Picnics aren't just about soggy sandwiches and watery salads. With a little planning and preparation, you can elevate your outdoor spread to something truly special. From pastries, potato salads and pies that taste wonderful cold to desserts that are easy to pack up and take with you, we've got some great ideas for portable dishes – plus helpful tips and tricks to ensure your food arrives at its destination in perfect condition. Here are our best-ever picnic recipes.
This recipe takes the humble potato salad to new levels of deliciousness. The spuds are dressed with a light mixture of mayonnaise and Greek yogurt, with lemon, chives and capers adding sharpness as a contrast to the creaminess. Stir in chopped boiled eggs and top with fried Parma Ham for a sweet and salty crunch. Just transport the ham separately, then add to serve.
Instead of the usual mayonnaise, the dressing for this potato salad uses garlic and herb soft cheese, mixed with olive oil and lemon juice. There's chopped celery, onion and capers in the mix too, and it's topped with fresh herbs. Assemble the whole salad ahead and keep in a plastic lidded box, but wrap the herbs in a damp kitchen towel and sprinkle over the potatoes to serve.
If you prefer a lighter potato salad to a creamy one with mayonnaise, this is the perfect recipe for you. The potatoes are dressed, while still warm, with an oil and vinegar dressing. This ensures the dressing soaks right into the potatoes for the best flavour. Fresh mint and chives are stirred in at the end. When packing your picnic, keep these in a separate container and sprinkle on just before eating.
As an alternative to bread rolls, why not rustle up some buttermilk biscuits? They're perfect filled with fried chicken or pulled pork, or just served on the side with salads and cheeses. Similar to a British scone, they're quick and simple to make. Make them on the morning of your picnic, allow them to cool, then pop into a box or bag. They can even provide the basis for a dessert, topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit.
No outdoor party is complete without plenty of tortilla chips and dips to snack on. Transport the dips in their serving dishes (covered with cling film) so they're ready to go. If you're serving guacamole, make sure there's plenty of lime juice in it – this will prevent discolouring. Why not check out our collection of easy-to-make dips and try something new?
Summer rolls – shredded lettuce, carrot, mint, Thai basil and vermicelli noodles encased in spring roll wrappers – are the perfect portable picnic food. The wrappers are pretty easy to find, the rolls can be fully prepared the day before, and you can serve them with your favourite dipping sauce. Just pack the sauce into a small plastic container and keep everything chilled until the last minute. Our version is vegetarian, but you could add in cooked, peeled prawns or shredded chicken.
Always make more fried chicken than you think you'll need – everyone comes back for seconds. In this recipe, the chicken is poached with garlic and thyme, so it's meltingly tender. It has a lightly spiced crumb, with celery salt, cumin, mustard powder and cayenne. Pack the chicken in a plastic box between sheets of greaseproof paper, and transport it in a cool box or bag.
If you love fried chicken, you'll adore this version. It's made with chicken breasts, so there are no fiddly bones to mess around with. Allow extra time to marinate the chicken in spiced buttermilk. The trick is to toss the chicken in the seasoned flour in batches, to ensure it gets super crispy when fried. It's topped with fried curry leaves and chilli. Just pack in a box between pieces of greaseproof paper.
Coleslaw is so easy to make, and it's almost always way better than shop-bought. The vegetables retain their crunch for ages, so you can happily prepare them the day before, then dress them with mayo just before transporting them in a lidded box. We like to add extra crunch with toasted seeds. You could add sweetness with some sultanas or dried cranberries too.
Get the recipe for classic coleslaw here
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If you're not a fan of creamy coleslaw loaded with mayonnaise, this could be the recipe for you. It has all the classic coleslaw ingredients like cabbage and onion, but it's dressed with a vinaigrette-style oil and vinegar mixture, with a little hot sauce adding an extra kick. Fresh mango adds sweetness to counteract the heat. Mix everything together, then pop into a lidded box.
Creamy, salty, sweet and cheesy – this is the perfect combination of flavours and textures for a quiche. This recipe uses shop-bought pastry for ease, and can easily be made the day before. Allow the quiche to cool to room temperature before transporting it in its tin. You can take the topping of pea shoots and fresh mint separately, though it's just as tasty served without.
This is a great recipe to start the night before. The chicken breasts are marinated in yogurt, turmeric, honey and lime and need to be left for a few hours – or ideally, overnight. This will make the meat wonderfully tender and infuse it with maximum flavour before being griddled. Turmeric on its own can be rather bitter, but adding sweetness and citrus balances it beautifully. If you can't get hold of fresh turmeric, simply use two teaspoons of dried turmeric instead. Pack a pot of sweet chilli sauce for dipping.
This vibrant salad just bursts with flavours. The combination of fresh mango, pomegranate, avocado, peppers, onion and fresh herbs, dressed with a punchy citrus vinaigrette, will bring sunshine to your picnic. You can make the crunchy peanut garnish, or use honey-roasted peanuts from a packet. Make it a few hours ahead, and add the dressing and peanuts to serve – you can pack these separately.
This soft, almost cake-like bread with a crisp crust is perfect for tearing and sharing at a picnic. Serve with charcuterie and cheeses, plus some olive oil for dunking. It's an easy bread to make in an electric mixer. The sweetness of the tomatoes makes a lovely contrast with the sea salt and herbal woodiness of the rosemary.
Melted cheese, ham and asparagus fill a buttery, rich pastry for the ultimate picnic snack. This recipe does involve making the pastry: a yeasted dough combined with a puff pastry method. It does take time and patience, as there are quite a few steps for rolling, chilling and resting, but it's definitely worth the effort. If you're short on time, simply use ready-made puff pastry instead.
Because they're wonderful served cold, frittatas are ideal for packing up in your picnic basket. They're also great for using up leftovers or any vegetables you have in the fridge. Here, the combination of sweet potato, salty feta and caramelised onions works really well, and it's just as tasty eaten the day after making it. With a little garlic and fresh herbs, it's fragrant too.
Get the recipe for sweet potato, feta and red onion frittata here
No great picnic is complete without a pasta salad. Here's a winning combination of avocado, chilli and feta, tossed in a zesty lime and olive oil dressing. Make it an hour or so ahead, and toss the avocado really well in the dressing first – so it doesn't discolour – before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Get the recipe for avocado, mint, chilli and feta pasta salad here
A pasta salad that's both easy on the eye, and easy to make! Simply grab a jar or two and start layering up vibrant green vegetables with fusilli, lemon dressing and pistachio pesto. If you want to make a big bowl instead of individual servings, increase the ingredient quantities and take it to your destination in a lidded plastic tub. The whole thing can be assembled a day in advance.
The pastry for this simple, freeform pie is made with spelt flour – a nutty, whole-grain wheat – though wholemeal flour will also work. Apples and cheese are perfect partners, combining sweetness, acidity and creamy savouriness. The pie is best made the day before. Transport it on a tray or board, lightly covered with foil.
Cornbread is always a favourite part of a family gathering in the Southern states of America, and it makes a great addition to an outdoor meal. This savoury version, thickened with sweetcorn purée, has a light kick of chilli and is wonderfully cheesy. The recipe uses quark, though ricotta or crème fraîche are good substitutes.
A New York-style sloppy joe is basically a next-level sandwich. For this simple recipe, baguettes are filled with spicy beef, cheese and plenty of pickle. You can prepare the meat filling the day before and wrap the sandwiches in foil or greaseproof paper tied with string. Or, if you really want to avoid soggy bread, pack the filling, garnishes and baguettes separately so people can assemble their own sloppy joes at the picnic.
A really well-made Greek salad is like sunshine in a bowl. You can assemble the whole lot – tomatoes, cucumber, black olives, green or red pepper and feta – and put them into a sealable container. You can even dress the salad ahead of time too. Our top tip is to deseed the cucumber so it doesn't make the salad watery. Throw on some herbs like mint and parsley for extra zing.
Noodle salads are always a big hit at picnics because they're both tasty and easy to transport. There's nothing that will spoil in our recipe for chicken, vegetables and noodles, brought together with a crunchy peanut dressing. If you want to add fresh coriander, wrap it in damp kitchen towel to sprinkle on top of the salad at the picnic.
If you want to push the boat out, spend a bit of time making cracking pulled pork for sliders. It takes time to cook but there's actually very little preparation. Shred the pork when cooked and transfer to a plastic lidded box. Pack the buns separately along with extra pickles, coleslaw and barbecue sauce, so everyone can assemble their own sliders once the blanket is all laid out.
Any quiche is a good menu choice for a picnic – and this one is a little different, made with hot smoked salmon and with a lovely kick of horseradish. You could also use smoked trout, and save time by using shop-bought shortcrust pastry rather than making your own. It's easier to transport the whole quiche in its tin, to prevent it breaking en route. Don't forget to pack a sharp knife for slicing.
Slices of watermelon make great picnic snacks, but here's another way to use the ultra-juicy fruit. This recipe adds feta, black olives, cucumber and rocket, though we'd recommend leaving out the rocket (or adding it when you arrive at your destination), as it may wilt. Do the same with the mint and deseed the cucumber too, or the salad might be rather watery. This recipe involves lightly charring the feta just before serving, though it's fine to do this in advance; it will still taste delicious cold. If you're short on time, just skip this step.
This is such a great pie, which tastes just as good cold as it does hot. It's so simple – ham, sliced cheese and passata are sandwiched between two sheets of shop-bought puff pastry, then baked until browned. We'd recommend you take the whole pie on its baking sheet, lightly covered with foil. As long as the weather isn't scorching, you don't need to keep it in a cool box. Cut it into portions once you arrive at the picnic.
This filling take on a Spanish omelette can be made with whatever green vegetables you have to hand. The recipe uses courgette, broad beans and peas, which can be frozen rather than fresh, and you could also add asparagus when it's in season. A little grated cheese or crumbled feta will work beautifully too. Once cooled, slice it into portions, then stack between greaseproof paper in a lidded box.
The key thing with any picnic salad is to choose recipes where the ingredients won't wilt or become watery over time – and this healthy vegan salad fits the bill perfectly. A mix of blanched kale, asparagus, spring onions, radish and parsley is topped with a honey, mustard and lemon dressing. Pomegranate seeds add a tasty touch of colour and crunch. You can assemble the whole salad before transporting.
Get the recipe for quinoa salad with asparagus and kale here
Tenderstem broccoli is perfect in a salad because it keeps its crunch. Paired with cooked beetroot, crunchy seeds and dressed simply with oil and vinegar, this is a great portable picnic dish. You can bulk it out by adding some roasted butternut squash, or add extra flavour by crumbling over some feta or goats' cheese. You can use regular broccoli too. Assemble in advance and box it up to transport.
Get the recipe for broccoli, beetroot and toasted seed salad here
These fabulous fritters are really easy to make and have a lovely, gentle kick of chilli that balances the sweetness of the corn. They're so easy, in fact, that they're ready in just 30 minutes. Make them the night before or on the morning of your picnic, then stack them in a box with sheets of greaseproof paper between layers. Pack the cooling cucumber and yogurt tzatziki separately.
Panzanella – a classic Tuscan salad of tomato, pepper and bread – is one of those dishes that instantly transports you to the Mediterranean. It tastes better an hour or so after making it and won't spoil, so you can make it in advance. You can buy ready-roasted peppers in a jar to save time, and use up any leftover or slightly old bread. Wrap the fresh basil separately in damp kitchen paper, and add before serving.
Leek tarts are very popular in France, and for good reason – they're delicious! For this recipe, the leeks are slowly cooked in butter until they're meltingly tender and sweet, then loaded into a pastry case with a creamy egg mixture before baking. You can buy shortcrust pastry for the case, rather than making it from scratch. Transport the whole tart in its tin, and slice to serve.
These cute little pies are made with hot water crust pastry, usually used for pork pies. In this recipe, the pastry encases chicken, turkey, dried apricots and pistachios. The pastry itself is relatively easy and quite forgiving – you have to work fairly quickly, though, as you can't over-handle it. The pies will keep for three days in the fridge, so they're the perfect picnic standby. They're pretty robust too, so you can just pack them in a box or wrap them in foil.
This picnic loaf makes sandwiches so much easier – and a lot more impressive. You should make it the day before serving so all the flavours can meld together, and so it's easy to slice. The loaf is halved and some of the bread is scooped out before the shell is filled with layers of roasted vegetables, mozzarella and pesto. Once filled, wrap it tightly in cling film and place it in the fridge. Just don't forget to take a serrated knife for slicing.
A food processor makes easy work of this bright salad. If you don't have one, use a box grater to shred the apples and carrots instead. The zingy dressing is made from lemon juice, salt, brown sugar and oil, while a scattering of chopped spring onions and toasted walnuts add extra crunch and interest. This will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator, so make it ahead and transport it in a lidded box.
Created for a banquet celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953, this retro dish is wonderfully versatile and works well in salads, sandwiches or just to dollop on your plate. This recipe uses chicken breasts, which are griddled or oven-cooked and barbecued before being chopped and mixed with mayonnaise, mango chutney, curry powder, anchovies and Worcestershire sauce. If you have leftover roast chicken, do use that instead. Make it up to two days ahead, and pack salad and crusty bread or flatbreads separately.
A very British snack is given a spicy Mediterranean makeover in this recipe. Chorizo and grated manchego cheese (or you can use Cheddar) are added to sausagemeat, then it's all rolled up in shop-bought puff pastry and baked for a golden crust. This makes four fairly large sausage rolls, which can be sliced to share – or make eight small ones instead, adjusting the cooking time as needed.
A flourish of filo pastry just makes pies so much prettier, doesn't it? This impressive-looking centrepiece bursts with fresh spring flavours from spinach, ricotta, feta and mint, with nutmeg, onions and garlic adding wonderful depth of flavour. It tastes just as good cold too. Prepare the filling the day before you need it, then bake in the morning to prevent the filo going soggy. Transport it in the tin you've baked it in, to prevent the pastry cracking.
Lovers of sourdough bread-making often have starter left over, and we can't think of many better ways to use it up than in these rich, gooey dark chocolate brownies. The recipe includes a link to a guide on making your very own starter, if you'd like to try it – or find a friend with some to spare. The tahini adds a savoury, nutty note, which contrasts with the sweetness of the brownie mixture, as well as creating an impressive swirl. Cool, cut into squares and transport in a lidded box.
Get the recipe for sourdough brownies with a tahini swirl here
Oatmeal cookies are always a picnic favourite, and the addition of desiccated coconut makes them even more delicious. These are ready in just 15 minutes, and you can make them the day before. Store in an airtight container so they are still fresh and ready to transport.
Any fruit salad is a good dessert choice for a picnic – the sugar syrup preserves the fruit and helps to prevent discolouring. In this recipe, lychees, strawberries, pineapple and jackfruit are steeped in a vanilla syrup. It's fine to use canned or frozen fruits too. Fresh mint is added to serve, so take this separately.
These brownies are sure to please any picnic crowd. Made with a combination of dark chocolate, peanut butter, peanuts and caramel, they're impossible to resist – and the caramel sauce is from a jar, so there's little effort involved. Make them the day before, cut them into squares when cold, then pack them in a lidded box (no need to refrigerate them) between sheets of greaseproof paper.
You may well have all the ingredients for these simple oat bars in the cupboard, or turning brown in your fruit bowl. They're perfect for a snack on any occasion, and will keep for three days in an airtight container. You can freeze them too, so they're great to have on hand in case of unexpected picnic weather. Ideally, use crunchy peanut butter rather than smooth for the best texture.
Why bake a regular sponge cake when you can make this delightfully summery rolled-up version instead? This British take on a classic Swiss roll is packed with jam, fruit and cream – and though it takes a bit of baking skill and a steady hand to make, it's totally worth it. For a fancy flourish, take some double cream, a few strawberries and some edible flowers along to the picnic with you, and scatter liberally over the top.