20 Ways to Make Your Picnic Healthy and Delicious

Written by Michael Matthews

Caprese Quesadilla

Take your Caprese salad to-go by turning it into a quesadilla. You won’t need a fork to enjoy fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil together.

And there’s no salad dressing either. Bring the chopped balsamic tomatoes for a topping, or just grab a pico de gallo or red salsa, which you can also share around with tortilla chips.

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Cupcake Tin Stout Pies

Muffins and cupcakes are great to bring to a picnic, but you can use that baking tin to make other single-serving eats too.

Instead of having to haul a whole dish, bake mini picnic pies, which can be sweet or savory. Then bring along just enough to feed the crowd – whether that’s double the recipe, or just a couple as part of a romantic picnic for two.

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Curried Quinoa Salad

A quinoa salad is awesome for a picnic lunch – or any kind of lunch – because it’s a balanced meal all on its own. The fresh herbs, nuts, and fruit don’t hurt.

Yet it’s the quinoa itself that provides a foundation for great nutrition, including vitamins, minerals, fiber, complex carbs, and plant-based protein. And for an even more substantial quinoa salad, mix in shredded chicken breast or turkey.

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Apple Slaw

Whole apples might seem like a great idea for a picnic, but they tend to get bruised in the bag on the trek to a sunny spot in the park. And when you eat them whole, you have to toss the core somewhere.

You may as well prep them ahead of time for a salad or slaw. The trick to making sure pre-cut apples don’t turn brown is to toss them in citrus juice, so this is one time where you’ll want to add the dressing immediately instead of waiting until it’s served.

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Sweet Potato & Millet Falafel

Falafel probably doesn’t rank high on the list of cold picnic foods. However, it can be eaten at any temperature, and that also means you can prepare it ahead of time and just grab it out of the fridge on the way there.

It’ll be great to have with hummus, which is a snack dip with pita chips, but turns into a whole meal when you add falafel.

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Broccoli Salad with Sweet Lime Chili Dressing

This superfood salad is great anytime with broccoli, mangoes, and red bell pepper. It’s one to remember when you’re getting sick of green salads and need something new in the mix.

Using broccoli instead of lettuce also makes it a welcome addition to any picnic spread because it won’t wilt in the sun. Actually none of the ingredients in this salad will go bad even if you spend half the day in the park before bringing home leftovers – if you even have any.

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Cream Cheese-Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers

This easy appetizer combines stuffed peppers with stuffed mushrooms for an irresistible snack. Bite-sized baby bell peppers can be turned into picnic finger food when you slice them in half, fill with cream cheese, and roast in the oven. They’re great to eat when warm or cold.

Depending on what flavors you prefer, this recipe is easily adaptable. You could mix in paprika, cayenne, and almonds. Or go with Cajun seasoning, pecans, and a dash of hot sauce.

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Make-Ahead Dagwood Sandwiches

When you’re making a sandwich for a picnic, it has to hit all the right notes. Otherwise you can’t rummage through the fridge to find more condiments or other toppings.

So be sure to use a flavorful bread, add enough pesto or other sauce to ensure the sandwich isn’t dry, and pile on multiple meats so everyone’s happy. This version uses smoked turkey and salami, or you can replace either one with sliced picnic ham.

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Mediterranean Cauliflower Salad with Roasted Chickpeas

Get everyone to eat their veggies with this chickpea salad. That’s because what looks like couscous is actually cauliflower. Just cut it into florets, put them in the food processor, and pulse until they get crumbly.

If you’d rather have this Mediterranean salad with a low-fat dressing, make one by blending together a can of chickpeas, the juice of one orange, and a few tablespoons of tahini. Add garlic powder and other seasonings to taste.

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Blueberry Peach Snack Cake

It’s tempting to bring cupcakes to a party until you realize how hard it is to move them without wrecking the frosting, or having them all topple over.

When you’re baking a picnic cake, keep it simple with fresh fruit, and you have to plan a topping at all. Simply slice into squares, and serve the lightly sweetened cake with a bottle of chilled white wine.

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Asian Noodle Salad Jars

Instead of bringing a big bowl of salad to share around, make individual portions to pack.

You’ll still need a plate or bowl to dump the contents into so they have space to be mixed with the dressing, but overall going for the salad-in-a-jar method will be the cleaner and easier route.

There won’t be any need to pass around a big salad bowl and try to spoon it into smaller portions, and the ingredients will stay fresh until each person decides to dig in.

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Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Pineapple Barbecue Sauce

Put your picnic roast in a Crock Pot the day before, and you’ll have succulent pork in the fridge to grab and go.

Shredded meat is easier to serve outside since you won’t have to carve it. And it’s perfect to pair with a classic picnic dish: coleslaw.

Pile it high on hamburger buns, mix it into a corn salad, or use it to top crostini. Extras can go in the freezer for a quick meal later on.

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Tempeh & Cucumber Bites with Balsamic Reduction

Headed to a vegetarian picnic? You don’t have to bring a veggie tray or fruit salad – although they’re tasty too. These bite-sized skewers are fun to serve, easy to share, and simple to make.

Yet I’m betting nobody else is going to show up with these tempeh skewers. Not only are they clever, but these cucumber skewers are a cinch to make.

Mix together vinegar and brown sugar in a pot, and bring to a boil for a few minutes to thicken the dipping sauce. Then dice up the tempeh and cucumbers into cubes, or as close as you can get them, and assemble.

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Mini Frittatas in a Jar

Frittata is an Italian picnic classic, but taking a whole dish to the park isn’t that easy. You can slice it up into cubes and bring it in a lidded plastic container.

Or, bake individual serving sizes in jars. When you’re worried about bugs or dirt getting in your food while you picnic, nothing beats a mason jar for keeping your meal clean and away from critters.

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Chopped Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Fresh Cheese & Mint

Snap peas are a great picnic snack because you can enjoy them whole and use almost any kind of savory dip, like hummus or creamy yogurt.

This recipe takes a different approach by slicing them up to be the greens in a salad. And this dressing is even easier than making homemade dip. All you need is garlic, lemon juice, and rice wine vinegar.

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Apricots with Basil-Goat Cheese & Almonds

Trail mix lovers will want to try this picnic-friendly snack. Spread goat cheese on a dried apricot, and top with an almond. It’s really that easy.

To make it extra-special, take the time to add fresh herbs like basil to the cheese. You can prepare and assemble everything ahead of time, or just take the goat cheese to the picnic along with a knife and other items like crackers to spread it on.

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Spicy Lime Shrimp with Drunken Grapes

Take shrimp appetizers to go with this fun, refreshing bite. Although they look unassuming, like a couple basic ingredients threaded on a toothpick, these shrimp bites will wow everyone.

The secret that makes the flavor pop is soaking the grapes in white wine for a couple hours. It’ll pair perfectly with the honey ginger lime shrimp.

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Almond Coconut Bars

For an easy picnic dessert, choose a recipe that’s already portioned out, like cookies, brownies, or snack bars.

These require just four ingredients – five, if you want to include chocolate – and they can be quickly mixed together and baked anywhere from a couple days before the picnic to an hour before you head to the park.

Pick up The Love and Lemons Cookbook: An Apple-to-Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking, for more simple-to-make recipes that help with healthy meal planning. It includes illustrated guides to making hummus, salsa, and more.

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Lemon Tuna & Artichoke Sandwiches

The best way to take tuna salad to-go is to spread it between two slices of bread. And although a lot of picnic foods contain mayonnaise, it’s better to leave it at home because it can’t sit out unrefrigerated for more than two hours.

This recipe opts for artichoke hearts instead, and if you choose the canned tuna packed in oil, it’ll help to keep the tuna salad creamy and delicious.

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Smoked Salmon & Dill Tea Sandwiches

For a fancy picnic, make tea sandwiches – the simple kind that has the crusts cut off. They tend to have bare minimum fillings like jam, butter and pickles, or pears.

These delicate sandwiches don’t have to be sweet or light, though. Since cream cheese is a common filling, it only makes sense to add smoked salmon. And this same recipe can be used to make cucumber dill sandwiches; make them vegetarian by replacing the salmon.

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