When planning your cookout menu, the main course is the easy part—grab your grill accessories and throw some hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue chicken, and maybe some ribs on the grates, and you're done. The tricky part (besides deciding on what summer cocktails to whip up) is choosing what side dishes to make.

With so many choices—macaroni and cheese, broccoli salad, pasta salad, potato salad, corn, coleslaw, green beans, oh my!—it's tough to hone in on just the right thing to serve at your BBQ or bring to a potluck. Here's a suggestion to keep you from getting overwhelmed: Choose one or two classics, like Southern baked beans and biscuits or tomato pie and a healthy vegetarian salad. Then, sprinkle in one or two more creative options to delight any adventurous eaters in the group—think street corn and mac and cheese balls or loaded baked potatoes and easy grilled avocado.

And if you're prepping for a special holiday, like your annual Fourth of July party, you could even put small twists on recipes like fruit salad by cutting melon into star shapes.

Here, a sampling of some true cookout side dish winners, so no matter what you choose—a quick last-minute salad or a more complicated baked casserole—it's sure to be a crowd-pleaser that'll have all of your friends and family asking you where you got the recipe.