17 Recipes to Celebrate Juneteenth

In this installment of Diaspora Dining, Jessica B. Harris' series on foods of the African diaspora, fresh summer fruit stars in a salad that's perfect for serving at your Juneteenth barbecue. 

Porgy, also referred to as scup or bream, is a medium-fatty, firm-fleshed white fish with a mild flavor and edible skin. It takes very well to battering and frying, as in this recipe. If you can't find porgy, any medium-size, firm-fleshed white fish will work in this delicious recipe (skinned if desired). Buttermilk helps the cornmeal coating stick to the fish and keeps the fish moist, while seafood seasoning adds a nice kick. Ask your fishmonger to clean the fish and remove the heads and fins.

This healthy barbecue chicken recipe is easy to make and is packed with so much flavor, thanks to the sweetness from orange zest and juice. You can make this recipe with whole chicken legs or all drumsticks or thighs. This recipe is part of our Juneteenth Family Cookout Menu.

Culinary historian and cookbook author Jessica B. Harris shares this classic coleslaw recipe, made with green and red cabbage, cider vinegar and a splash of tangy buttermilk. A bit of sugar balances the vinegar's acid, but adjust the sweetness to your preference. Serve it with fried fish, sandwiches, burgers or any other picnic or BBQ fare.

These individual banana puddings contain all of those delicious traditional banana pudding flavors in a healthy little parfait package. This recipe is part of our Juneteenth Family Cookout Menu.

This grilled corn on the cob is a real summertime treat. It's basted with a spicy butter blend and grilled to perfection in about 20 minutes. This recipe is easily doubled to serve a larger gathering. This recipe is part of our Juneteenth Family Cookout Menu.

This sparkling lemonade is inspired by red drink, a red strawberry soda that is traditionally served for Juneteenth. Read more about red drink in the essay For Many in Texas and Beyond, It's Just Not Juneteenth Without Red Drink.

For this classic potato salad, culinary historian and cookbook author Jessica B. Harris riffs on her mother's recipe, adding hard-boiled eggs and sweet pickle relish. Serve this easy and flavorful potato salad alongside fried fish or just about any main course.

This easy pineapple coleslaw is a fresh take on the traditional coleslaw recipe—it contains those familiar savory flavors plus a touch of sweetness thanks to the pineapple. If you prefer a more tart-tasting slaw, feel free to add an additional tablespoon of lemon juice. This recipe is part of our Juneteenth Family Cookout Menu.

This marinated salad is such a healthy way to enjoy those fresh summer veggies and can be easily customized. Try adding in some fresh herbs or feta cheese for a little added flavor. You can also swap in seasoned pepper, which is amped up with additional seasonings, in place of the plain ground pepper for an additional flavor boost. This recipe is part of our Juneteenth Family Cookout Menu.

I found this recipe while going through my late mother Johnetta Miller's metal recipe file box. It's attributed to her mother, Roberta Solomon. Grandmother Solomon—I called her Granny— grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The combination of brown sugar, mustard and vinegar gives this sauce a tangy and slightly sweet flavor. This was my family's go-to sauce to add to barbecued chicken and pork spareribs which were served "dry." For us, barbecue season was essentially the summer holidays: Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day. This sauce pairs well with any baked or grilled chicken and pork dishes. To enhance the sauce's tanginess, a halved lemon would be added as the sauce cooked. I have fond memories of seeing that floating lemon and finding a stray lemon seed as I slathered the sauce on my barbecue.

This recipe from Mable Clarke, a South Carolina cook and activist, is the centerpiece for the monthly fish fry she started to save the Soapstone Baptist Church in her community. Juicy inside and crispy outside, it's what hundreds of people look forward to every month. Serve with lemon juice and a quick tartar sauce of mayonnaise, capers, relish and a touch of Tabasco.

This refreshing summer salsa combines cooling watermelon and cucumber with the kick from jalapeño. The heat from jalapeños can vary widely. For those that like the heat, use a whole jalapeño. Serve with tortilla chips on the side.

Cook and activist Mable Clarke serves this craveable side dish at the monthly fish fry she started to save the Soapstone Baptist Church in South Carolina. While the cheese crackers may draw you in, it's the baked tomatoes that keep you coming back for more. When she's cooking for hundreds of guests at the fish fry, Clarke uses canned tomatoes and green chiles for this dish. Since you're likely not cooking for 400, we adapted the recipe to use fresh tomatoes.

This is the macaroni and cheese recipe that would have been made in the kitchens at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Jefferson first became familiar the creamy, cheesy baked dish of macaroni from his time in Paris and it was enslaved cooks, James Hemings, Peter Hemings, Edith Hern Fossett and Frances Gillette Hern, who prepared this favorite dish over the years. The popularization of this iconic American dish can be traced to Black cooks, like Peter Fossett (the freed son of Edith Hern Fossett), Rufus Estes and Freda De Knight, who helped spread the dish throughout the United States. Learn more about Macaroni and Cheese at Monticello.

Mable Clarke, a South Carolina cook and activist, serves this collard greens recipe at monthly fish fries to support the Soapstone Baptist Church in the community where she grew up. There, farmers' markets overflow with big, leafy collards that are typically simmered with ham stock to make up this traditional Southern side dish. Clarke uses premade ham stock but it can be hard to find. We adapted the recipe with chicken broth and a ham bone or hock. As the bone simmers it adds flavor to the broth and yields enough meat to serve with the collards.

Baking cornbread in a cast-iron skillet results in the ideal crispy crust enclosing a tender crumb. In this recipe, tender corn kernels provide additional texture. As with many recipes, how much sugar you like in your cornbread may depend on how your grandmother made it, so add more or less sugar to taste. Read the author's story behind this recipe: Skillet Diaries: A Cast-Iron Legacy