When the golden days of summer finally arrive, there is an unmistakable shift in how we want to eat, gather, and celebrate. The backyard becomes an extension of the dining room, the heavy winter stews are entirely forgotten, and the unmistakable, mouth-watering aroma of charcoal and sizzling marinades drifts through the neighborhood. Barbecue season is officially upon us. Whether you are hosting a massive weekend cookout for the entire block or enjoying a quiet, intimate evening grilling on your back patio, cooking over an open flame is one of summer’s greatest and most primal joys.
However, if we are completely honest with ourselves, the traditional American barbecue spread often suffers from a major imbalance. While hosts spend hours meticulously marinating steaks, slow-smoking ribs, and perfecting their burger patties, the side dishes are frequently treated as a rushed afterthought. Far too often, the supporting cast consists of heavy, mayonnaise-laden potato salads, bland, overly sweetened coleslaws, and bagged chips. Not only do these traditional sides leave you feeling sluggish and weighed down in the summer heat, but dairy-based salads also present a real challenge when left out on a sun-drenched picnic table for hours on end.
What if, this summer, you decided to completely revolutionize your BBQ menu? What if your side dishes didn’t just fill up the empty space on a paper plate, but actually stole the show?
At Paliria, we believe that the absolute best way to elevate your outdoor entertaining is to embrace the culinary wisdom of the Mediterranean. For generations, the Mediterranean diet has celebrated the art of outdoor dining with dishes that are vibrant, vegetable-forward, incredibly flavorful, and naturally suited for warm weather. By swapping out heavy, uninspired staples for authentic Greek meze, you can offer your guests an unforgettable culinary experience that perfectly complements the smoky, rich flavors of the grill.
Since 1957, Paliria has been the premier ambassador of authentic Greek cuisine, bringing the cherished recipes of our heritage to tables around the world. Our premium, ready-to-eat meals require no preparation, meaning you can serve gourmet, world-class side dishes without spending a single extra minute away from your guests or your grill. This summer, let’s spice up your cookouts with five extraordinary Mediterranean sides that will leave everyone asking for your recipes.
Before we dive into the specific pairings, it is important to understand why Mediterranean flavors work so flawlessly alongside traditional barbecue. The secret lies in balance and contrast.
Barbecued meats are inherently rich, deeply savory, and often quite heavy due to the rendered fats and sugary glazes. To prevent palate fatigue, these rich main courses desperately need to be balanced by sides that offer bright acidity, fresh herbaceous notes, and clean, wholesome textures. The Mediterranean diet relies heavily on ingredients like freshly squeezed lemon juice, heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil, aromatic herbs like dill, mint, and oregano, and earthy spices like cumin. These flavor profiles act as a natural palate cleanser, cutting through the richness of a grilled sausage or a marbled steak and making every bite taste as exciting as the first.
Furthermore, authentic Greek sides are incredibly resilient. Because they rely on olive oil and citrus rather than mayonnaise or dairy, they are perfectly safe and actually improve in flavor as they sit at room temperature. You can set out a stunning Mediterranean buffet at noon, and it will still be delicious, safe, and beautiful when the sun starts to set.
Here are five magnificent ways to incorporate Paliria into your next backyard barbecue.
Every great barbecue requires a strategy for the “waiting period.” Your guests arrive hungry, drawn in by the smell of the grill, but the main courses might still be an hour away from hitting the perfect internal temperature. You need an appetizer that is deeply satisfying but light enough not to ruin anyone’s appetite for the main event.
Enter the undisputed king of Greek appetizers: Paliria Dolmas (Stuffed Vine Leaves with Rice). As the number one producer of dolmas in the entire world, Paliria has perfected this ancient and beloved recipe. We meticulously select the most tender, vibrant vine leaves during the spring harvest. We then hand-wrap them around a delicate, perfectly seasoned mixture of premium rice, sweet onions, and a generous handful of fresh dill and mint.
Why They Elevate Your BBQ:
Dolmas are the ultimate, elegant finger food. They require absolutely no silverware, no heating, and no complicated plating. Their flavor profile is incredibly refreshing—the herbaceous mint and dill provide a cooling sensation that feels amazing on a hot summer day.
How to Serve Them:
Simply open the tin, arrange the dolmas in a beautiful circular pattern on a large wooden serving board, and place a small bowl of authentic Greek tzatziki sauce in the center. Surround the dolmas with generous wedges of fresh lemon. As your guests mingle around the yard holding a cold drink, they can easily grab a dolma, add a squeeze of lemon, and enjoy a bright, zesty bite that perfectly primes their palate for the smoky feast to come.
Barbecue culture across the United States—from the Carolinas to Texas to Kansas City—is built upon the beautiful marriage of sweetness and heat. Pitmasters know that a touch of brown sugar combined with a kick of cayenne pepper creates an irresistible, lip-smacking flavor profile. If you have guests who love bold, robust, and fiery flavors, you need a side dish that can stand toe-to-toe with your spiciest ribs and hot links.
For those adventurous palates, we created Paliria Sweet & Spicy Dolmas. We took the world-famous recipe of our classic stuffed vine leaves and gave it a thrilling, modern twist. These dolmas feature the same melt-in-your-mouth rice and tender leaves, but they are bathed in a sensational sauce infused with finely chopped cherry peppers.
Why They Elevate Your BBQ:
The flavor journey of these dolmas is extraordinary. When you first take a bite, you are greeted with a pleasant, subtle sweetness that mimics the caramelized edges of a great BBQ glaze. A moment later, a beautiful, warming chili heat builds on the back of the palate. This complex flavor profile pairs exceptionally well with rich, charred meats. They cut right through the fattiness of pulled pork or a juicy beef brisket.
How to Serve Them:
Create a dedicated “spicy station” near your grill. Plate the Sweet & Spicy Dolmas alongside some sharp pepper jack cheese cubes, pickled jalapeños, and spicy brown mustard. They are an incredible conversation starter and guaranteed to be the first thing to disappear from your buffet table.
Macaroni salad and pasta salad are barbecue staples, but they are incredibly heavy and often lack nutritional value. If you want to offer your guests a side dish that provides the same comforting, hearty substance but is packed with clean, plant-based protein and vibrant flavor, it is time to introduce them to Mediterranean legumes.
Our Paliria Chickpeas in Lemon & Cumin Dressing is a masterclass in simple, flawless ingredient pairing. We take premium, oversized chickpeas and cook them until they are incredibly tender and buttery. We then marinate them deeply in a zesty, bright dressing made from high-quality lemon juice, rich extra virgin olive oil, and the warm, earthy notes of ground cumin.
Why They Elevate Your BBQ:
Cumin is a magical spice when it comes to outdoor cooking. Its deep, earthy, slightly smoky flavor naturally mimics the flavors imparted by a charcoal grill, making it the perfect bridge between a cold side dish and a hot main course. The heavy dose of lemon juice provides a sharp, highly acidic bite that cleanses the palate beautifully between bites of a rich, charred hamburger or a smoky chicken skewer. Furthermore, chickpeas are packed with dietary fiber, meaning this side dish will actually keep your guests feeling energized rather than sluggish.
How to Serve Them:
These marinated chickpeas are spectacular straight out of the packaging, but they also serve as the ultimate foundation for a colorful, crunch-filled summer salad. Toss the Paliria Chickpeas with finely diced red bell peppers, chopped English cucumbers, halved cherry tomatoes, and a massive handful of fresh parsley. You will have a breathtaking, jewel-toned salad that looks like it took hours of prep work, assembled in less than three minutes.
Is a barbecue truly a barbecue without a massive pot of baked beans? It is hard to imagine a cookout without them. However, traditional canned baked beans are overwhelmingly sweet, often loaded with artificial syrups, processed sugars, and generic flavorings. This summer, we challenge you to give this iconic American side dish a sophisticated, intensely savory Mediterranean makeover.
In Greece, the concept of baked beans is elevated to an art form known as Gigantes Plaki. Our Paliria Giant Beans in Tomato Sauce (Gigantes) honors this revered tradition perfectly. We use magnificent, oversized white beans that have an incredibly creamy, luxurious texture. These giant beans are slow-baked to perfection in a rich, luscious sauce crafted from sun-ripened tomatoes, sweet chopped onions, premium olive oil, and a delicate blend of traditional Greek herbs.
Why They Elevate Your BBQ:
If your guests are baked bean purists, they will be completely blown away by this dish. Paliria Gigantes offer the exact same comforting, saucy, stick-to-your-ribs satisfaction as a traditional BBQ bean, but with a profoundly deeper, more savory, and complex flavor profile. The natural sweetness comes entirely from the slow-cooked tomatoes and onions rather than refined sugar. Because the beans are so large, they have a magnificent, meaty texture that holds its own next to any steak or chop.
How to Serve Them:
For the ultimate authentic cookout presentation, empty a few tins of the Paliria Giant Beans into a heavy cast-iron skillet. Place the skillet directly onto the grates of your BBQ grill over indirect heat while your meats are resting. Allow the sauce to bubble and thicken slightly as it absorbs the ambient wood smoke from the grill. Serve them piping hot directly from the skillet. The combination of the rich tomato sauce, the creamy beans, and the subtle outdoor smoke is nothing short of legendary.
Every legendary BBQ host has a secret weapon—a dish or a condiment that makes their burgers and sandwiches stand out from every other cookout in the neighborhood. Usually, hosts rely on caramelized onions or a secret sauce. This year, your secret weapon comes straight from the heart of the Mediterranean.
Our Paliria Greek Style Eggplants in Tomato Sauce is heavily inspired by the historic Ottoman dish Imam Bayildi. To create this masterpiece, we take tender, premium eggplants and slow-cook them for hours until they become completely meltingly soft, sweet, and jammy. They are stewed in a rich bath of sweet onions, robust tomatoes, aromatic garlic, and fine oils. The result is a deeply savory, umami-packed dish that has a luxurious, spreadable texture.
Why They Elevate Your BBQ:
While this dish is phenomenal on its own, its true magic at a cookout is its versatility as a gourmet topping. The slow-cooked eggplants possess a rich, meaty quality and an intense savory depth that dramatically enhances the flavor of grilled meats.
How to Serve Them:
Skip the standard ketchup, mustard, and raw onions this year. Instead, set out a bowl of the Paliria Greek Style Eggplants right next to your burger buns. Encourage your guests to spoon a generous dollop of this rich, jammy eggplant and onion mixture directly on top of their freshly grilled beef, turkey, or veggie burgers. Top it with a slice of sharp provolone or a crumble of feta cheese. The soft, savory eggplant melts into the charred crust of the burger patty, creating an explosion of umami flavor that will completely redefine how your guests think about a backyard burger.
Alternatively, serve the eggplants as a dip alongside charred, grill-toasted pita bread or thick slices of sourdough while the steaks are cooking.
Hosting a summer BBQ should be a time of joy, relaxation, and connection. It should not be an exhausting marathon of chopping, boiling, and stressing over a dozen different side dishes in a hot kitchen before your guests even arrive.
By integrating Paliria’s authentic, ready-to-eat Greek delicacies into your cookout menu, you are doing more than just saving time. You are upgrading your entire culinary experience. You are replacing heavy, sleep-inducing sides with vibrant, vegetable-forward, and heart-healthy Mediterranean dishes that make your guests feel fantastic. You are introducing complex flavors—from the herbaceous dill in our classic dolmas to the earthy cumin in our chickpeas and the rich umami of our slow-cooked eggplants—that perfectly highlight the smoky mastery of your grill.
This July, we invite you to rethink the American cookout. Embrace the ease, the elegance, and the extraordinary flavors of the Mediterranean diet. Fill your table with vibrant colors, open a few tins of Paliria’s finest, pour a round of cold drinks, and focus on what truly matters: making incredible summer memories with the people you care about most.
From our family at Paliria to yours, we wish you a summer filled with beautiful weather, perfect grill marks, and spectacular food. Kali orexi!
