10 Super-Flavored Game-Day Recipes
A sporting event as supersized as the Super Bowl deserves food that's equally enhanced. Here's how.
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Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved.
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Photo By: Matt Armendariz ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
A Guide to Achieving Your Tastiest Super Bowl Party
While football's finest athletes are gearing up for the championship, you'll be heating up your kitchen with game-day preparations. But to ensure that your party food is as amplified as the halftime performance, you'll need to inject your recipes with a little extra flavor. Click ahead for the official game-day recipe playbook: our guide to getting the most flavor-packed, superlative game-day eats.
Super: Spicy
Guacamole is a game-day standard –– a bowl of mashed avocado instantly improves those store-bought chips. But on Super Bowl Sunday, why hold back with mild or medium dip?
Spicy Serrano Guacamole
To add fiery heat to your guac, mash two serrano peppers (seeds and all) in your molcajete along with the avocado. (If you don't have a mortar and pestle, a food processor will do.) Half a teaspoon of chipotle hot sauce infuses the dip with uniquely smoky flavor.
Get the Recipe: Spicy Serrano Guacamole
Super: Smoky
Pigs in blankets –– those adorable mini hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry –– are classic party fare. But on a day when all things are meant to be supersized, the meaty center deserves an upgrade.
Smoky Kielbasa in Pretzel Blankets
Behold the most-gigantic blanketed sausages you've ever seen: super-smoky kielbasa swathed in salty pretzel dough (and a hint of sharp cheddar for good measure). Serve them as a main dish or sliced into rounds for crowd-friendly party food.
Get the Recipe: Smoky Kielbasa in Pretzel Blankets
Super: Salty-Sweet
It might be tempting to reach for that bag of store-bought party mix, but we assure you the fresh, finger-licking flavor you'll get with your own batch will be well worth the effort.
Salty-Sweet Honey-Mustard Snack Mix
We tested this recipe nearly 10 times to strike that perfect flavor balance between the tangy and savory of the mustard, onion and garlic, and the sweet of the honey and brown sugar. The end result? An irresistible snack mix with pockets of different flavor in every bite.
Get the Recipe: Salty-Sweet Honey-Mustard Snack Mix
Super: Meaty
Though carnivores typically holler when their chili isn't packed with beef, this recipe has the smoky, satisfying taste of the meaty classic, using only vegetables.
Meaty Meatless Chili
Three different kinds of mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce (or liquid amino acid for those who are strict vegetarians), tomato paste and a Parmesan rind combine to infuse this meatless chili with a deeply salty, savory flavor. A rainbow of beans ensures maximum heartiness while surprising shiitake mushrooms lend that chewy texture you'd expect from a hunk of beef.
Get the Recipe: Meaty Meatless Chili
Super: Tangy
Serve a stunning tailgate-inspired main dish –– like beer butt chicken –– but switch up the flavor profile by subbing out the suds for kid-friendly, nostalgic root beer.
Tangy Root Beer Can Chicken
The complicated flavors of root beer (from the iconic sassafras base to hints of molasses, licorice and clove) combine well with vinegar and Dijon mustard to render this chicken tangy, sweet and incredibly juicy.
Get the Recipe: Tangy Root Beer Can Chicken
Super: Beer-y
There'll be no shortage of dips at your football fete, but a piping-hot melted cheese dip that tastes as hoppy as your favorite brew? That's something to cheer for.
Beer-y Chorizo Queso Fundido
Adding beer to this chorizo-and-cheese concoction –– the Mexican version of fondue with a savory edge –– gives it a tangy, hoppy flavor that makes it even more perfect for pairing with a good brew. You're in charge of how spicy this warm, cheesy dip will be: Leave all, some or none of the seeds in your jalapeno for your choice of hot, medium or mild.
Get the Recipe: Beery Chorizo Queso Fundido
Super: Peppery
We're fond of wings and their traditional Buffalo-and-blue-cheese accoutrements as a game-day side, but this revamp creates flavor so complex and satisfying, we'd feel happy making a meal out of the meaty bundles.
Peppery Vietnamese Chicken Wings with Quick Vegetable Pickles
Chicken wings are most-often dressed to an extremely spicy or sticky-sweet finish, but this unique preparation renders them uber-peppery. After you've downed several (good luck having just one) and your tongue tingles from the Asian-inspired sauce, balance your palate with cool pickled vegetables (or a cold beer will do).
Get the Recipe: Peppery Vietnamese Chicken Wings with Quick Vegetable Pickles
Super: Garlicky
If you're supersizing your blanketed dogs, swap in a burger that's lovably mini. Make sure your patties aren't small in flavor, though, by infusing them with everyone's favorite vampire weapon.
Garlicky Meatball Sliders
This recipe gets garlic flavor in two forms: from chopped, lightly pungent garlic baked into the meatballs and from sweet, earthy roasted garlic that's incorporated into a creamy spread.
Get the Recipe: Garlicky Meatball Sliders
Super: Salt-and-Vinegary
Salt-and-vinegar chips? Check. Potato skins? Check. We fused these two popular party foods by giving potato skins all the flavor of those impossible-to-put-down chips with a cultish following.
Salt-and-Vinegar Potato Skins with Bacon
These salty, vinegary, bacon-y potato skins are reminiscent of German potato salad (or a fresh, heftier version of your favorite salt-and-vinegar potato chips). Turn your leftover potato flesh into mashed potatoes or garlicky skordalia (Greek potato dip).
Get the Recipe: Salt-and-Vinegar Potato Skins with Bacon
Super: Pickle-y
Inspired by the traditional Cajun sandwich on the same-named flat, round bread, this layered sub is perfect for feeding a big crowd (especially when prepared on a 24-inch hoagie roll).
Pickle-y Muffuletta Sub
What sets this sub apart is the addition of giardiniera ––the pickled vegetable relish –– which nods to this sandwich's Italian roots. Be sure to make it two hours ahead so the fillings have time to soften the bread ever so slightly.
Get the Recipe: Pickley Muffuletta Sub