So maybe you’re not a diehard fan of the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles—that should hardly make a difference in your snack spread. Super Bowl Sunday is about more than just football; it provides precious hours in which to snack on cheesy, salty, saucy, crispy bites—and The Takeout has an abundance of recipes that can be thrown together in advance of kickoff. Read on for a list of our best snacks, appetizers, and desserts to serve at your Super Bowl party.
These bite-sized appetizers pack a surprising amount of flavor. Cheesy Pinwheels are, in fact, the ultimate Midwestern snack: they’re stuffed with multiple cheeses, require only a few other ingredients, and yield dozens of servings, which is a plus if you plan on entertaining a crowd. You might have all the ingredients on hand already, including the salsa for dipping. Get the recipe for Cheesy Pinwheels here.
Aside from their satisfying crunch and overall flavor, one of the best things about roasted chickpeas is how easy they are to make. This Super Bowl appetizer is the perfect snack to set out in bowls for guests to munch on like popcorn. The chickpeas can be made in the oven or air fryer, and the flavors can be adjusted to suit your crowd; sprinkle the finished product with garlic powder, curry powder, or any other spices you love. Get the recipe for Easy Roasted Chickpeas here.
Broccoli and cheese go together like Super Bowl Sunday and multimillion-dollar advertising. And the cheddar in these Broccoli Cheddar Mini Tacos isn’t sprinkled on top of the fillings; instead, the entire shell is formed from crispy cheese. Play around with the spices, serve with salsa and pickled red onions, and just know that these don’t have to be mini tacos at all—go ahead and make them whatever size suits your game day lineup. Get the recipe for Broccoli Cheddar Mini Tacos here.
For all you Super Bowl party hosts out there, it’s best to have a few delicious options on hand for any guests who refrain from eating meat, and this recipe for Air-Fried Lemon Pepper Tofu offers a taste of “wings” without the poultry. Prior to cooking in the air fryer, the extra-firm tofu is given some time in the microwave to achieve a more McNugget-like texture; the cubes are then coated with a simple yet bright mixture of citrus, Ritz crackers, and spices to achieve a crispy exterior and an all-around solid snack. Get the recipe for Air-Fried Lemon Pepper Tofu here.
These Michelada Ice Cubes are one of those small but significant flourishes that your guests will remember long after they leave the party. Batch-prepping a few trays of this six-ingredient mixture couldn’t be easier, and it allows you to turn anyone’s game day beer into an instant cocktail—who wouldn’t be impressed? Best of all, you can pair these cocktail cubes with NA beer, too, so everyone can have a sip of summer during the game. Get the recipe for Michelada Ice Cubes here.
Deep-frying anything in your own kitchen can be a royal pain. If you’re looking to cook wings at home, there’s a way to do it that will get you awfully close to the crispy, restaurant-quality experience, and that’s brining and baking on high heat. Brining chicken is like giving the meat an internal basting that there’s really no substitute for, resulting in a damn good wing whose flavor you can taste under the skin. No flying hot oil required. Get the recipe for Homemade Baked Buffalo Wings here.
The Super Bowl finger food known as Garlic Bread Fries starts with a foolproof homemade focaccia, which is then air-fried slice by slice to create delectable, dippable spears. What comes out of the air fryer is crispy on the outside and just the right amount of soft on the inside to give you the full garlic bread experience. (If you’d like, you can double this recipe so you can use one focaccia to make fries and the other to make sandwiches.) Get the recipe for Garlic Bread Fries here.
The trend of making vegetables taste like Buffalo chicken wings is one we wholeheartedly support. Who wouldn’t be intrigued? It’s hardly alchemy—it’s hot sauce and butter. Tossed with salt for 15 minutes, placed in a colander and drained, the cucumbers emerge crisp and perfectly salted. Drizzled with hot sauce and butter, sprinkled with blue cheese, you may demolish an entire plate of these cucumbers before you realize you no longer are craving chicken wings. Get the recipe for Cucumbers a la Buffalo Wings here.
These chicken wings are always gone in a flash. What’s the secret? It’s not 11 herbs and spices. In fact, the recipe calls for just six ingredients, chicken included. The only one you might not have on hand is dry mustard, and you can use a squirt of regular mustard in a pinch. The appeal of these wings is the sauce: a sweet-tangy mix that’s garlicky, soy sauce rich, and brown sugar sweet. It checks all the salty-sweet-savory boxes, and because the wings are not spicy, you can eat as many of them as you please without fear of sweating. Get the recipe for Hell Yeah Chicken Wings here.
While there are a billion recipes for Buffalo Chicken Dip, a Super Bowl staple, we urge you to keep things simple—if you’re trying too hard to make buffalo chicken dip, you’re doing it wrong. Our recipe ditches the canned chicken and swaps in rotisserie chicken, which you can buy fully cooked at the grocery store, already perfectly juicy and seasoned. Shred it into your game day dip for a flavorful, indulgent upgrade on a classic. Get the recipe for Rotisserie Buffalo Chicken Dip here.
There’s a whole lot we can say about this three-layer dip, but all you need to know for Super Bowl Sunday is just how easy it is to make: in a baking dish, spread one brick of cream cheese into an even layer, pour in a can of turkey chili, and sprinkle a bag of shredded cheddar on top. Microwave until the cheddar is melted. That’s it. Seriously. If it sounds basic, rest assured that this stuff is more than the sum of its parts. There’s a good chance you already have the ingredients you need, so why not give it a try this weekend? Get the recipe for 3-Ingredient Chili Cheese Dip here.
This wonderfully savory Air Fryer Korean Sausage Bread is a variant of Korean sausage-ppang, a meat-studded, veggie/mayo/cheese-dotted handheld treat that is a staple at Paris Baguette, Tous Les Jours, and other Korean Euro-Asian bakeries. It can be a snack or meal, so you can choose your own adventure when adding this to your Super Bowl spread. And don’t worry—there’s no actual bread-making involved. The recipe starts with a can of biscuit dough, making it a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Get the recipe for Air Fryer Sausage-ppang here.
You and your fellow Super Bowl viewers will scarf up these three-ingredient snacks quicker than you can come up with a better name for them. The recipe is just peanut butter, melted butterscotch chips, and crushed Raisin Bran, mixed thoroughly and chilled in a baking dish to create a 9x13 slab of deliciousness that you then hack into rough squares for the entire household to enjoy. Fair warning: they’re not a pretty, picturesque dessert. But that’s okay, because they’ll be gone before anyone remembers to take a photo. Get the recipe for Peanut Butter Raisin Bran Bars here.
This one takes a bit more prep work, but if you’re waffling on which sweets to add to your sweet-and-savory Super Bowl spread, why not add them all in one go? This recipe for Beer & Pretzel Caramel Cookie Bars combines some of the best game day flavors to create one mega-dessert of untold power, a grown-up candy bar somewhere between a Twix and a Take 5 bar. Best of all, you can freeze your leftovers as individual pieces to thaw and enjoy later. Get the recipe for Beer & Pretzel Caramel Cookie Bars here.
Are you looking to add fancy flair to your Super Bowl offerings? Look no further than a classic Midwestern cheese ball, which only requires a handful of readily available ingredients yet somehow manages to exude sophistication. Three kinds of cheese, a few spices, and nuts—that’s all there is to it. Bring them all together for the most dynamic, photogenic snack on the table. Get the recipe for a Classic Cheese Ball here.
Welcome to the pinnacle of 1:1:1 recipes: the 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookie. Using only one cup each of sugar and peanut butter and just one egg, this dessert is simple to scale up or down, depending on the size of your Super Bowl crowd. If you want to add some chocolate to the proceedings, press a Hershey’s Kiss in the middle, or dip half the cookie in melted chocolate, or even mash an entire miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup into the top. The list of possible modifications is as long as the ingredients list is short. Get the recipe for 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies here.
Move over, Rice Krispies treats. Scotcheroos are the apotheosis of cereal-based desserts. Featuring the always irresistible combination of peanut butter, chocolate, and butterscotch, these crunchy, gooey party desserts only require five ingredients and yield a perennial crowd-pleaser. Slice them into small squares; they’re light and snackable enough that everyone will keep reaching for more. Get the recipe for Scotcheroos here.
The most widely embraced sweet-and-savory dessert sensation has got to be Chocolate-Covered Pretzels, which seem to go faster than any other snack in a Super Bowl spread. This version amps up the richness of the chocolate by incorporating a few more ingredients for added silkiness and flavor. Dipping a huge batch of these is a great task for any younger kids looking to help out with game day prep—just lay down plenty of wax paper at their workstation. Get the recipe for The Best Chocolate-Covered Pretzels here.
Are you looking for a recipe that feels a little nostalgic? Maybe a little retro? One that is simple, doesn’t require special ingredients, and tastes completely delicious? You need to make Potato Chip Cookies. It’s a seven-ingredient drop cookie that only needs 10 minutes of baking time, and you can make them a few days ahead of your Super Bowl Party if that’s easier—just wait until game day to dust with powdered sugar. Get the recipe for Potato Chip Cookies here.
If the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game reaches an unmissable climax, slide a bowl of Dump Cake under everyone’s nose so they don’t even have to look up to root around a cookie tray for desserts. This bit of box-mix artistry is simple, tasty, and inelegant, just as all good Super Bowl parties should be. As guests stare slack-jawed at the TV, they need only scoop up some warm, inviting mouthfuls of this gooey treat to celebrate a win or find comfort amid defeat. Get the recipe for Dump Cake here.