Best Summer Chicken Recipes

Need a new chicken dinner idea? Try this grilled chicken and vegetable dish from chef Rick Bayless. Grilling the chicken and summer vegetables is a no-brainer, but in colder months, you may wish to move indoors and roast the chicken, along with some root vegetables. Whatever the weather, it's worth seeking out piloncillo for the beer glaze. This unrefined sugar used in Mexican cooking is made from evaporated cane juice. Its complex caramelized flavor balances any bitterness in the beer. Look for it in Latin markets and online.

This Asian-inspired dinner salad has terrific crunch, thanks to sugar snap peas and napa cabbage. Give the dressing a kick of heat by adding a bit of sambal oelek, an Indonesian hot sauce that you can find in most large supermarkets and Asian grocery stores.

Time to clean out the fridge? These versatile skillet chicken fajitas are designed to work with whatever vegetables you happen to have on hand. The key is to slice all the veggies to approximately the same size so they cook evenly.

In this healthy copycat of a takeout salad favorite we combine precooked (or leftover) chicken and poppy seed dressing with fresh greens, strawberries and goat cheese for an easy throw-together meal that's ready in 10 minutes.

Jamaican jerk sauce traditionally uses Scotch bonnet peppers; here, we substitute jalapeños for a milder flavor. The jerk sauce serves as both a marinade and a sauce for meaty grilled chicken thighs. This healthy grill recipe takes just 30 minutes of active time, so as long as you plan ahead and factor in the marinating time it's perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or easy weekend BBQ.

We love the crunch from sliced cucumber and jicama in these savory chicken lettuce wraps. Serve with the simple peanut sauce for an easy dinner recipe that will impress kids and adults alike.

This scrumptious and healthy salad combines elements of Caesar salad, pasta salad and chicken salad for an easy weeknight dinner that comes together in less than 30 minutes (and most of the prep can be done ahead). Use your blender to whip together the tangy buttermilk-based dressing, which would also be great on a salmon or chickpea salad.

This healthy grilled chicken breast recipe--a twist on chicken piccata--features a creamy white-wine-and-caper pan sauce that gets a burst of summer flavor from fresh grape tomatoes and basil. Pounding the chicken prior to grilling ensures even cooking and makes this easy dinner even faster. The piccata sauce would also be great with shrimp, firm white fish or pork.

Cucumbers do double duty in this healthy Greek chicken pita recipe--they're grated to lend a refreshing flavor to the quick cucumber-yogurt sauce and sliced to provide cool crunch tucked into the pita. Serve these Mediterranean sandwiches for a healthy dinner or light lunch.

This healthy chicken pasta recipe is jazzed up with traditional bruschetta toppers, including cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil. Multicolored cherry tomatoes look pretty, but you can use all one color of tomato too. Either way, you've got an easy weeknight dinner that's ready in 25 minutes. We've called for spaghettini (thin spaghetti) in this recipe, but feel free to use your favorite shape of pasta.

This hearty chicken salad recipe is full of grilled sweet corn, scallions, salty feta, escarole, pine nuts and spicy chicken. Smoked paprika gives the tomato dressing a bacon-like flavor.

In this easy and healthy chicken taco recipe, we top grilled chicken tenders with a crunchy and colorful vegetable slaw and a simple blend of sour cream, lime juice and cilantro. The chicken is cooked on a grill pan, so these crowd-pleasing chicken tacos make for a great 25-minute weeknight dinner year-round.

This healthy chicken pesto pasta is easy to make thanks to convenience ingredients like rotisserie chicken and store-bought pesto. The addition of fresh asparagus--which is cooked in the same pot as the pasta--brightens up the look and the flavors of this family-friendly and easy one-pot dinner. Fresh basil, if you have it on hand, is a nice finishing touch.

Add some flavor of the Caribbean to your weeknight dinners with this healthy and easy jerk chicken recipe. The chicken is cooked on a grill pan rather than an outdoor grill--make sure the pan is well-heated before adding the chicken to achieve the crisp char you would get from an outdoor grill. A simple side of coconut rice and peas completes this satisfying and nutritious meal.

Try this satisfying salad recipe for an updated version of the classic Cobb. Kale, feta and strawberries give this chicken salad a colorful upgrade.

In this healthy grilled chicken recipe, ancho chile powder adds a rich, mild flavor to lean chicken breasts. If you can't find ancho chile powder, feel free to use mild chili powder in its place. A vibrant salsa with avocado and grilled apricots, nectarines and/or peaches completes the pretty picture. Grilling not-quite-ripe stone fruit is a mouth­watering way to bring out its natural flavor and sweetness--plus, the fruit is grilled right alongside the chicken, making for a quick recipe.

You may not be in the islands at this very moment, but you can certainly pretend to be while eating this tropical-inspired pasta salad--featuring grilled chicken, creamy avocadoes and sweet mango, tossed with lime-cilantro dressing.

Chicken thighs are easy on the budget and great for grilling because they stay moist in the heat. Here, they are paired with a fresh corn and tomato salad for a simple summer dinner. When grilling skin-on chicken thighs, watch for flare-ups. Move the chicken away from the flames and reduce heat, if necessary, to keep it from charring.

This fruity green salad with chicken offers an explosion of flavors in each bite. The taste of sweet strawberries, peppery arugula and tangy feta cheese is enhanced by the intense balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

This healthy summer dinner subs zoodles for pasta to help use up your zucchini bounty--as well as slash calories and carbs. Once the spiralized zucchini has time to soak up the herby pesto sauce, this chicken and pesto pasta makes particularly good leftovers.

This light lunch salad is full of flavor and texture. Sweet kiwi, creamy avocado and spicy radishes combine with grilled chicken in a lime and basil flavored dressing.

This chicken's sticky, citrusy glaze is a flavor-packed combo of Belgian wit beer, coriander and orange--plus it gets a Thai-inspired spin from lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Use a bottle from your favorite brewery or opt for easy-to-find Blue Moon Belgian White (and have a few extra bottles on hand to drink with it!).

This healthy, super-fast salad recipe swaps out romaine for kale, giving you more than 10 times the vitamin C. Easy flavor hacks like store-bought ranch and pickled jalapeños help make a creamy, tangy and spicy dressing you'll want to drizzle on everything from salad to sliced veggies and shredded poached chicken.

This recipe combines two popular components of Greek cuisine: souvlaki and tzatziki. Souvlaki consists of skewered, grilled meat, and tzatziki is a yogurt-based sauce traditionally served with grilled meats.