17 Creative Melon Recipes

A lightened version of the classic Italian dessert, subbing yogurt for half of the cream and topped with fresh, juicy melon.

This refreshing watermelon cocktail is a pure taste of summer. For a nonalcoholic version, skip the tequila and add a little water to help blend the mixture.

Recipe: The Party Starter (Watermelon Tequila Cocktail)

Freeze cubes of puréed ripe melon so you can whip up this treat anytime the mood strikes.

Recipe: Summer Melon Fizzies

To keep this drink simple, start with store-bought limeade.

Recipe: Lime Aqua Fresca with Watermelon

This easy recipe comes from Kirk Sowell, owner of two Morro Bay restaurants--Miss Lola's SouthSide Grill and Frankie & Lola's Front Street Cafe. He developed it especially to highlight the cucumber-melon flavors of Pacific Gold oysters. He uses Ha-Ogen and Ambrosia melons, and cilantro microgreens, but they're a little hard to find; honeydew, cantaloupe, and regular cilantro are fine too.

Recipe: Oysters with Melon and Cucumber Water

Using a few colors and different sizes of tomatoes will make this recipe especially beautiful.

Recipe: Tomato and Melon Salad with Scallops and Pink Peppercorns

This savory-sweet summer salad is a perfect example of the saying, "If it grows together, it goes together."

Recipe: Watermelon, Corn and Tomato Salad

Chris Cosentino of Cockscomb restaurant in San Francisco is known for adventurous dishes like this one, a meet-up of mild grilled calamari (squid), fresh produce, and exciting seasonings. He grills the calamari over almond wood plus regular charcoal briquets; for the home cook, he recommends easy-to-find mesquite hardwood charcoal. To make the dish as fiery as Cosentino likes it, use 2 tbsp. black pepper and 2 tsp. Aleppo pepper, and don’t seed the serrano chile.

Recipe: Calamari, Watermelon, and Tomato Salad

Grilling watermelon adds a smoky note to the fruit and gives it a slightly meaty texture that matches well with shrimp. Cooking takes only a couple of minutes, so have both sets of skewers ready before you start. You'll need 12 flat metal skewers (12 in. long) or 18 skewers (8 in. long)—or use bamboo skewers of the same size, soaked in water for 30 minutes.

Recipe: Grilled Watermelon and Shrimp Skewers

Chiles, pickled onions, and fresh lime wake up this watermelon salad.

Recipe: Spicy Watermelon Salad

A salad that’s as beautiful and clever as it is delicious. Oh, and did we mention—it only has four ingredients?

Recipe: Shaved Cantaloupe and Prosciutto Salad

The cool melon is a nice contrast to the spicy chile. Serve with any grilled chicken dish you like.

Recipe: Melon Salsa

The cool melon is nicely contrasting to the spicy shrimp and dressing. We suggest slicing the melon into wedges, and then again on a diagonally so you get wide pieces.

Recipe: Vietnamese Shrimp and Green Melon Salad

Move jello beyond retro dessert with the summery flavor of watermelon.

Recipe: Watermelon Jello

This sorbet is only as good as your melon, so use the best fruit you can find (or grow). The sorbet is creamiest when eaten as soon as it's frozen.

Recipe: Watermelon, Cantaloupe, or Honeydew Sorbet

Getting a flavor bomb of a melon is partly about choosing a great variety but always about knowing when it’s ripe. Here’s our cheat sheet for the supermarket or farmers’ market.

• Cantaloupe. Summer’s standard melon can be exceptional if you go for fragrance, well-developed netting over a tan (not green) background color, and an indention at the stem end, indicating it was picked ripe.
• Ambrosia. Delicate-tasting, extra-sweet hybrid with pale orange flesh. Look for the same ripeness clues as for cantaloupe, but with a fine netting.
• Charentais. Smooth-skinned, green-striped variety from France with perfumed, deep-orange flesh. The best have a heady aroma and grey-green rind turning light yellow.
• Ha’Ogen. Luscious, juicy, and tropical, with green flesh; originally from Hungary and Israel. Look for yellow peel between the green stripes, and a rich aroma.
• Galia. A pale green-fleshed Israeli hybrid related to Ha’Ogen but a little crisper; sweet and spicy. Melons ripen to deep yellow outside.
• Sharlyn. Soft-textured with pale yellow flesh and tropical flavor and aroma. The netted, dark green rind matures to yellow or orange.