Super Summer BBQ Sides

Don’t let the meat take sole center stage – let your side dishes make a name for themselves too.

5. Stand Out Salads

Salads needn’t be a dull, boring afterthought. No one actually likes bowls of plain lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion and pepper, so do yourself and your guests a favor and stop serving them.

Instead, make salads something that people actually want to dig in to.

Mix up different leaves – lettuce is fine, but try different types like cos, gem or romaine, along with spinach, rocket, kale, cabbage and chard. Add in flavorsome extras such as spring onions, chilli flakes, pickled beets, pickled onions and garlic, plum or grape tomatoes, celery – use your imagination. Make your own dressings, the more exciting the better. A good mustard and honey dressing is always a winner!

6. Embrace Healthy Fats

Rather than serving up carb-laden side dishes such as potato salad, pasta and the dreaded, easy option of bread rolls, try fat-based dishes.

Avocados and olives are a good starting point.

Half an avocado, take out the stone, and fill the middle with low-fat cream cheese and chili flakes for something a little different.

A bowl of mixed, marinated olives placed strategically in the middle of the table is sure to appeal to everyone and mean your guests are getting the benefits of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

And how about big slices of beef tomato, served with mozzarella or feta cheese and olive oil?

7. Potato Salad Mark 2

Boiled white potatoes and mayonnaise – it’s hardly cordon bleu cooking, or diet-friendly. A sweet potato salad however is much tastier and healthier.

Prepare your sweet potatoes by cubing and boiling them, then leave them to cool. Once they’re ready, put them in a big bowl and add light or extra light mayo, fat-free sour cream, a handful of chives, finely diced red onion, chopped pepper, salt, pepper and a little olive oil and chilli powder.

You can make coleslaw using this same dressing too – just swap the sweet potato for grated cabbage, carrot and a little white onion.

8. Don’t Skip Dessert

You might think that staying healthy means foregoing the sweet stuff, but you’d be wrong.

Barbecued fruits such as bananas, pineapple and mango taste amazing, and while possibly a little high in sugar, are certainly a much better option than pies and cakes. These work great when done kebab-style.

You could go for some frozen yogurt too. Not the store-bought stuff though (massive amounts of sugar!) but make your own. Just take some low-sugar, low-fat natural or Greek yogurt and whack it in the freezer, stirring every half hour or so.

This is good on its own, but to make it even better, add mix-ins, such as berries, coconut, sweetener, high-coca dark chocolate or protein powder.

There you have it – eight incredibly easy ways to get your healthiest, tastiest BBQ yet.