21 Easy Summer Dessert Recipes Perfect for a Crowd

Summer desserts should be easy to make and use all the fresh fruits of the season. These 21 recipes are perfect for BBQs, potlucks, and backyard parties when you need to feed a bunch of people. Many can be made ahead, don’t need the oven much, and are easy to transport. Most importantly, they taste like summer in dessert form!

No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

These are perfect when its too hot to turn on the oven. The crust is just crushed graham crackers and butter pressed into a pan. The filling is cream cheese, sugar, and whipped cream with fresh strawberries folded in or layered on top. Some recipes add gelatin to help them set up firmer. These need a few hours in the fridge but the actual hands-on time is like 15 minutes. Great for making the night before a party.

Lemon Blueberry Sheet Cake

Sheet cakes are the best for feeding crowds – one pan makes like 24 pieces. The combo of lemon and blueberry tastes like summer. The cake batter has lemon zest and juice for bright flavor, and fresh or frozen blueberries get mixed in. Most recipes top it with a simple lemon glaze or cream cheese frosting. This travels well to potlucks and you can cut the pieces as big or small as you need depending on how many people your feeding.

Mixed Berry Cobbler

This is super forgiving and works with whatever berries look good at the store or farmers market. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries – use one kind or a mix. The fruit gets tossed with a little sugar and cornstarch, then topped with a simple batter that bakes up like biscuits. Some recipes do a crumble topping instead. Either way, it’s almost impossible to mess up and tastes amazing warm with vanilla ice cream on top.

Watermelon Fruit Pizza

This looks fancy but is actually so easy. You cut a big round slice of watermelon (like 1-2 inches thick) and top it with whipped cream or yogurt, then arrange other fresh fruit on top – blueberries, kiwi slices, strawberries, etc. You can drizzle a little honey over everything if you want. This is great for hot days since there’s no cooking at all. Kids think its super fun and it’s actually pretty healthy as far as desserts go.

Classic Banana Pudding Trifle

This southern classic is perfect for feeding a crowd. You just layer vanilla pudding, sliced bananas, vanilla wafer cookies, and whipped cream in a big trifle dish. Some recipes use instant pudding which makes it even easier, but cooking pudding from scratch isn’t that hard either. The cookies get soft from the pudding which is kind of the point. This tastes better if it sits in the fridge for a few hours or overnight so the flavors can mix together.

S’mores Cookie Bars

These give you all the flavors of campfire s’mores but in an easy-to-serve bar form. The base is a graham cracker cookie dough, topped with chocolate pieces and marshmallows that get all gooey and toasty in the oven. You can even use the broiler for a minute at the end to really toast the marshmallows like you would over a fire. Way less messy than actual s’mores but with all the same chocolate-marshmallow goodness.

Peach Dump Cake

The name isn’t pretty but the dessert sure is! This is probably the easiest thing on the list. You literally dump canned peaches (or fresh if you got em) in a baking dish, sprinkle a cake mix over top, drizzle with melted butter, and bake. That’s it. It comes out like a cobbler with golden brown crispy parts and soft peachy parts. You can use other fruits too – cherry is popular. This is perfect when you need a hot dessert but have zero time or energy for proper baking.

Key Lime Pie Squares

These are like key lime pie but in bar form which is easier to serve to a crowd. The crust is usually graham cracker and the filling is sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and lots of lime juice and zest. They’re tart and sweet at the same time. Some recipes make a no-bake version using cream cheese instead of eggs. Either way, they’re cool and refreshing on hot days and the bright green color looks pretty on a dessert table.

Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs

These are fun and portable – perfect for eating while standing around at a BBQ. You thread chunks of pound cake (store-bought works fine), whole strawberries, and maybe marshmallows onto wooden skewers. Then drizzle with white chocolate or serve with whipped cream for dipping. These look fancy on a platter but take like 10 minutes to put together. Kids love them because anything on a stick is automatically more fun to eat.

Tropical Pineapple Coconut Bars

These make you feel like your on vacation even if your just in your backyard. The base is usually a buttery shortbread crust. The filling has crushed pineapple, coconut, and sometimes cream cheese. Some recipes add macadamia nuts for crunch. The tropical flavors are a nice change from the usual berry desserts in summer. These keep well in the fridge for a few days if you want to make them ahead.

Fresh Berry Trifle

Trifles look impressive but are actually super easy. You just layer store-bought pound cake or angel food cake, whipped cream, vanilla pudding, and tons of fresh berries in a big glass bowl. The layers look pretty and you can make it as fancy or simple as you want. This is best assembled a few hours before serving so the cake can soak up some of the fruit juices. It feeds a ton of people and always looks impressive even though its basically just layering things in a bowl.

Lemon Icebox Cake

This is an old-fashioned no-bake dessert that’s perfect for hot days. You layer lemon pudding (homemade or instant) with graham crackers and whipped cream in a baking dish. After a night in the fridge, the graham crackers soften and it slices like cake. The lemon flavor is cool and refreshing. You can fancy it up with lemon zest on top or keep it simple. Either way, it’s perfect for making ahead since it needs that overnight chill time.

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

These are fun to make with kids and can be customized however you want. You can use homemade or store-bought cookies – chocolate chip, sugar cookies, whatever you like. Sandwich softened ice cream between them, roll the edges in sprinkles or mini chocolate chips if you want, then freeze until firm. You can make these days ahead and keep them in the freezer. Way better than the store-bought kind and you can make them any size you want.

Grilled Peaches with Honey and Vanilla Ice Cream

This is perfect for summer cookouts when the grill is already hot. Just cut peaches in half, remove the pits, and grill cut-side down for a few minutes until they get grill marks and soften a bit. Drizzle with honey and serve with vanilla ice cream. The hot/cold contrast is amazing and the grilling brings out the peaches natural sweetness. This feels fancy but takes almost no effort, especially when your already grilling other food.

Blackberry Crumble Bars

These work with any summer berry but blackberries are especially good. The crust and crumble topping are the same mixture – oats, flour, butter, and sugar. You press most of it in the pan for the crust, add the berry filling (usually berries cooked with sugar and cornstarch), then sprinkle the rest on top. After baking and cooling, they cut into neat squares that are easy to serve. The sweet-tart berry filling and buttery crumble are so good together.

Cherry Hand Pies

These are like little portable cherry pies that people can eat without plates or forks. You can use store-bought pie crust to make it easy (the refrigerated kind that comes rolled up). Cut circles, add a spoonful of cherry pie filling (canned works fine), fold over, seal, and bake. Some recipes use a powdered sugar glaze on top. These are good warm or room temperature and way less messy than trying to serve slices of regular pie at an outdoor party.

Raspberry Lemonade Poke Cake

Poke cakes are genius for feeding crowds – they stay super moist and you can make them a day ahead. You bake a simple white or yellow cake, poke holes all over it with a fork, then pour over a mixture of raspberry and lemonade gelatin or a homemade raspberry-lemon syrup. After chilling, top with whipped cream or a simple glaze. The cake soaks up all the fruity flavor and turns pretty pink inside. This is perfect for summer with the bright raspberry-lemon flavor.

Mini Pavlovas with Summer Berries

These look fancy but aren’t hard to make. The meringue nests can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container. Just before serving, fill with whipped cream and pile on fresh berries. The contrast of crisp meringue, soft cream, and juicy berries is amazing. You can make them as individual servings which looks impressive and lets people grab their own without needing to cut slices of anything. Kinda fancy but still easy enough for casual gatherings.

Frozen Yogurt Bark with Fresh Fruit

This is barely even a recipe but so good for hot days. You just spread greek yogurt (mixed with a little honey) on a parchment-lined baking sheet, sprinkle with fresh berries, maybe some granola or chopped nuts, and freeze until solid. Then break into pieces like bark. It’s refreshing, not too sweet, and healthier than most desserts. Kids love it and it’s pretty with all the colorful fruit. Make it the day before and keep it in the freezer until serving time.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

These are always a hit, especially with kids. You can use store-bought cookies if your in a hurry or make your own if you have time. The trick is letting the ice cream soften enough to spread easily but not so much that it melts everywhere. Some recipes roll the edges in mini chocolate chips or sprinkles. These need to go back in the freezer to firm up before serving. Make a bunch of different flavors if you want to get fancy – mint chip ice cream with chocolate cookies is so good.

Mixed Berry Galette with Vanilla Glaze

A galette is like a rustic free-form pie that’s way easier than making a proper pie. You roll out pie dough (store-bought works fine), pile fresh berries mixed with sugar in the middle, fold the edges up, and bake. The vanilla glaze is just powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla that you drizzle over after baking. This looks impressive but is actually very forgiving since it’s supposed to look rustic. Great for using whatever berries look good at the market that day.