Beach Wedding Menu Ideas
Beach is one of the most stunning wedding venues you can have for your special day. The cool breeze, ocean background, gorgeous sunsets, sand on your feet, and the relaxing feeling of being on the beach, make that the perfect summer wedding.
So, if you’re having a destination wedding at the beach, or a wedding at your local beach, you have the opportunity to come up with a great beach theme wedding menu when you’re planning a beach wedding. The food and drinks you serve can go with your wedding theme, and make it even more special.
There are tons of menu ideas you can come up with, tons of beach wedding foods, and delicious food ideas you can incorporate into your special day. You can have a buffet style meal, or a regular 3-course meal that’s a bit more formal - whatever fits your wedding theme and style.
It gives you the perfect opportunity to serve seafood dishes and other beach wedding foods.
So, I’m writing a roundup post of some great beach summer wedding menu ideas that you can serve at your beach wedding reception and throughout your whole special day.
Beach Wedding Menu Ideas
Here are some great beach theme wedding food ideas, so you can make a whole plan - food for the cocktail hour, the reception, desserts, all of it!
Fish & Seafood
This is such an obvious, but such a great beach wedding food idea.
You can serve all kinds of fish & seafood dishes - shrimp cocktail, salmon, oysters, food buffet but with seafood, etc.
Just make sure you serve it well, so it doesn’t go bad in the sun.
For side dishes, you can serve fresh potato salads, veggie salads, or grilled veggies.
Fresh Fruit
Before the actual food arrives, during cocktail hour, you can serve fresh fruit - it’s delicious, refreshing, and goes great with the beach wedding theme.
You can even make your wedding cake fruity, or decorated with fresh fruit!
You can also put fruit on grazing tables - it’s a very popular appetizer, and fresh fruit goes so well with the cheeses and crackers.
Grazing tables also look great, especially when they have a lot of different foods and colors on them, and fresh fruit provides that.
Surf’n’Turf
This is a very sophisticated food idea, perfect for a beach wedding! It combines both the red meat, like you’d probably have at a non-beach wedding, with seafood, which works great for a beach wedding!
So, come up with a great surf’n’turf meal, and leave your guests amazed.
Ice Cream
If you’re not having a super traditional wedding, serving ice cream is a great idea. Who doesn’t want ice cream when they’re at the beach? It will help people stay refreshed, and cool down a bit.
The food and drink you serve can be completely tailored to your style, so if you’re not very formal, and like ice cream, why not serve it?
Here are some recipe ideas that would be great for a summer beach wedding.
Tuscan-Inspired Salmon
438 calories
4 oz Salmon filet - 200 calories
4 oz Coconut milk, reduced fat (oz) - 140 calories
⅛ cup Broth, vegetable - 1.875 calories
0.3 Tbsp Garlic, minced (Tbsp) - 0 calories
4 cups Leafy greens, spinach, raw - 28 calories
4 Tbsp Tomatoes, sun-dried - 68 calories
1 Garlic salt, dash - 0 calories
DIRECTIONS
Add garlic salt to salmon.
Spray a pan with an oil spray & add in minced garlic. Add in salmon. Cover pan with lid.
Cook salmon ~12 minutes on low-medium heat.
Turn heat to low. Add in spinach, sundried tomatoes, broth, and coconut milk to the pan, recover & let simmer for ~5 minutes
Shrimp Cocktail
156 calories
5 oz Shrimp - 140 calories
¼ cup Salsa - 16 calories
DIRECTIONS
If cooking shrimp from frozen, spray a pan with an oil spray and cook shrimp for ~8 minutes on medium heat, until cooked through. Drain away any excess liquid.
Dip shrimp in salsa.
Salmon with Greek Salad
426 calories
4 oz Salmon filet - 200 calories
½ Cucumber, small - 16 calories
1 cup Tomatoes, grape - 32 calories
⅓ cup Cheese, crumbled, feta - 133 calories
2 cups Leafy greens, arugula, raw - 10 calories
2 Tbsp Vinaigrette, light (less than 50 calories per 2 Tbsp) - 35 calories
1 Salt, dash - 0 calories
1 Pepper, dash - 0 calories
1 Basil, dash - 0 calories
1 Oregano, dash - 0 calories
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil & spray with an oil spray.
Top salmon with seasonings.
Bake salmon for 15-20 minutes, or until flakes easily.
While salmon is baking, chop tomato, cucumber and combine with feta. Combine mixture with arugula, salad dressing, and seasonings.
Serve with salmon on the side.
No salmon? Use chicken or tofu.
Note: I like Trader Joe’s fat free vinaigrette – but Paul Newman, Whole Foods, etc. all have good light dressings.
Mediterranean Plate
422 calories
1 cup Leafy greens, spinach, raw - 7 calories
6 oz Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, raw - 190 calories
½ Cucumber, small - 16 calories
½ cup Tomatoes, grape - 16 calories
¼ Onion, red - 13.75 calories
¼ cup Cheese, crumbled, feta - 99.75 calories
¼ tsp Basil, dried - 0 calories
¼ tsp Oregano - 0 calories
¼ tsp Salt - 0 calories
⅔ Tbsp Olive oil (Tbsp) - 79.73 calories
DIRECTIONS
Spray a pan with an oil spray. Slice chicken.
Cook chicken for ~10 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Slice tomatoes, cucumber, and onion.
Arrange all food on plate and top with oil and seasonings.
Note: 0.67 Tbsp = 2 tsp
Shrimp Ceviche
331 calories
5 oz Shrimp, fresh or frozen - 140 calories
¼ Onion, red - 13.75 calories
3 Tbsp Lemon, juice - 6 calories
1 Tbsp Cilantro - 0 calories
1 Tomato, medium - 22 calories
½ Avocado, small - 116.5 calories
1 Cucumber, small - 32 calories
¼ Jalapeño, slice - 0.25 calories
DIRECTIONS
Spray a pan with an oil spray. Cook shrimp from fresh or frozen for ~8 minutes, until cooked through. Drain if there’s excess liquid. Once cooled, chop shrimp into small pieces.
Also chop onion, tomato, avocado, and jalapeno into small pieces.
Combine all ingredients (besides cucumber) in a bowl, mix.
Squeeze lemon juice over mixture.
Slice cucumber and serve on the side.
Note: 1 lemon yields ~3 Tbsp lemon juice.
Caprese Chicken Sheet Pan
401 calories
6 oz Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, raw - 190 calories
½ cup Asparagus spears, chopped - 13.5 calories
½ Onion, yellow - 27.5 calories
½ Bell pepper, red - 18.5 calories
2 oz Cheese, sliced, mozzarella, full fat/ regular - 140 calories
½ Tomato, medium - 11 calories
¼ tsp Basil, dried - 0 calories
¼ tsp Oregano - 0 calories
¼ tsp Salt - 0 calories
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper & spray it with an oil spray
Thinly sliced to bell peppers and onion
Cut off hard ends of asparagus and discard
Add veggies and chicken to baking sheet
Top chicken with sliced tomato and mozzarella
Top chicken and veggies with seasonings
Bake for 30 minutes
Use an instant-read thermometer to make sure chicken gets to 165 degrees internally
No chicken? Use tofu or fish. No dairy? Use a dairy free cheese.