What to Eat: Super Bowl Party

Forget the game—everyone knows America’s greatest football throwdown is really all about scoring a touchdown with the game-day menu.

Buffalo Chicken Wings by Sheila Lukins

The James Beard Hall of Famer, who died last year, offers the winning way to do everyone’s favorite football finger food.

Few foods in the American culinary repertoire so fully embody an event as much as Buffalo wings do the Super Bowl. Created in 1940 by Frank and Teresa Bellissimo at their Anchor Bar in Buffalo, these spicy, tangy, buttery, fried chicken wings served with their much-loved and excellent blue cheese dipping sauce are a sure-fire way to make all your football-watching guests feel right at home, and fully in the mood.

BBQ Jalapeño Poppersby Ree Drummond

Don’t be afraid to get those hands dirty with this recipe from a cowgirl who gets down and dirty herself in the kitchen.

Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, knows how to make a hungry crowd happy. A former city girl, she now lives on a country ranch with her cowboy husband and four children, and is always cooking up a storm of crowd-pleasing favorites. These one-bite cream cheese-stuffed bacon-wrapped jalapeños are just one example of her brilliance in party cooking and eating.

Quesadilla with Smoky Black Bean Spread and Salsa by Deborah Madison

Straight out of the Southwest, this chef will show you the no-frills way to do South of the Border snacks like no other.

When cooking for a party, the rule “the easier the better” obviously applies. Quesadillas, which can be cooked in the oven and cut up into single-serving sizes, are an ideal food, as the “cooking” lies primarily in assembly. Add melted cheese and spicy refried beans to the equation, and there’s really no good reason that these shouldn’t be the first thing Super Bowl guests put into their mouths.

Well-Filled Guacamoleby Victoria Wise and Susanna Hoffman

The perfect evening calls for the perfect guac, and this Chez Panisse alum shares a recipe that’s sure to please even the pickiest partier’s palate.

Guacamole is a dish that provokes debate: tomatoes or no tomatoes? Red onion or white onion—or scallions? Diced garlic or mashed garlic or roasted garlic or no garlic? This recipe throws those debates to the wind, calling on the often overlooked tomatillo and plenty of fresh lime juice for seasoning. If guests protest that there’s no tomato or red onion, give them one bite; the discussion will end quickly.

Coconut Shrimp by Lucinda Scala Quinn

From Martha Stewart to master of Caribbean cuisine, Lucinda serves up some show- (or game-) stopping seafood.

For Super Bowl fans who live in cold climates (or places where it’s still winter), these sweet, crunchy shrimp and their tangy tamarind dipping sauce will serve as a temporary vacation, or will fuel the fantasy of being at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. For fans in warmer temperatures, these addictive, toasty snacks with their Jamaican flavors will taste perfectly weather-appropriate.

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