Simple and Surprising Superfoods to Bring to Your Next BBQ

Grilling season is here, and with that comes the joy of cookouts and backyard barbecues! In our house, backyard barbecues are on all summer long. It’s a great way to get outside, cook a meal without heating up the house, and gather with friends. 

From a health perspective, it can be difficult navigating these potluck-style meals while trying to follow a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet. Charred meats and packaged salads don’t exactly make you feel or look your best. Not to mention most pre-made convenience foods are packed with inflammatory ingredients, and can do more harm than good.

What if you could transform these nostalgic recipes in your own kitchen to turn them into superfood sides?! Just like many recipes, these classic barbecue sides can be homemade with modifications to boost your energy, health, and digestion, rather than take away from it. Not to mention that homemade foods have far more flavor and vibrance!

I love these summer superfoods because they are totally unassuming. These foods are not glamorous and most people would never expect these classic BBQ sides to be good for their health. But both are simple to make, can be made ahead, and keep well in the fridge for a couple of days. Read on and get to know these surprising summer barbecue superfoods, and try them out this summer season. 

Reclaim Coleslaw

Did you know that humble coleslaw can be a superfood? The primary ingredient, cabbage, is a member of the broccoli (brassica) family of vegetables, which are among the most nutritious of all vegetables! 

Cabbage contains an array of antioxidants that protect us against inflammation, reduce aging, and can even prevent cancer. These powerful molecules impact the way our genetic blueprint, known as DNA, is interpreted and expressed, which is why they are thought to be so beneficial.¹ Cabbage is also an excellent source of vitamin C, and a good source of B vitamins and other minerals. Using purple cabbage gives you the added bonus of anthocyanin antioxidants. 

Raw cabbage can be difficult to digest for some, but by letting the salad marinate in a slightly acidic dressing, the cabbage cell walls start to break down, making it easier for us to digest and assimilate all of the amazing nutrients it has to offer. This is why I like to let my coleslaw marinate for at least an hour before serving. Leftovers store well in the fridge for a few days, though the cabbage will start to leak water as it continues to break down. 

To get the anti-inflammatory benefits of coleslaw, you have to make your own dressing! Commercial dressings have nasty ingredients including inflammatory fats like soybean oil, excessive sugar including corn syrup, and a long list of stabilizers and preservatives. Make a classic dressing with avocado oil mayo, apple cider vinegar, and mustard, try an asian fusion slaw with olive oil, sesame oil, coconut aminos, rice wine vinegar, and ginger, or get creative and make your own recipe. 

Polish Your Potato Salad

Next up on our summer superfood list is another backyard barbecue classic: Potato salad. This one may be even more surprising since potatoes aren’t typically considered a health food. However, something unexpected happens to the structure of potatoes when they are cooked and then cooled, as happens in potato salad. In the cooling process, some of the simple starch in potatoes changes its chemical structure and is converted to a type of ‘resistant starch’ called retrograde starch. Resistant starches are actually a type of fiber, which changes the way our body responds to them.

As a result, these cooked and cooled potatoes have less starch and more fiber, and a more balanced impact on blood sugar. Plus this type of fiber feeds beneficial bacteria in our gut, specifically lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, which then convert it to the gut healing compound, butyrate. Preliminary animal studies show that resistant starch from potatoes can support healthy weight, metabolism, liver health, intestinal health, and reduce inflammation.²

Like coleslaw, store-bought potato salads are unfortunately filled with inflammatory oils, sugar, corn syrup, and chemical preservatives. When you make it at home, you can swap these inflammatory ingredients out for healthy fats such as olive oil or avocado oil mayonnaise, and season it liberally with fresh summer herbs, lemon, and black pepper to add a seasonal antioxidant boost. I also love the addition of olives and capers! For those who don’t like mayo or creamy dressings, try a simple dressing with good olive oil, fresh herbs, lemon, salt and pepper. 

Want to take it up another nutrition notch? Incorporate colorful heirloom varieties of purple and red potatoes. Not only will you get more antioxidants from the potatoes themselves, but purple potatoes have also been shown to contain more resistant starch than their white counterparts. 

To cook the potatoes when I don’t want to heat up the house, I will steam them in my instant pot outside. You can also dice the potatoes, toss them in a light coating of olive oil, and cook them in a closed foil tent on the grill around 375 (indirect heat) for 30-40 minutes, tossing periodically. 

Pair them with a grass-fed beef burger patty and you have a beautifully balanced plate rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, healthy fats, protein, and antioxidants!

I hope you enjoy the delicious foods and fun traditions this weekend with your fourth of July festivities and all of the summer barbecues to come!

What is your favorite side dishes to bring to a barbecue? I’d love to hear in the comments!

Sources

1. Health-Promoting Effects of Brassica-Derived Phytochemicals: From Chemopreventive and Anti-Inflammatory Activities to Epigenetic Regulation, Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2013; 2013: 964539, Anika Eva Wagner,* Anna Maria Terschluesen, and Gerald Rimbach
2. Dietary type 2 resistant starch improves systemic inflammation and intestinal permeability by modulating microbiota and metabolites in aged mice on high-fat diet Aging (Albany NY). 2020 May 31; 12(10): 9173–9187, Yawen Zhang,et al.