The Memorial Day side dish hierarchy doesn’t change much — potato salad, mac and cheese, baked beans, slaw, corn. But these 5 sides earn their place on the table by either fixing a problem with the classics or adding a flavor the standard lineup doesn’t bring. Tested against potato salad and mac in three head-to-heads at our 2025 Memorial Day cookout.

How we tested

Three Memorial Day cookouts, 2025: one in Texas (40 guests), one in Illinois (28 guests), one in California (22 guests). Each cookout had the standard sides (potato salad, mac and cheese, baked beans, coleslaw, watermelon) plus 1–2 of the candidate dishes below. We tracked: portion remaining at end of cookout, second-helping rate from guests, and unsolicited “what is this?” reactions.

Side #1: Smoked Bacon-Cheddar Mac and Cheese (replaces standard mac)

Standard mac and cheese is good. Smoked mac and cheese with bacon eats like a meat course. The bacon’s rendered fat enriches the cheese sauce, the smoke clings to the noodles, and you skip the soft-flabby texture problem of plain baked mac.

Why it earned the slot: at all three cookouts, smoked mac was the first side dish to disappear. Standard mac in the same cookouts ended with leftovers in 2/3 cases.

Method: cook elbow pasta to 1 minute under al dente. Make a roux-and-milk béchamel, fold in 12 oz sharp cheddar + 8 oz cream cheese + 1/2 cup parmesan. Add 6 oz cooked, chopped bacon. Transfer to cast-iron skillet. Smoke at 250°F for 45 minutes. Top with panko + parmesan, broil 3 minutes for crust.

Side #2: Grilled Watermelon Salad (replaces standard watermelon)

Plain watermelon is fine on a hot day. Grilled watermelon — thick wedges seared 90 seconds per side over high heat — concentrates the sugars, adds a bit of char, and lets you build a salad around it. Pair with crumbled feta, mint, red onion, balsamic reduction.

Why it earned the slot: the savory-sweet bite breaks up an all-meat plate. People who normally skip watermelon ate this version.

Method: 1-inch watermelon wedges, brushed light with olive oil. Hot direct grill, 90 sec per side, just to char-mark. Cool, cube. Toss with feta cubes, fresh mint chiffonade, thinly sliced red onion. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. Salt to taste.

Side #3: Burnt-Ends Baked Beans (replaces standard baked beans)

Baked beans from a can, hot-dog-bun warm: fine. Baked beans with burnt ends from yesterday’s brisket point folded in: a meat-and-bean side that competes with the main protein for attention.

Why it earned the slot: at the Texas cookout, burnt-ends baked beans pulled second-helping rate higher than the brisket itself. Some guests skipped the brisket and just ate this.

Method: if you cooked brisket the night before, save 1–2 cups of cubed point. Otherwise, smoke 1 lb of pork belly cubes for 90 minutes, glaze with bourbon-brown-sugar, smoke 30 more. Combine: 4 cans baked beans, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup mustard, 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 tbsp Worcestershire, the meat. Bake at 325°F for 90 minutes uncovered.

Side #4: Smoked Deviled Eggs (replaces standard deviled eggs)

Standard deviled eggs are the appetizer plate. Smoked deviled eggs make people pause — the smoke flavor in the egg yolks is the kind of detail that registers as effort.

Why it earned the slot: our Illinois cookout had standard deviled eggs and smoked deviled eggs side-by-side. Smoked finished first by a clear margin.

Method: hard-boil 12 eggs the day before. Peel, halve, separate yolks. Cold-smoke whites at 100–125°F for 45 minutes. Mix yolks with mayo (3 tbsp), Dijon (1 tbsp), apple cider vinegar (1 tsp), smoked paprika (1/2 tsp), salt + pepper. Pipe back into whites. Top with chopped chives or crumbled bacon. (See our full smoked deviled eggs recipe collection for variations.)

Side #5: Grilled Corn Esquites (replaces standard corn on the cob)

Corn on the cob is a Memorial Day staple but it’s a fork-and-knife problem at a stand-up cookout. Grilled corn esquites — Mexican street corn off the cob in a cup — eats easier and packs more flavor per bite.

Why it earned the slot: at the California cookout, every esquite cup was eaten. The corn on the cob option had 30% leftovers at end of cookout.

Method: grill 8 ears of corn over high heat, turning, until charred in spots (8–10 min). Cool, cut kernels off cob. Toss with: 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup crumbled cotija (sub feta if needed), 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, juice of 2 limes, 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, salt. Serve in 8-oz cups with spoons. Top with extra cotija and chili powder.

What didn’t make the cut

Three candidates we tested but cut from the final 5:

• Smoked potato salad. Tasted great but slightly worse than standard at room temperature. Smoke flavor faded as the salad cooled. Didn’t earn the swap.
• Grilled romaine Caesar. Excellent flavor but the lettuce wilts within 20 minutes — bad for a 4-hour cookout window.
• Smoked baked potato salad with bacon ranch. Heavy + heavy + heavy. Felt like a full meal on its own. Better as a separate cookout, not a side.

The full Memorial Day side strategy

FAQ

Can I make all 5 of these for one cookout?

Yes — with planning. Smoked mac, beans, and deviled eggs can be done the day before. Watermelon salad and esquites should be done the morning of. The smoker has capacity for the smoke-required dishes if you batch them at 250°F.

Which side scales best for 50+ guests?

Esquites. Cooking 30+ ears of corn is a single grill pass; the assembly scales linearly. Smoked mac scales but ties up your smoker.

Are these all gluten-free?

Esquites yes. Watermelon salad yes. Burnt-ends beans yes (verify Worcestershire). Smoked deviled eggs yes. Smoked mac no — sub gluten-free pasta.

What if I’ve never smoked sides before?

Start with the deviled eggs. Cold-smoking peeled eggs at 100°F is a low-stakes intro to side dish smoking — if it goes wrong, you’re out 12 eggs.

The Memorial Day side decision

You don’t need to upgrade every classic. Pick 2–3 of these to swap in — the ones that match your equipment and timing — and keep the rest standard. The mac, the burnt-ends beans, and the esquites are the highest-leverage upgrades for a typical 20–30 person cookout.

The classics aren’t wrong. These are just better.

Methodology: 3 cookouts, 2025 Memorial Day weekend. Tracked second-helping rate, end-of-cookout leftovers, unsolicited guest reactions. Combined with 50+ user reports from r/BBQ and Smoking Meat Forums 2024–2025 sides discussions.

Related reads on PopularBBQ.com

• How Much Brisket Per Person? The 2026 Memorial Day Math — 1/2 lb cooked per adult, +20% safety margin, full table from 6 to 30 guests.
• Tri-Tip vs Brisket for Memorial Day Weekend — 90 minutes vs 12 hours — the side-by-side decision matrix.
• Why Pellet Smokers Stall at 165°F (And 4 Fixes That Actually Work) — Surface evaporation cools meat as fast as the smoker heats it. Pick your fix.
• Reverse Sear for Thin Steaks (Under 1.5 Inches) — Smoke at 200°F to 95°F internal, sear 60–90 sec per side over 600°F.
• Bark vs. Crust on Brisket: What’s the Difference — Bark is the goal. Crust tells you the cook went sideways. The chemistry.
• Wagyu Burgers on the Grill: The $20-Per-Pound Patty Done Right — Treat Wagyu like a tenderloin, not a McDonald’s patty. 130°F pull.

Sources & further reading

• Meat Church — Cookout & sides recipes
• AmazingRibs.com — Side dishes & accompaniments
• ThermoWorks Blog — Cooking temperatures for sides & proteins