It’s summertime and the lunching is easy. Or at least it should be! Thankfully, these 45 easy summer lunch recipe ideas are so quick and simple, they’ll get you back in the pool/in the ocean/to your pickle ball game, etc. (you’ll see where we’re going here ASAP). Summer is just not the time to wait in line at the beach snack bar, settle with a mushy sandwich, or deal with lukewarm takeout; these easy salads, bowls, sandwiches, and BBQ-friendly lunch ideas all require very little time in the kitchen, so you can spend that time working on your base tan instead. Just promise us you’ll wait 30 minutes after chowing down on a chicken salad sandwich before doing that cannonball. 😉

If your summer plans include a lot of lugging that beach cooler across the sand, we’ve got plenty of packable beach lunches that’ll help you keep your clutch spot in the sun. We’ve never met a club sandwich or chicken Caesar wrap we didn’t love. Other honorable mentions include our curried chickpea salad and extra-crispy Buffalo chicken nugget burritos. Be sure to bring enough for everyone, because you will be inciting some serious lunch envy if not! And don’t forget to round out your picnic with our Thai peanut chicken pasta salad. It only gets better with time, meaning it’s a summer cooler MVP.

Summer is the time of year we most want to carpe the diem (and by “diem,” we mean “all that summer produce” and “all the lobster rolls/hot dogs/burgers“). Our recipes for summer panzanella, lobster salad, and Big Mac crunchwraps are sure to be lunches you’ll want to eat well past Labor Day, guaranteed.

delish!