Your Ultimate Barbecue Party Menu

When the first big barbecuing opportunity of the season presents itself, you’re going to be well prepared.

Officially all you need for the perfect barbecue party is your favourite humans in one place with the grill on and the cellphones off, but having an entire menu of fresh and delicious recipes ready to go isn’t going to hurt.

Starters

Grilled Asparagus with Queso Fresco and Prosciutto

(Photo: Page and Paper.)Fresh asparagus bound with cheese and prosciutto can be assembled ahead of time; throw them on the grill to shrink-wrap the melty cheese to the asparagus and serve warm.

Honey-Drizzled Grilled Scallop Skewers

Keep guests satiated with these quick honey-drizzled bites while you work on the mains.

Smoke-Planked Perogy Potatoes 

(Photo: Clinton Hussey.)If you really know your perogies, top these potatoes with sour cream and sautéed onions. Have a wooden plank on hand to cook the potatoes.

Lemon and Garlic Marinated Shrimp

(Photo: Page and Paper.)Served warm or cold, this is a quick-to-grill crowd-pleaser that requires minimal ingredients to get the perfect bite.

Salads

Grilled Corn, Black Bean and Peach Salad

(Photo: Clinton Hussey.)Brian Misko’s colourful mixed summer salad is awesome with chicken, pork, steaks and burgers.

Cucumber Salad with Fresh Dill

(Photo: Jelger Tanja Photographers.)Move over spuds! We like this fresh twist on the typically potato sour cream-based salad from Railtown Catering.

Cornbread Panzanella Salad

(Photo: Ryan Szulc.)A Southern spin on the classic Italian salad (hello, cornbread!) from the new cookbook Lick Your Plate.

Mains

The Perfect Ribs

There are several components to these ribs from the Southern-cooking specialists at Cochon Restaurant in New Orleans, but they’re well worth the time. The recipe is scaled for four racks of ribs, but can easily be adjusted for larger batches with little extra effort.

Apple Burgers

(Photo: Clinton Hussey.)This award-winning recipe comes from ‘BBQ Brian’ Misko’s cookbook, Grilling with the House of Q, so you know they’re going to be good.

Rabbit and Chorizo Spanish Paella

(Photo: Murray Bancroft.)Now’s the time for this spot prawn, crab, chorizo, prosciutto and rabbit paella, which may sound heavy on the ingredients but prepping is most of the work with only a handful of steps required to execute your sizzling paella vision. 

Want to find more recipes for entertaining indoors and outdoors? Check out our recipe finder!