As the weather warms up and the days grow longer, there’s no better time to take advantage of Denver’s sunny days and blue skies for dining al fresco in your backyard. Sterling and I love to cook at home. We’re often inspired by people on cooking shows and YouTube videos making fantastic meals outside. People are finding creative meals to cook on outdoor grills, over open fire, in outdoor pizza ovens and smokers—and all while they enjoy being outside doing it!
So why not mix it up on a weekend and get cooking outside? We’ve tried our hand at a few different meals in the backyard and will continue to try more.
Whether you’re hosting a gathering with friends or enjoying a meal at home with your partner, here are five meals to cook outside that are sure to elevate your summer dining experience.
1. Steak Night Over the Campfire in Your Denver Backyard
One of my all-time favorite TV Shows is The Lost Kitchen where restaurant owner, Erin French, creates farm to table meals for her guests all while orchestrating it with a beautiful dinner experience. In one episode, she organized a gathering with a few close friends on a frozen lake in Maine during winter. They enjoyed an elegant picnic while taking turns ice fishing. All the little details she put into everything from the meal to the rustic décor was such an inspiration to me.
It just so happened to be a cold Denver March weekend when I watched this. I announced to Sterling that we were going to be cooking outside the next day. I was going to channel my “inner Erin French” and set up a unique and different ambiance for the occasion in our Denver backyard.
It wasn’t really anything over the top as far as menu goes—just steaks with grilled vegetables and a hot soup—but all were cooked on a grate over our backyard campfire. I staged an area for us to grab our dishes and serve, adding a couple rustic winter décor items on our two top table. But it got us out of our house that evening into the fresh air.
2. One of the Great Meals to Cook Outside is Pizza
An outdoor pizza making night is on my list to do this summer. I really wanted to try making pizzas in our Big Boss smoker last summer with friends, but just never got around to it. It would make for such an easy and fun gathering because everyone can prep their own small pizzas. This way, the pizza making doubles as both an activity and a meal for a small group.
There are an assortment of portable pizza ovens available online now like this Stainless Steel Pizza Grill which uses pellets to heat up. They even make a pizza oven for a grill or wood fire. Whichever you decide to try, just experiment and have fun with it!
3. Have a Seafood Boil in Your Backyard
You might even want to transport your Denver backyard barbecue to the coast with a seafood boil. Boil together a mix of shrimp, crab legs, lobster tails, corn on the cob, potatoes, and sausage in a flavorful Cajun seasoning and you have one of the best meals to cook outside!
You could devise a grate to hold a pot over a backyard camp fire or use a deep turkey fryer set to cook it outdoors. Spread out butcher paper or a plastic table cloth on a table, dump out the boiled mixture, and let everyone feast with their hands. The communal nature of a seafood boil makes it a perfect outdoor meal for gathering with friends and family.
4. Oyster Night: Raw or Grilled
Speaking of the coast, we love $1 oyster night in our Denver backyard! You’ll have to check your local area, but on Fridays the Whole Foods by our house sells oysters for $1 each. We’ll go up and buy a couple dozen to shuck outside and eat raw in our backyard. This summer we’ll be hosting a gathering with friends where we shuck our own oysters around our fire pit while we also grill some of the oysters with prepared sauces and seasonings.
Sterling and I love traveling to the West Coast and stop at any oyster farm we see to shuck fresh oysters on the coast. While Denver is about as far from any US coast that you can be, we found a way to get that seafood experience in our own backyard!
5. Rotisserie Chicken Over a Campfire
Last year, we cooked a whole chicken over our Denver backyard campfire with a rotisserie grill system and spit rod. It was a different meal to cook outside but it was DELICIOUS! What I liked most was just hanging out in the backyard relaxing while it cooked. It was just another opportunity to spend some more time outside on a nice summer evening.
This summer, take your outdoor dining experience to the next level and think outside of the box when thinking of meals to cook outside for backyard gatherings. And remember, cooking outdoors doesn’t always have to mean BBQ and grilled food. So grab your apron, fire up the grill or smoker, or create a fire pit with a grate over it for cooking delicious meals. Get ready to create unforgettable culinary memories in your Denver backyard. Cheers to a summer filled with good food, great company, and plenty of outdoor dining adventures!
