Easy BBQ Ideas

Holding a backyard barbecue party is a great way to get friends and family together, especially during the summer when the beautiful weather just adds to the enjoyment. Food is, of course, an important part of the fun. Here are some easy BBQ ideas for your next casual gathering.

The Salad Buffet

Not your average salad bar! Sometimes the weather is just so hot that a crisp, cool salad is a welcome treat. Put out salad fixings - lots of fresh, crunchy and colorful veggies, some croutons, a variety of dressings ... and then supplement that with barbecued meats: offer sliced barbecued beef, chicken, or salmon for topping off the salads.

Complement with delicious BBQ corn, fresh bread, and butter. Put out a cooler with lots of different drinks.

Let everyone help themselves... they can take what they want and it's less work for you too.

The Appetizer Buffet

Fussing with plates, utensils, and looking for places to sit and eat can be somewhat of a pain when there's a lot of people. So why not make it easy and offer finger foods or appetizers that can be easily eaten while standing?

Toothpicks and skewers are great for this. Prepare a variety of meats and veggies, either grilled on skewers or cut into pieces easily eaten with the fingers. Even barbecue corn can be snapped into thirds or halves, for a conveniently small size. Check out our section on BBQ appetizer recipes for ideas on what to make, or grill up a tantalizing selection of BBQ skewers.

Complement the tasty barbecued food with a platter of fresh, cool fruit, cut into chunks that can be easily speared with a toothpick. Use lots of different kinds of fruit for a beautiful colorful display.

The Barbecue Potluck

Ask every family coming to prepare one thing for the grill. Food can either be prepared in advance (and warmed up on location), or it can be barbecued during the get-together. The host can do all the BBQ'ing, or every family might want to do their own. This is always an interesting way to get a wide variety of different flavors and foods. To make sure that everyone doesn't bring the same stuff, 'assign' different foods to each family.

Some things like BBQ baked potatoes and BBQ corn can be wrapped individually in foil, which will keep it warm until it's ready to be eaten.

The host might also decide to provide snacks, drinks, desserts, salads, etc.

Enjoying good food and great friends are the heart of these BBQ ideas. Browse our site for more BBQ tips!