A proper Super Bowl party should feature some of the best foods out there. We’re talking about a guilty-pleasure haven that features the likes of pizza, buffalo wings, nachos, etc.
Our Action Network staff couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to draft Super Bowl snacks before the big game on Super Bowl Sunday between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
This Super Bowl Snack Draft featured a number of surprises – find out what went first overall below.
Super Bowl Snack Draft
1. Spinach Artichoke Dip
By Stuckey
The perfect Super Bowl snack and worthy of the No. 1 overall pick despite what all of the wings propagandists will tell you.
Look, I love wings, but they get cold over time. Spinach artichoke dip in a crockpot stays warm and is good from before kickoff until well after. The vehicles you can use to devour it are also endless. Some of my favorites:
- Pita chips
- Sourdough bread bowls
- Tortilla chips
- Some veggies (if you want to pretend to do one healthy thing on Super Bowl Sunday)
You can also just use a spoon and gobble it down, but I prefer a toasted fresh baguette cut up and sprinkled with salt and olive oil.
Admittedly, I'm biased because my wife makes a killer spinach and artichoke dip. Here’s the recipe:
- 2 14-oz. cans of artichokes (chopped and drained)
- 1 10-oz. bag of frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)
- 8 oz. of sour cream
- 1 small onion chopped (white or yellow)
- 1 tbsp of minced garlic
- 1 10-oz. can diced red tomatoes (drained)
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup feta
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 8-oz. block cream cheese (cubed)
And prep instructions:
- Stir everything to blend except cream cheese in crock pot
- Put cream cheese cubes on top
- Cook on low for two hours
- Stir to combine cream cheese
- Cook on high 15 minutes
Enjoy. You can also add jalapeños for an extra kick.
2. Buffalo Chicken Dip
By Matt Mitchell
When you're the GM in a draft like this, buffalo chicken dip (BCD) is your Orlando Pace. This is the kind of food you can construct an entire team of dishes around, and it will elevate them all.
This should be a consensus No. 1 overall pick, offering the heavy robustness necessary to please your hungriest and most selfish guests, while still providing the savory, creamy, bite-for-bite deliciousness of the "just a little taste of everything" crowd.
Like a future Hall-of-Fame offensive tackle, BCD provides your team with flexibility. Running a "jumbo package" approach to your party? BCD pairs perfectly with other high-end heavy apps, for those looking to leave guests comatose by the third quarter. Running a no-huddle, Air Raid, light-touch approach? If you prepare BCD well enough and in sufficient quantity, a softer lineup dominated by no-step or one-step options (bagged snacks, sliced raw vegetables, etc) is suddenly excusable.
Best of all, when prepared in the morally correct hot 'n spicy tradition, BCD scares off the three Super Bowl party guests of which I most disapprove: the Indifferent Milquetoasts, the Intestinally Sensitive and Children Of Any Age. If made perfectly, an enthusiast should react to their first bite with an internal, "Woah, this is incredible.
I must be careful not to overdo it here," a warning immediately and permanently disregarded at the conclusion of a second bite.
3. Buffalo Wings
By Nick Giffen
Let's be real, wings are the first snack that pops up in everyone's mind and should have gone first overall as the classic Super Bowl snack, so getting wings third overall is some spicy value.
The real question is, "How do you prefer your wings?"
They are the most versatile snack with bone-in and boneless (not a real option), spice and sweetness levels, all sorts of dry rub options, and a plethora of dipping sides to go with it. Unless you're a vegetarian, there's a chicken wing option for you.
4. Pizza
By PJ Walsh
Despite having the final first-round pick, I was able to snag my top-ranked Super Bowl snack — pizza — thanks to Stuckey wasting the No. 1 overall pick on spinach and artichoke dip, which, while fine, is a Day 2 draft pick, at best.
Buffalo chicken dip would have been in the running here, too, but Mitch ended that dream-like Patrick Mahomes continues to end his.
5. Chick-fil-A Nugget Tray
By PJ Walsh
With back-to-back picks, I followed up pizza not with plain, old chicken nuggets – this is specifically a Chick-fil-A nugget tray with their GOAT sauces (barbecue and Chick-fil-A).
Dino nuggets are fine the other 364 days of the year, but on Super Sunday, we eat like kings.
6. Potato Skins
By Nick Giffen
Potatoes are a staple of the American diet, in snacks such as french fries, potato salad and the ever-popular potato chip. But potato skins are next level, combining the potato with cheese, sour cream, onions, and bacon, or substitute in your favorite toppings.
Fan of a particular team? Food Network has a customized potato skin recipe for each NFL team.
7. Nachos
By Matt Mitchell
Nachos fall in the lottery portion of nearly any party snack draft. Nachos are always fun to order drunk at a restaurant but also easy to exceed "restaurant quality" at home without great expense.
Most importantly, all a host needs to know to construct elite nachos a familiar with eating them. Can you remember eating an incredible plate of nachos? Sure you can! More importantly, have you ever eaten disappointing nachos? You bet your ass you have.
Becoming a great at-home nacho chef requires little more than $25 worth of ingredients, an oven, an innate recoil at the idea of bad nachos and a baseline level (or above) of pride and self-respect.
Trust me, for a Super Bowl party you'll find the extra seconds needed to fully load 60% or more of the nacho chip mound. Even with virtually zero know-how and a half dozen Bud Light Limes coursing through you, curating a high-end, "Major League luxury box" presentation is as simple as following the Golden Rule: "Serve nachos unto others as you would like nachos served to you."
And rarely is a dish this easy to scale significantly up. If you expect a significant crowd and ingredients are plentiful, it is scarcely more work to make three or four nacho platters vs. one. Even if you expect guests who question your hosting abilities, nachos allow you to serve multiple plates at once in a "Shock & Awe" campaign, or stagger fresh platters each quarter in a ground 'n pound offensive, capturing their hearts, minds and stomachs.
8. Pulled Pork
By Stuckey
A tradition I had for years with friends was smoking a pork butt on the green egg for 12 hours the night before the Super Bowl while staying up all night and talking about bets and setting up pools and betting games with a few beverages.
The end result was delectable pulled pork that you could eat on its own or use to make sandwiches or nachos. Nothing better.
9. Chili
By Stuckey
I mean who doesn’t like chili? Especially in February if it’s a bit colder where you live.
You can enjoy it on its own in a bowl, or throw it on some hot dogs or even spaghetti if you’re an insane Bengals fan.
You can never go wrong with classic chili (even better with fresh cornbread to sprinkle on top), but here’s a recipe for one of my favorite alternatives: a white chicken chili.
Obviously, alter based on the amount of people you have but this is for one regular crock pot amount.
- 1.5 lbs. of chicken thighs
- 1.5 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
- Couple dashes of cayenne
- 16 oz. chicken broth
- 4.5 oz can of green chilis
- 1 can of white corn (drained)
- 2 cans of white beans (cannellini or great northern)
Add-ons
- 1/2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1/4 cup pickled jalapeños (diced)
Thickening sauce
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 cup milk
- chicken bouillon
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Add chicken to crock pot
- Sprinkle with chili powder, cumin, onion powder, minced garlic, cayenne
- Add green chilis, corn and beans
- Carefully pour chicken broth on top
- Cook on low for six hours
After six hours…
- In a small saucepan, heat olive oil on medium and saute red pepper for about three minutes
- Add jalapeños and saute for two more minutes
- Dump skillet into crock pot and stir
Instructions continued:
- Use saucepan to melt butter over low heat
- Melt in bouillon cube
- Whisk flour in one tbsp. at a time to create a paste. Cook on low for three minutes
- Gradually whisk in milk; Cook on low for five minutes
- Add to crock pot with sour cream and stir everything together
Keep warm and enjoy with some of the following toppings:
- Freshly chopped cilantro
- Diced avocado
- Crumbled Fritos
- Monterrey jack cheese
- Dollop of sour cream
10. Mac and Cheese
By Matt Mitchell
Good football teams become perennial winners primarily in two ways: strong culture and strong drafting. My snack game is steeped in the culture of "stay hungry, stay ready, always vigilant," so I'm set there.
But when it comes to strong drafting, building for depth is crucial. Flashy first rounders put butts in seats, but a holistic "no weaknesses" roster philosophy is why mac and cheese gets the call here.
Mac and cheese is a team player, especially on Super Bowl Sunday. You can make it fancy if you want to highlight it, or you can roll it out quick 'n simple if you're in a hurry, or if the focal point is younger guests.
Most importantly, this is the rare dish that can be made very well, and very deliciously, while still being categorized "rich but bland" as originally served. That's important here, but the creamy carby nature of the dish allows it to be augmented, spiced up, dressed up, etc with incredible ease. Don't want to make it buffalo style? No problem. With a bottle of Frank's RedHot after the fact, I am in full control of how buffalo my bowl is.
An easy-to-prepare, hard-to-screw-up crowd pleaser doesn't need to grab headlines. It just needs to show up, do its job and be put into position to succeed for every guest. A big pot, some side sauces and a few fixins, mac and cheese can meaningfully contribute to a huge team win on any given Sunday.
11. Taco Bar
By Nick Giffen
Another extremely customizable snack, the taco is one that is perfect for your big-game party.
Whether you prefer a hard or soft shell, it's a snack you can build in a way that suits your style. Personally, I love black olives so I'll be sure to pile a bunch on top of my tacos, and load it up with cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, jalapenos and my favorite hot sauces, with a squeeze of lime on top.
Others prefer a good salsa topping, and adding things like scallions, cilantro, bacon bits, guacamole, corn, black beans, etc. There's no shortage of options in a good taco bar.
12. Crock Pot Meatballs
By PJ Walsh
Crock pot meatballs are the perfect, eat-as-you-go Super Bowl snack. Do I ever grab a full plate of these?
Nope.
But do I pluck one every time I go back and forth for a fresh beer? You bet I do.
13. Pierogi
By PJ Walsh
My deep sleeper in this draft is the surprisingly versatile pierogi.
Because there are multiple flavors available and can be cooked multiple ways, pierogis are easy to serve and stand out among the Super Bowl snack staples listed above.
Load up a fork with sauerkraut, drag it through sour cream then stab a piece of pierogi and, in that moment, all is right in the world — even if your Super Bowl bets are not.
14. Bratwurst
By Nick Giffen
Right after PJ went with Pierogies (citing his Polish heritage, and I concurred with my Ukrainian heritage), I had to back it up with brats to make double use of the sauerkraut.
Who needs a hot dog or pig in a blanket when you have a freshly cooked brat loaded with your favorite toppings?
Along with the sauerkraut-topped brat, I prefer spicy mustard, grilled onions and peppers, and beer cheese sauce as my favorite flavor additions to this German staple.
15. Sliders (non-burger)
By Matt Mitchell
Sliders are fun. They look adorable. They aren't good for you. They're another Super Bowl party item that can elicit a "Hey look! Restaurant food right here at home!"
But my selection here is explictly sliders of the non-burger variety. Beef patties that small typically dry out too quickly, or are misshapen in an effort to avoid this fate. Or worse still, they are intentionally prepared plain to pander to the three repugnant party groups I mentioned earlier.
No, the sliders I'm drafting here are high-ceiling players. Sure, they require a little more effort from the staff than a plug-and-play performer like nachos. But to build a championship table I must ask more of myself as a leader, and sliders are always a good polishing away from becoming dinnertime diamonds.
Expecting grown folk? I love a tray of ham and gruyere sliders mixed with a little dijonnaise situation. Open that oven and let your guests stare down upon a shimmering field of buttery starchy domes. Cut the pan into a gridiron of cheesy melty perfection, that it may suitably honor the gladiators for whom we gather to cheer and gamble upon.
Take two or three sliders with you into the backyard so you can mow a quick heater and check your SGPs. Answer, "It's just me taking out the recycling!" when your guests call out into the darkness because they saw movement by the trash cans. Construct your sliders with a joyful heart, and they become your triumphs, your companions, and your caloric confidants.
16. Guacamole
By Stuckey
Please don’t bring pre-made guacamole to a Super Bowl party unless you know it’s exceptional. Taking the time to make it fresh makes all of the difference in the world, assuming you know what you’re doing.
The best part about guac — besides the fact that it’s delicious and goes perfectly with simple tortilla chips — is you can also use it with so many of your other Super Bowl snacks.
Everybody likes their guac a bit differently, so I’ll leave the specifics up to you.
