I love summer salads. I would love to hear everyone’s favorite pasta salad, mac salad or summer salad of any kind.
I absolutely LOVE summer salads. My basic recipe can be varied in all kinds of ways, but has the same basic components:
-Grain (pearled farro, wheat berries, bulgur wheat, or quinoa) or beans (black beans and garbanzos are my favorites)
-Oil (usually canola, but I had some fancy nut oils from Trader Joe’s that were good too)
-Acid (red wine or balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, or verjus)
-Green onions (can’t skip these)
-Other herbs and vegetables (cucumber, tomato, sweet peppers, flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, mint, oregano, thyme)
-Optional cheese (crumbled feta or chevre)
-Salt and pepper
My very favorite combos of this are quinoa with cucumbers, farro with all the veggies, and bulgur wheat with tomato, feta, and all the green herbs I can find. Oh–black beans with green herbs and extra green onion, too.
Carrot salad is a perennial favorite: shred carrots and dress with oil, lemon juice, grainy mustard, garlic powder, salt, pepper. Can substitute shredded beets for part or all of it, just don’t stain your fingers…
Zucchini ribbon salad: use a vegetable peeler to make a pile of zucchini ribbons. Dress with oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, green onions, chevre or feta cheese, some kind of seed or nut, and lots of chopped green herbs
On green salads I like whole wheat rotini, grape tomatoes, and pressed raw garlic. Also hard boiled eggs and ranch dressing (swoon). Or a combination of finely chopped radishes, carrots, and green onion with a balsamic dressing. Or classic Greek salads.
Shrimp Salad
2-3 cans of shrimp, drained
Diced green bell pepper (1/2 large)
Diced small onion
Dill weed
salt
pepper
mayo
shell pasta, cooked
Sorry about the amounts. I fake it when I make it. Basically, it’s to your taste, but there is usually a substantial amount of dill involved. If you don’t like dill, then thyme would probably work. Go light on the mayo; you can always add more, if needed. If you want to garnish it for presentation, place a few medium-sized cooked shrimp on top and dust with paprika.
Stupidly easy Hungarian cucumber salad is a refreshing addition to nearly any hot-weather dinner.
Peel a few Kirby cukes (they’re less watery than the standard type). Shave into thin wafers on a mandoline, or the mandoline blade on the side of your box grater. Place in a shallow bowl. Salt & pepper (Hungarians sprinkle on a little white sugar, but I don’t think it adds anything). Top with a few glugs of white or cider vinegar, no fancy wine or sherry or Balsamic stuff. Add just enough cold water so that the cukes are nearly swimming in the dressing…you want close to a 50/50 ratio of vinegar to water. Stick in the fridge to chill while you make everything else.
I don’t know if it counts as a “summer salad” (I’m not familiar with the phrase), but curried chicken salad is always one of my favorites. Basically, take a roast chicken (or otherwise cook some up), chop it up finely. Add: mayonnaise with whatever curry powder you like (you can cut the mayo with yogurt, if you’d like), chopped celery, slivered almonds, chopped apples, peach or apricot preserves, cilantro, raisins or dried cranberries, and mix it all up. You don’t have to use all those ingredients, but generally you’re looking for a mix of stuff that has crunch, sweetness, a bit of tartness, nuttiness, and fruitiness. Sometimes I do sunflower seeds or another type of nut instead of the almonds, for instance. Works well on its own with some salad greens, or in a sandwich. ETA: Oh, I forgot, I usually put some finely chopped green onions in there too, either the white and/or the green part. Chutney’s also a good addition and can substitute for or be added to some of the fruity elements.
Greek Salad
Ingredients:
Feta Cheese
Green Pepper
Black Olives
Onions
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Cherry Tomatoes
Tsp each of:
Dry Mustard
Tarragon
Thyme
¾ cup of:
Virgin Olive Oil
Vinegar
(mixed 4 to 1 oil to vinegar)
Cut olives and cherry tomatoes in half.
Start with a head of cauliflower and matching amount of Broccoli and add the rest of the ingredients to your liking. I put the whole thing in a container and shake it up to mix it.
My 15 minute summer salad: This will make four or five servings.
Peel and seed one large cucumber. Cut into 1/4" slices.
Cut one large tomato into eights. Seed. (Just squeeze halves and the seeds will come out. Use a knife to remove the seeds. Then finish cutting. Don’t worry about getting all the seeds.)
Slice one small red onion. Cut circles in half.
Mix. Dress with red wine dressing.
It keeps longer if you hold off on the dressing until serving. Top with feta cheese, if desired.
That just got put on my list. 
My favorite summer salad is cucumber slices in sour cream and dill. Easy to make, so tasty and refreshingly chill to serve.
Here’s my very favorite. It’s like summer in your mouth. 
Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Corn
5 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or 3 red wine, 2 balsamic)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or more, to taste
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from 3 ears) or frozen, thawed
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 1/4 pounds plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
8 ounces penne pasta, freshly cooked
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Whisk 4 tablespoons oil, vinegar, basil and garlic in large bowl to blend. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add corn and pine nuts; sauté 3 minutes. Add corn to dressing in bowl. Add tomatoes, pasta and cheese to bowl and toss to blend. Season salad with salt and pepper, serve at room temperature.
4 to 6 servings.
grandmas mock ham salad courtesy of the ww2 rationing board :
3-5 pounds of shredded chunk bologna
1 jar mayo/miracle whip
1 dozen boiled eggs
1 jar of dill relish
1 jar of sweet relish
in a 5 qt ice cream container
shred the meat
cut or mince eggs to preference
pour in mayo and relishes
mix til satisfied keep for weeks in fridge
note if you have salt intake problems they do make low sodium bologna and actual amounts are up to you
Note this works for any chunk meat you can shred like tuna liverwurst chicken and potatoes
heck a Latina gf of my cousin’s made it with left over carne asada she just added salsa instead of pickle relish
If you don’t like curry, I highly recommend fresh tarragon. This sort of resembles a Waldorf salad, only with chicken added.
I never use the term “summer salad” either, but I grok from the OP that it’s a no-cook dinner for hot n’ humid summer evenings. Generally served alongside some kind of quick-grilled protein.
I enjoy this type of meal for the first few weeks of June, but am heartily sick of it by the end of August, and am dying for a stew or pot of hot soup or a giant roasted haunch of meat with dumplings and gravy.
I start to find summer obnoxious by August, too. Maybe we both have inverse SAD?
Or maybe it’s the succession of 100 degree + days then? 
I used to think so. Then we moved to the Pacific Northwest, where there’s only 4-6 weeks of “hot weather” and it’s only in the 80s. I still got sick of it.
Bulghur salad
1 1/2 C bulgur (not whole berries - I use #2 grind)
Soak in 1 C water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 C lemon juice for 1 1/2 hours
4 carrots shredded
3 scallions
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
1/3 C chopped mint
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
Dressing:
2 TBS lemon juice
1/2 C olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne (I add a little more)
1/2 tsp salt
Serves 4 as a main dish.
Lots of awesome recipes. Thanks for sharing.
Summer salad
Charred, peeled poblano pepper, de-seeded and diced
Cooked corn cut fresh from the cob
Diced tomatoes
Chopped green onions
Chopped red onion
Maybe a jalapeno if you like it spicy, diced fine
Italian parsley, chopped
Basil, torn
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Salt & pepper
Use your preference of proportions regarding the vegetables. If it’s mid- to late-summer, then heirloom tomatoes are around and you can go wild with them, both in quantity and color. But always be sure to use the poblano pepper, because you can’t beat it for combining with the corn and tomatoes.
I have six tomato plants planted. Yum - I can’t wait for tomato season!
Teela Brown’s recipe times an umptyzillion. Thanks for the reminder–I’d forgotten about corn, onions, and poblano!
Mine is a simpler version of Magiver’s
Chopped cauliflower
Crumbled feta (don’t buy the pre-crumbled)
Halved cherry tomatoes (I like mixing red and yellow)
Italian dressing.
Combine, mix, and serve!