No backyard BBQ is complete without a pasta salad recipe. The beauty of pasta salad is that it should be made ahead of time to allow the flavors to meld and develop. Gotta love side dish recipes that can be made in advance!

Always cook your pasta to al dente, which usually means the pasta still has a bit of “bite” or firmness to it. Most packages list cooking times for al dente pasta.

Why cook your pasta to al dente? Pasta likes to soak up whatever dressing you ladle over it which will make it softer the longer it sits.

Also be sure to reserve a bit of the pasta salad dressing when making the salad. Right before serving, add the reserved dressing to the pasta salad and stir to give the dish a fresh face.

It’s inevitable that you’ll run across a guest who has a gluten allergy or sensitivity. But what do you serve, especially if you’re not familiar with gluten-free cooking?

Pasta and many grains are out entirely unless you use a specially labeled gluten-free variety. Quinoa is the exception to that rule.

Naturally gluten-free, this grain is also a great source of protein. Or skip grains entirely and opt for a crowd-pleasing meat and cheese salad with a zippy red wine vinaigrette.

It’s easy to fall back on a bag of potato chips as a side dish to anything off the grill. Or maybe a store-bought fruit tray. We’ve all been guilty of that from time to time.

But since summer is bursting with some of the best produce available any time of year, why not add some variety to your BBQ side dishes?

These five side dish recipes shine the spotlight on fresh-from-the-garden flavors that beat a plain ol’ bag of chips any day.