My favorite thing about summer hosting is that the caliber of the party is measured on a “vibes” based ruler.

Summer means sun. Sun makes people happy. Happy people in a backyard with grilled meat between bread or veg on a stick are easy to please. In the summer, no one is grading your culinary prowess on a rubric or judging your tablescaping skills. All they want is to be outside with friends and food and fun, so to honor that, this newsletter is your summer hosting cheat sheet. I’m sharing a few of the tiny swaps that make store-bought taste homemade, the format upgrades that make food feel festive, and the make-ahead life savers that mean you are actually enjoying your own party instead of sweating over a grill while everyone else plays the seventeenth round of corn hole without you.

Give people something to do with their hands the second they arrive.

Grown ups yearn to graze. A staple of an English summer is a meal of “picky bits,” the Italians have their antipasto, there’s Mediterranean mezze, Spanish tapas, Basque pinxos, people love anything they can pick at while you finish setting up. Having some sort of finger food, snack situation also solves the most stressful part of hosting, which is the gap between "guests are here" and "food is ready," and sets the tone for the whole gathering.

This 👏 does 👏 not 👏 need 👏 to 👏 be 👏 fancy 👏!

A board with some cheese, crackers, and whatever fruit is in season at the mo, will do just fine. A bowl of chips with a good dip. Some olives in a dish. Scroll down for a few of my go to ideas.

[MAKE-AHEAD ANCHOR] + [EASY GRILL OR NO-COOK PROTEIN] + [ONE CROWD-PLEASER SIDE] + [SOMETHING COLD AND SWEET] = A Party

These are the dishes that get better the longer they sit, which means you can make them Friday night or Saturday morning and they are actually more delicious by the time people arrive.

Tips to make it better:

The recipe is…no recipe. All you need is a short pasta (rotini, fusilli, farfalle) + something salty (olives, salami, pepperoncini, feta) + something crunchy (cucumber, bell pepper, red onion) + something fresh (parsley, basil) + a vinaigrette you actually like.

Find countless pasta salad builds on Pepper! The community has hundreds of variations and the comment sections are full of people's signature additions. This is my go to.

Marinating chicken thighs, shrimp, or vegetables overnight means the grill does almost no work. The flavor is already in there. All you are doing is applying heat.

The marinade that works on everything: olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, whatever dried herbs you have, salt and pepper. The ratio is roughly 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. Anything soaked in that for 8+ hours will taste good. It’s a cheat code. I like to do bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs marinated overnight, grilled on medium heat for about 6-7 minutes a side. They are almost impossible to dry out, they taste better than chicken breasts, and they cost less. Here’s a recipe!

This takes 15 minutes, keeps in the fridge for three days, and people put it on everythingggg (think: chips, grilled chicken, burgers, or just straight from the spoon).

Here’s a base recipe for proportions.

Chicken breasts dry out fast, are unforgiving if you get distracted, and they are not even the best-tasting cut. Thighs are juicier, more forgiving, cheaper, and they char beautifully.

Butter the burger buns and toast them cut-side down on the grill for 60 seconds before you build the burgers. A toasted bun means the structural integrity holds up longer, the butter adds flavor, and the grill marks make it look intentional.

Cut zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, and red onion into big pieces, toss with olive oil and salt, grill on high heat until charred in spots, then pile them onto a platter and finish with a squeeze of lemon and some crumbled feta or fresh herbs. Don’t banish your vegetables to “side” territory. They put in work.

Scoop store bought hummus into a bowl, use the back of a spoon to make a swoop, drizzle with olive oil, scatter some paprika and a few whole chickpeas on top. It took 30 seconds and looks fancy.

The same formula applies to guac. Stir in fresh lime juice and a little extra salt and cilantro right before serving. The fresh acid wakes it up and makes it perfectly zesty.

Pull it off the bone, toss it with any sauce (buffalo, barbecue, pesto, chimichurri), and pile it on a platter with some herbs on top. Ta da!

Cut up some watermelon, mango, papaya, and other summer fruits and berries and serve them on a platter with with flaky salt, tajin, and lime on the side.

The classics are classic for a reason. Set out two or three flavors of ice cream, toppings in little bowls (hot fudge, crushed cookies, sprinkles, whipped cream), and a stack of bowls or cones.

Nothing says summer like s’mores! If you have any kind of fire pit situation or grill, it makes for the perfect summer dessert and activity all in one.