Sweet and juicy, watermelon is the quintessential summer treat, delicious sliced or in dishes like Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint. Here are 11 recipes that celebrate this colorful fruit and help you make the most of the short season. Recipes range from Spicy Tomato and Watermelon Gazpacho with Crab, with the heat of habanero and poblano chiles, to Peanut and Watermelon Chaat, which is sweet, savory, and crunchy with roasted peanuts. Using watermelon juice? Make your own salty watermelon ice cream. Made with fresh juice (or bottled), and finished with flaky sea salt, lime zest, and fresh watermelon pieces, it’s a gorgeous dessert. Read on to learn how to make these recipes and many more watermelon recipes to make this season.
Watermelon salad with feta and mint
This easy summer watermelon salad is perfect for enjoying in the warm sun. The watermelon and mint add lots of refreshing flavor, and the salted olives and feta cheese add the perfect accent. Legendary chef Jacques Pépin slices a small, seedless watermelon into slices with a melon baller and adds the trimmings to the salad so no waste occurs, but you can also cube the watermelon.
Peanut and watermelon chart
Each chaat has a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of sourness, a little bit of heat, and a little bit of crunch. That’s what makes chaat so fun to eat. This chaat combines the slight sweetness of watermelon with the crunch and saltiness of peanuts. “It’s a very Southern combination, and I thought it would work,” says Chef Vishwesh Bhatt. “And it did.” Eating watermelon with a sprinkle of salt and a drizzle of hot sauce is popular in Chef Bhatt’s hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. This sweet and savory chaat recipe combines that inspiration with a sprinkle of chaat masala, a tangy spice blend often used to season fruit in India.
Watermelon Daiquiri
Created by Mark Farrell, CEO/Founder of Ten to One Distillery, this blend-and-sip cocktail is made with fresh watermelon juice for a refreshing melon flavor, although any fresh, high-quality store-bought juice can be substituted. A rum drink for margarita lovers, this drink balances tart lime juice and sweet agave syrup with a sprinkle of salt on the rim. This recipe serves one, but can easily be scaled up to eight if you’re serving a smaller group.
Tomato and watermelon bites
At Vicia in St. Louis, 2018 F&W Best New Chef Michael Gallina demonstrates his no-waste approach with this elegant amuse-bouche. Tomato skins are dried into a flavorful salt, while tomato seeds and pulp, along with a brine of pickled green tomatoes, form the base for another dish, Tomato Water Gazpacho. The final dish is served on a watermelon plank topped with tomato sofrito, goat cheese, pickled green tomato slices, tomato skin salt, and fresh herb mix.
Marinated Watermelon with Whipped Feta Cheese
Chef Joe Kindred of Kindred restaurant in Davidson, North Carolina, soaks watermelon in a flavorful marinade for 30 minutes to draw out the juices and intensify the flavor, then serves it over a simple combination of feta cheese drizzled in extra virgin olive oil.
Chili Coconut Watermelon Crudo
Sweet, spicy and punchy, this classic salted watermelon is a mouthwatering appetizer worthy of serving to barbecue guests. Fresh coconut water is much sweeter and has a deeper flavor than bottled water. Try cracking a coconut if you can; if you use store-bought, choose a brand without additives for the best tasting crudo. Reserve the strained spicy marinade as a fruity base for a tequila cocktail.
Salty watermelon ice cream
You can use fresh or bottled watermelon juice to make this ice cream. It transforms salty watermelon slices into a cool, creamy dessert. The coconut milk infuses the ice cream base with velvety sweetness, while the lime enhances the juicy watermelon flavor. Garnish the finished ice cream with flaked sea salt, grated lime zest, and shredded fresh watermelon for a colorful, fun dessert that keeps in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Spicy tomato and watermelon gazpacho with crab
Matt and Ted Lee are cookbook authors and brothers. Virginia’s Housewifean essential Southern cookbook first published in 1824. This chilled tomato soup is sweetened with watermelon and spiced with habanero and poblano chiles.
Grilled Cobia Salad with Corn and Watermelon
Chef Kevin Willman of Farmhouse in St. Louis likes to grill cobia, a sweet, flaky white fish, for this bright, refreshing salad. If you can’t get wild cobia, mahi-mahi or farmed cobia are also sustainable options. Finish the salad with fresh watermelon, charred poblano, corn, and cilantro. Serve the finished dish with plantain chips to add a nice crunch.
Watermelon and snap peas with mint salad
The secret ingredient in this refreshing watermelon salad from Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple is a savory fish sauce dressing, and it takes just 30 minutes to prepare, making it the perfect summer treat.
Grilled Watermelon with Avocado, Cucumber and Jalapeño Salsa
Grilling watermelon imparts a delightful smoky flavor; here, F&W’s Justin Chapple tops the smoky-sweet fruit with a cumin-infused avocado salsa, finishing off the dish with thinly sliced jalapeños and lots of fresh herbs.
