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Summer starter

Summer starter recipes

Bring warmth and colour to the table with our summer starter recipes.

Make the most of summer produce with easy starter ideas using courgettes, aubergine, fresh tomatoes and sweet peppers. We’ve even included some sweet-savoury dishes with grilled peaches and juicy strawberries. These recipes are perfect for laid-back lunches and dinners in the garden, and many of them are make-ahead too. Fingers crossed for good weather.

Our best-ever summery starters include refreshing chilled soups like watermelon gazpacho and vichyssoise. Serve up platters of sharing dishes for a casual gathering, like these golden fish croquettes and addictive aubergine moussaka rolls. Planning a more formal do or dinner party? There’s plenty of ideas below to impress your guests.

See our summer of sport recipe ideas if you’re getting friends together to watch some of the year’s big sporting events.

Showing 1-16 of 91 recipes

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Tomatoes

Gazpacho

Minimal effort in the kitchen is required to enjoy classic gazpacho. Ready in less than 15 minutes – it's perfect for warm summer nights.

Dairy-free Gluten-free Vegan

Easy

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Summer soups

José Pizarro’s gazpacho with roasted grapes

Spanish chef José Pizarro's twist on traditional gazpacho is topped with roasted grapes. A great dish to make ahead for summer dinner parties.

Dairy-free Freezable Gluten-free

Easy

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Easy starters

Smoky chickpeas with coriander tahini

Sami Tamimi's recipe for crispy, smoky chickpeas served with tahini and coriander sauce is based on the Middle Eastern snack, leblebi.

Dairy-free Gluten-free Vegan

Easy

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Summer

Marinated peppers with gordal olives and anchovies

Looking for an easy summer starter? Serve up Rosie Mackean's Spanish-style marinated peppers with gordal olives and anchovies.

Dairy-free

Easy

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Chicken wings

Lollipop chicken

Lollipop chicken is a popular Indo-Chinese dish of spicy fried chicken wings. London restaurant Fatt Pundit shares its authentic recipe.

Medium

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Dinner party starters

Asparagus and egg mayo toasts

This asparagus and egg mayo toasts recipe by Rosie Mackean is the ideal get-ahead starter for a spring dinner party.

Dairy-free Vegetarian

Easy

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Pork recipes from around the world

Indonesian minced pork cakes with chilli and lemongrass sambal

Petty Elliott's moreish Indonesian minced pork cakes are accompanied by a fragrant chilli and lemongrass sambal and are great to share.

Dairy-free Gluten-free

Easy

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Recipes from restaurants

Prawn toast bao with burnt peach chilli sauce

Julie Lin shares her incredible prawn toast bao recipe. Crispy bao are stuffed with juicy prawns and served with peach hot sauce.

Dairy-free

Easy

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Easy starters

Socca (or farinata) with prawns, chickpeas and peppers

Debora Robertson shares her easy recipe for the Provençal chickpea flatbread, socca. This popular snack is known as farinata in Italy.

Dairy-free Gluten-free

Easy

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Tomato salads

Insalata pantesca (Pantelleria-style cherry tomato salad)

This cherry tomato salad recipe comes from Pantelleria, an island between Sicily and Tunisia. It's perfect for a lunch in the sun.

Dairy-free Gluten-free Vegan

Easy

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Easy salmon

Salmon and avocado summer rolls

Uyen Luu shares her recipe for salmon and avocado summer rolls. Vietnamese rice paper rolls are stuffed with salmon, avo and fresh herbs.

Dairy-free

Easy

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Summer

Tomato tonnato

Make the most of tomatoes when they're at their peak summer best in this tomato tonnato recipe. It's ready in 10 minutes and tastes like the best tuna sandwich you've ever eaten, in salad form.