20 picnic recipes

Fudgy picnic muffins: a brownie-meets-muffin hybrid with melted semi-sweet chocolate, two cups of pecans, and just enough flour to hold it together. Freezes well for picnics and lunchboxes.

Moist chocolate applesauce cake topped with sugar, chocolate chips, and chopped nuts. No frosting needed for this one-pan picnic cake that stays soft thanks to two cups of applesauce.

Buttermilk-marinated fried chicken finished in the oven, designed to be served cold at room temperature. Crispy, peppery, and built for picnics.

Picnic Baked Beans made from scratch with dried navy beans, molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, and crumbled bacon. Classic slow-baked New England beans for a crowd - serves 16.

Picnic burritos with taco-seasoned mayo, sliced turkey, shredded cheese, and crisp lettuce - no cooking required, ready in 15 minutes. Make-ahead and fridge-stable up to 2 hours.

Slow-baked picnic beans with bacon, molasses, and brown sugar in a sweet and tangy sauce. This potluck-perfect side dish bakes low and slow until thick, smoky, and irresistible.

Oat-stretched burger patties seasoned with onion soup mix, grilled or broiled and served on Vienna bread with American cheese, tomato, and lettuce. A big-batch burger recipe built for picnics.

Picnic kabobs: olive-stuffed ground beef meatballs skewered with tomato wedges, green pepper, baby potato, and button mushroom, basted with French dressing. An outdoor grill classic for six.

Black bottom cupcakes drop a sweet cream cheese filling studded with chocolate chips into chocolate cake mix batter, baking into a self-frosting cupcake. Travel-friendly picnic dessert with no icing to melt.

Light lemon bundt cake with fresh lemon zest and juice gets soaked in citrus glaze while warm, then served with fresh berries for summer picnics or potlucks.

Cold rice salad with tuna, hard-boiled eggs, tomato wedges, and celery tossed in a homemade French dressing. A portable, jar-friendly picnic salad that travels well.

Crisp broccoli and cauliflower florets tossed with bacon, sunflower seeds, and raisins in tangy-sweet mayo dressing. Make-ahead potluck favorite.

A moist chocolate date cake baked in an 8-inch square pan with chocolate chips in the batter and a crunchy chip-nut-sugar topping. Dates softened in boiling water keep it impossibly tender. The kind of no-fuss cake you carry straight to the picnic in the pan.

A moist chocolate chip cake made with instant mashed potatoes, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Baked in a 13x9 pan with a powdered sugar finish, it travels beautifully to any potluck or picnic.

Grandma's picnic chocolate cake baked in one 8x8 pan with buttermilk, cocoa powder, and cake flour. An old-fashioned single-layer snacking cake that travels well and stays moist for days.

Picnic potato salad with hard-boiled eggs, dill and sweet relish, Cajun-style hot sauce, and chopped olives. A big-batch Louisiana-leaning crowd pleaser for cookouts.