25+ Easy Sides to Serve with Ribs

updated May 14, 2020

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Credit: Joe Lingeman
5-Ingredient Instant Pot Potato Salad

Summer’s here, and to me that means one thing: It’s rib season! I’ve cooked ribs in the oven and the slow cooker, and I’ve smoked ribs on the grill, but my favorite method is Instant Pot Ribs. Since the prep is hands-off, it leaves me with plenty of time to make tasty side dishes that get me almost as excited for rib season as the ribs themselves.

If you’re wondering about the best sides for ribs to round out dinner, know that there are so many delicious options. You can never go wrong with any of the summer classics, like baked beans, corn on the cob, pasta salad, or potato salad; they’re some of the very best side dishes for ribs. Here are more than 25 of my absolute favorite sides to fill your plate.

Try One of Our Favorite Rib Recipes!

Potato Salads

Potato salad is the ultimate summer side, and a favorite paired with meaty, sticky ribs. The new potato salad below is one of our family favorites, and you can never go wrong with the classic version.

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Instant Pot Potato Salad

Think of this Instant Pot potato salad as a potato salad template that you can customize however you please.

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The Best Classic Potato Salad

Today, let's pare it down to the basics and talk about how to make an easy, classic, all-American potato salad.

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Bacon-Lovers' Potato Salad

This tangy German-inspired potato salad has bacon-y goodness infused into every single bite.

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Mixed New Potato Salad with Sweet Basil and Shallots

Toss tiny new potatoes with tangy buttermilk and sour cream along with handfuls of fresh sweet basil and crunchy shallots. It's the new summer classic.

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Tomato & Mozzarella Potato Salad with Lemon-Buttermilk Dressing

Potato salad is quick, it easily feeds a crowd, and it can be the perfect vessel for seasonal vegetables. Take this one, for instance: Tomatoes, tiny mozzarella balls, and heaps of fresh basil.

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Classic German Potato Salad

This German potato salad with sliced baby red potatoes, crisp-chewy bacon, and lots of fresh herbs packs in an exceptional amount of flavor and is always the first thing at picnics and potlucks to be eaten.

Baked Beans and Bean Salads

Baked beans are a classic rib side because their tangy tomato base complements most rib rubs. Don’t skip on cold bean and vegetables salads either, as they can be prepped and chilled ahead, much like the ribs themselves.

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Brown Sugar & Bacon Slow Cooker Baked Beans

The slow cooker transforms dried beans into tender, tangy-sweet baked beans that are perfect for every summer cookout.

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Fast and Fancy Pork and Beans

Canned beans, your favorite cut of cured pork, molasses, and one secret ingredient make it possible for you to be eating creamy beans in a velvety sauce in just 30 minutes.

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Three Bean Salad

This three bean salad is a pretty straight-forward take on the classic — a mix of fresh and canned beans, a tangy vinaigrette, and red onions for color and crunch. However, there is plenty of room for adaptation, which is what makes it perfect for any cook to keep in their back pocket.

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BBQ Pizza Beans

This vegetarian rendition of the iconic barbecue chicken pizza from CPK trades the chicken and crust for glazy beans.

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Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Hot Sauce Vinaigrette

Down South, this salad is called a sitting salad. It can sit on the summer picnic table without wilting, so it's the perfect potluck dish.

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Marinated White Beans

When soaked in garlic and shallot-infused olive oil and tossed with lots of fresh herbs, plump white beans transform into a delicious multi-purpose dish. Bring them to a picnic, pile them onto thick slices of toast for dinner, or toss with cooked grains for a hearty and satisfying lunch.

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Tomato and Feta White Bean Salad

Here’s a simple yet satisfying salad to make for dinner tonight, and if you’ve got a couple of cans of white beans in your pantry, you’re already halfway there.

Pasta Salads

Pasta salad tossed with a tangy dressing and loaded with veggies is an excellent partner to a rack of ribs. Especially because it’s a side that’s even better when it’s made in advance.

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The Easiest Pasta Salad

This goes-anywhere, has-everything pasta salad is one we think you should know by heart.

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Greek Pasta Salad

Take all the bright, vibrant flavors of a classic Greek salad — the juicy tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, sharp red onion, briny Kalamata olives, and salty feta cheese — and toss it with al dente shells and you’ve got summer’s new favorite pasta salad.

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Broccoli and Feta Pasta Salad

While elaborate salads are delightful, there are times, like right now in picnic season, when it is better to strip it down to the basics and keep it simple. This reader favorite has a mere handful of ingredients, but they’re winners — feta, olives, snap-tender broccoli, and colorful pasta.

Mac and Cheese

It doesn’t matter what the temperature is outside, it’s impossible to make ribs and not consider a side of mac and cheese. And whether you make it in the Instant Pot, go for our five-ingredient version, or the one-pot recipe, you can be sure each recipe is fuss-free and leaves you with an incredibly creamy and delicious result.

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Mac and Cheese Cups

These individual-portioned mac and cheese cups are loaded with a creamy cheddar sauce and topped with buttery breadcrumbs.

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Crispy Sheet Pan Mac and Cheese

Baking mac and cheese on a sheet pan tastes just like classic mac and cheese, but requires half the effort, which means you can fix any day of the week.

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Creamy Mac and Cheese

There are a lot of shortcut ways to make your mac and cheese extra creamy. You can add cream cheese or evaporated milk, heavy cream or extra butter. But this version is smarter: It uses the pasta’s own starch to make a creamy and thick sauce for the macaroni.

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Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Instant Pot macaroni and cheese requires just five ingredients (OK, six if you include water) and cooks up perfectly from start to finish in 20 minutes. Between boiling the water and making the cheese sauce, even the best boxed macaroni and cheese can’t beat that timing.

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The Best One-Pot Mac & Cheese

Imagine a creamy, three-cheese pasta that comes together with absolutely no milk and butter. Now imagine that it’s cooked all in one pot (you don’t even need to strain the pasta!).

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Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Butternut squash mac and cheese isn’t just a recipe for sneaking more vegetables into your diet. Adding butternut squash to your mac and cheese also gives it a gorgeous golden hue, makes for an extra-silky sauce, and adds a sweeter, earthier taste to the classic.

Corn on the Cob (and More)

There’s hardly a summer meal that isn’t made better by corn on the cob, whether it’s boiled on the stove, charred on the grill, or cooked in your Instant Pot, and that most definitely includes ribs. Although if you want to change things up a little, a corn pudding casserole is just the ticket.

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Buttery Corn on the Cob in the Instant Pot

Instant Pots are one of our favorite tools for quick summer dinners. It can cook tender ribs in less than an hour, make shredded beef for quick tacos, and, most surprisingly, cook up corn on the cob to tender, juicy perfection.

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Oven-Roasted Corn: 3 Simple Methods

Of all the ways we cook corn, none is more underrated than roasting. Roasting corn is like unlocking its hidden sweetness and earthy flavor in a totally hands-off way. Even better? There’s more than one way to do it right.

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The Best Grilled Corn on the Cob

It’s summer, which means that not only is your grill hot, but corn is also finally juicy and sweet. The two need to meet. Learn exactly how to get corn and its husks ready for the grill.

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Baked Corn Pudding Casserole

It's soft and tender on the inside with just a touch of texture from sweet corn and cornmeal, and blanketed with a delicate golden crust.

Other Vegetable Favorites

Mixed with lima beans, tomatoes, okra, and corn, succotash is a nice side to balance out your plate. For a more traditional veggie side dish, try collard greens or greens beans.

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Spring & Summer Succotash

A big platter of succotash is a celebration of all the vibrant vegetables coming into season: sweet corn, baby lima beans, ripe red tomatoes, and tender okra. Here's how to make it throughout the spring and summer months.

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Slow Cooker Collard Greens

After the hours of simmering, the collard greens will be rendered and perfectly tender. All you need to do is re-season the potlikker and enjoy!

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There are dozens of ways to cook collard greens and this one leans towards the more traditional, using a smoked ham hock and bacon fat to add flavor and richness.

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Quick & Easy Green Beans

While the recipe calls for olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes to season the beans, you can easily swap those ingredients to customize the beans’ flavor. Use sesame oil, ginger, and five spice instead, or swap olive oil for butter and add slivered almonds instead.

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