{"id":15929,"date":"2026-07-16T02:15:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/?p=15929"},"modified":"2026-07-16T02:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:16:09","slug":"watermelon-salads-drinks-and-more-than-just-slices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/2026\/07\/16\/watermelon-salads-drinks-and-more-than-just-slices\/","title":{"rendered":"Watermelon: Salads, Drinks, and More Than Just Slices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14960\" src=\"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vecteezy_watermelon-and-feta-salad_47278412.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3240\" height=\"2592\" \/>Watermelon shows up at peak season in July \u2014 cheap, abundant, and usually served exactly one way: sliced into wedges and eaten off a paper towel. That&#8217;s a fine way to eat it, but it&#8217;s also leaving money and flavor on the table (or rather, in the trash, since most people toss the rind and any melon that goes soft before it&#8217;s finished).<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s how to get more meals out of one melon.<\/p>\n<h2>Why watermelon is worth building meals around right now<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s cheap when it&#8217;s in season.<\/strong> July is peak watermelon season in most of the U.S., which typically means lower per-pound prices than the rest of the year (check your store&#8217;s current pricing \u2014 this varies by region and week).<\/li>\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s mostly water,<\/strong> which makes it a natural fit for hot-weather meals that don&#8217;t require turning on the oven.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The whole melon is usable<\/strong> \u2014 flesh, juice, and even the rind \u2014 so a single melon can stretch across several meals instead of one snack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14957\" src=\"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/selecting-watermelon.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3300\" height=\"2200\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Don&#8217;t waste the rind<\/h2>\n<p>The white part of the rind is edible and often gets thrown away. Two low-effort options:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Quick-pickled rind: <\/strong>peel off the green skin, cube the white rind, and pickle in a simple vinegar-sugar-salt brine for a tangy, crunchy topping for tacos or sandwiches.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stir-fried rind: <\/strong>thinly slice and stir-fry with garlic and a splash of soy sauce, similar to how you&#8217;d cook a firm summer squash.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Using the rind means less of what you paid for ends up in the trash.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9349\" src=\"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/viking_watermelon_carving_by_jam_butty_d53iqcq-fullview.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/viking_watermelon_carving_by_jam_butty_d53iqcq-fullview.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/viking_watermelon_carving_by_jam_butty_d53iqcq-fullview-300x284.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/viking_watermelon_carving_by_jam_butty_d53iqcq-fullview-768x727.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>This week, buy one watermelon and make it work harder. <\/strong><\/h3>\n<h2>Plan it with DinnerTime<\/h2>\n<p>Search in your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dinnertime.com\/plan\/recipe-box\/watermelon\">DinnerTime Recipe Box<\/a> and add watermelon recipes to your DinnerTime Meal Planner and the app builds your shopping list automatically, matched to what&#8217;s on sale at your store \u2014 so a single melon can turn into a salad, a drink, and a grilled side across the week instead of one bowl of slices.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watermelon shows up at peak season in July \u2014 cheap, abundant, and usually served exactly one way: sliced into wedges and eaten off a paper towel. That&#8217;s a fine way to eat it, but it&#8217;s also leaving money and flavor&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/2026\/07\/16\/watermelon-salads-drinks-and-more-than-just-slices\/\" class=\"read-more\">Read&nbsp;More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15929"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15934,"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15929\/revisions\/15934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp2.dinnertime.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}