickle spears might be a fun dipping option, but potato chips are the more sensible choice.

  • Grilled Corn Ribs

    Bright colorful photo of grilled corn, topped with sauce, cheese cilantro and limes.

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

    Fresh corn off the grill is a must for almost every backyard cookout. And while a lightly charred ear of sweet summer corn really needs no improvement, we’ll admit that it can become a bit repetitive by the end of summer. Enter grilled corn "ribs," which are thin long strips of corn fashioned into rib-like pieces, then tossed with butter and seasonings that cling to every kernel and charred over the grill.

  • Nigerian Salad

    A platter of Nigerian salad topped with sliced eggs cucumbers and tomatoes displayed on a table with cutlery

    Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

    Think of this salad as Nigeria's answer to coleslaw—creamy, colorful, hearty, and made for sharing—but with far more variety and possibilities.

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