Super Bowl 2019 Appetizers, Snacks: Six Super Bowl Food Recipes

When it comes to the Super Bowl, there are two types of people, those who partake in the watching of the big game for the display of athletic prowess and those who are in it for the culinary goods.

There's nothing wrong with being glued to the television as touchdowns are scored, footballs are intercepted and quarterbacks are sacked, as that's the primary purpose of the national spectacle. But, for the millions of food fans in America, there's something equally exciting about being glued to the snack table as buffalo chicken dip sizzles, meatballs soak in tomato sauce and the smell of wings wafts through the air.

Whether you're headed to a Super Bowl watch party for the football or the food, the rules of etiquette dictate that proper decorum is to bring some sort of food or beverage with you. While it's perfectly fine to pick up a case of beer or a bottle of wine, there's something immensely satisfying spending the entire football game being showered with compliments about something you made.

Wowing a Super Bowl-sized crowd doesn't have to cost a lot of money or time and one of the best parts about football snack food is being able to make it ahead of time so you can come home to a clean kitchen. That way, if your team wins you can stay out and celebrate, if your team loses you have space to grieve, or if you don't care about the outcome of the game, you can just go to sleep.

Cheeseburger Onion Rings

Onion rings are delicious, but cheeseburger onion rings are better. An art form honed by Tasty, the ingredients you'll need are:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder (can omit if you're uninterested in spending seven dollars on a spice, even if it's a spice that's widely used in recipes)
• ¼ lb. cheddar cheese (can also use slices if that's what you have in the fridge)
• 1 cup flour (put in a shallow, wide bowl)
• 1 large onion
• 5 eggs, beaten (put in a shallow, wide bowl)
• 3 cups breadcrumbs (put in a shallow, wide bowl)
• Vegetable or canola oil for frying

In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, salt, pepper and onion powder.

Peel and slice the onion into ½ inch rings and cut the cheese into one inch squares.

Take a spoonful of the ground beef mixture and pack it into the bottom of one of the onion rings. You'll want it to both cover the bottom of the onion ring and the sides.

Place a cheese square in the center and press it into the beef mixture. Apply additional beef mixture on top as needed to cover the cheese.

After filling each ring with meat and cheese, dip it in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs, then back into the egg and back into the breadcrumbs one final time.

In a pot, heat the oil over medium heat until it reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don't have a thermometer to test the oil heat, drop a little bit of breadcrumbs mixed with eggs into the oil. If it immediately starts to sizzle, you're ready to fry. If it doesn't, wait a few minutes because if the oil isn't properly heated the food will excessively absorb it.

Fry the rings for about five or six minutes, until deep golden brown. This can be done in batches. When they're ready, remove them from oil with a slotted spoon – preferably a steel one to prevent the plastic from melting in the oil – and drain on a paper towel.

To reheat, just place the onion rings in an oven-safe dish and cook for about 30 minutes at 250 degrees.

Tip #1: Frying food can seemingly waste a lot of oil. Instead of dumping the oil after you're done with the dish, wait for it to cool and put it back in the bottle. Usually, the oil can be used two or three times before it needs to be replaced.

Tip #2: Onion rings that are smaller in diameter on the bottom will be easier to pack the meat into.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

The best part about buffalo chicken dip is that it requires no planning before you get to the grocery store because the recipe is located conveniently on the back of the Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce bottle.

Along with a ½ cup of the hot sauce, you'll need:

• 2 cups shredded, cooked chicken (the equivalent of two small cans of cooked Swanson chicken or one big can of Swanson chicken)
• 1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• ½ cup blue cheese crumbles (Mozzarella cheese can also be used)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and spoon into a shallow 1-quart baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes or until the mixture starts to bubble.

Tip #1: Instead of serving buffalo chicken dip with the traditional tortilla chips put out Frito's instead. The chip gives the culinary experience a little bit of extra flavor and there's less chance of it breaking under the weight of the dip.

Tip #2: Although this can be cooked in the oven, if you have an appropriate sized Crock Pot, try making it in that instead. Serving the dip in the Crock Pot is both a great way to keep it warm throughout the game and the constant heat adds extra flavor to the dip.

Mini-Corn Dogs

Corn dogs taste great at carnivals and state fairs, but they taste even better when you can enjoy them from the comfort of a living room. But, when there are tons of appetizers to choose from, people prefer to sample the entire menu so shrinking full size corn dogs down to mini is perfect.

For this recipe by Tasty, you'll need:

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup flour + 1 tablespoon
• ¼ cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 5 hot dogs (quartered)
• 1 qt. vegetable oil (can substitute canola oil)

Whisk together the cup of flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Then, add the egg and milk, stirring until there aren't any lumps. Refrigerate for about 25 minutes.

In a pot, preheat oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and coat the hot dog pieces with flour. This helps the cornmeal batter stick to the hot dog and retain its round shape.

Then, dunk the hot dog in the cornmeal batter and put in the oil. Fry for three or four minutes until golden brown. Use a pair of tongs or a spoon to rotate the corn dogs so each side is browned. Remove from the oil with a steel slotted spoon and dry off excess oil with paper towels.

If you want to make these ahead of time, put them in an oven-safe dish or pan and reheat for about 20-30 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tip #1: If you're headed to a party at your friend's house who isn't eating gluten, these can also be made with gluten free flour. However, the batter doesn't stick as well to the gluten free flour. So, once you dip the dog in the batter, put it immediately into the oil or it may slide off the hot dog. They may be a bit misshapen, but the taste will be the same.

Oven Fried Pickles

Super Bowl conveniently falls early in the year, right when people are still dedicated to their New Year's resolutions. So, if your goal for 2019 was to eat cleaner, being around a bunch of junk food can be depressing. Fortunately, with SkinnyTaste's oven "fried" pickles, you can indulge without completely falling off the wagon.

• 2 -16 oz jars (48 slices) sliced oval dill hamburger pickles
• 1/2 cup of Panko crumbs
• 1/4 cup of cornmeal
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
• 1/4 cup dried parsley
• Salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• olive oil spray

Place two baking sheets in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place pickle slices on paper towels to drain. Mix crumbs, flour, paprika, parsley, salt and half the chipotle powder in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, egg white and chipotle powder.

Dip pickles in egg mixture, then dip into crumb mixture.

Once the oven is preheated, remove baking sheets and spray with olive oil spray. Then, place pickles on the sheets and spray with olive oil spray.

Bake for eight to 10 minutes and then turn the pickles over. If needed, give them another spray with olive oil before cooking five more minutes.

Honey Lime Sriracha Chicken Poppers

When you think "football," honey lime Sriracha chicken poppers may not be the first snack that comes to mind. Some may say it's too fancy, others will say it's not traditional enough for a game of pigskin, but skeptics will eat their words once they pop one of these in their mouths.

For this recipe, courtesy of Tasty, the ingredients you'll need are:

• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• Salt
• Pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup flour (placed in shallow, wide bowl)
• 3 eggs, beaten (placed in shallow, wide bowl)
• Vegetable or canola oil for frying
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• ½ cup Sriracha
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 teaspoons lime juice

The best part about this recipe is that you can make the entire dish ahead of time or fry the chicken, set it aside, clean up the oil and then make the sauce right before you're ready to leave.

In a bowl, mix the chicken, salt, pepper, garlic and ginger. Coat the chicken in flour then dip each piece into the eggs until it's covered, then dip it back into the flour.

In a pot over medium-high heat, heat oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and fry chicken pieces for about 10 minutes. This can be done in batches, so as to not crowd the chicken in the oil. When golden brown, remove the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel covered plate.

Over medium heat, combine butter, honey, Sriracha, soy sauce and lime juice in a saucepan. Stir together for two or three minutes and add chicken. Stir until the chicken is completely covered and then place on a serving plate.

If you're planning to make this chicken ahead of time, place the chicken pieces in a baking dish and then pour the sauce over it, mixing until each piece is coated. Cover with aluminum foil and put in the fridge until you're ready to reheat. To heat the chicken back up, just warm in the oven for 30-40 minutes at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tip #1: This recipe works with both freshly squeezed lime juice and lime juice from concentrate.

Tip #2: If the sauce turns out a little spicy for your taste, add extra lime juice.

Fried Ravioli

Pasta by itself is delish but almost anything that's fried in oil is going to taste better. One of the greatest assets of fried raviolis is that it's practically a fool proof dish. So, even if you don't think of yourself as Julia Child reincarnated, you can get one or two "yums."

Ingredients:

• 1 bag frozen ravioli
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• Parmesan cheese
• Canola or vegetable oil for frying

Dip the ravioli into the eggs and then the breadcrumbs, turning it over to coat the entire ravioli. As you dip the ravioli put them on a plate until you're ready to fry them.

Put enough oil in the pot that the ravioli will be covered and heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a slotted spoon, place the ravioli in the oil, working in batches. Cook for about four minutes or so, until the ravioli are golden brown.

While these taste best when eaten right away if you want to make them ahead of time, reheat them in the oven for about 40 minutes at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Whenever you're ready to serve them, sprinkle parmesan cheese over top and serve with marinara sauce.

Tip #1: You'll want to let the ravioli warm up a bit before frying them but not enough that they're fully defrosted. If you're pulling the bag out of the freezer, give it 15 minutes or so and they should be ready to go.