Football season is here, and we are ready with the 11 best game day recipes in 2022 to suit everyone’s tastes! Labor Day hits, and we are off and running. In our family, fall weekends mean Game Day and Game Day snacks. This a big tradition: we love football, and we really love football snacks. We love having food that everyone can graze over throughout the games. Variety is key to having a successful game day spread.
Getting game day recipes ready can be fun, but we also know that hosting can be stressful. Many of these have less than 5 ingredients to keep things simple.
Here are our tried-and-true 11 best game day recipes. We hope that you love them as much as we do!
1. Buffalo Chicken Dip (happens to be fairly healthy)
This is our number one draft pick for game-day snacks. We’ve made it countless times, and it’s always a winner! We serve it Tostitos, celery sticks, or bell pepper strips. You can adjust the amount of heat with how much wing sauce you add. Our favorite version is making it in the crock pot. Pro tip: we buy the shredded, pre-cooked chicken breasts at Costco, and use half of the package for this. Two hours, open the crock pot and stir. Perfect every time.
2. Game Day Sausage Balls
This is a classic, guaranteed to disappear quickly. This recipe just has a few ingredients and is easy to make. One bite of these sausage balls takes me back to my childhood! My grandmother would have the warm whenever we arrived for the holidays. We love that our kids love them just as much. These are perfect for sharing. We leave a container of toothpicks by it to make them easy to add them to plates.
3. The Best Homemade Veggie Dip
Veggie trays are a staple, but we are so over the questionable pre-made trays at the grocery store with old carrots and rubbery peppers. We now throw together a few ingredients for a delicious dip and grab our favorite veggies and chips. No preservatives in this one!
Note: The title of this one will say Greek Yogurt Dip. We’ve made it with both Greek Yogurt and sour cream. It’s a personal preference.
Grab some sour cream or Greek yogurt, and everything else is likely in your spice rack. In the recipe, they have it with nonfat, plain Greek yogurt. We ran out and made it with Light Sour cream, and thought it was great! We’ve made it with Greek yogurt, as well as half yogurt and half sour cream. The combination of Greek yogurt and sour cream is our favorite!
This is great to add to your veggie spread on game day. Gives not only a healthy option but a delicious one! The kids will forget that they are eating veggies here. Our favorite add-ins? Plain Ruffles or cold, sliced cucumbers.
Recipe for Homemade Veggie Dip
4. Mac and Cheese Bites
Game Day comfort food is essential. Plus, a hungry crew won’t be satisfied with the veggie tray (as beautiful as it is). Enter these mac and cheese bites! Comfort food meets finger food. These are the perfect, bite-size treat. The crusty bottoms combined with the elbow noodles and cheese are to die for!
Recipe for the Mac and Cheese Bites
5. Pepperoni Crescent Rolls
Anything that starts with crescent rolls is usually a winner in our house. This game-day recipe is no exception. It’s both adult and kid approved. We love that these are easy to pick up and dip and give you a little bit of pizza at every game. You don’t have to stick to pepperoni; we’ve made this with sausage too and it’s just as good! Be sure and grab some marinara or pizza sauce for dipping.
Recipe for Pepperoni Crescent Rolls
6. Smoked Salmon Skewers
Next game-day recipe: smoked salmon skewers. These smoked salmon bites are not only beautiful to welcome your guests with but offer a lighter option that does not sacrifice taste! We love these as a game-day option. Plus, these look really fancy with very little effort. I highly recommend sprinkling with fresh dill and using these small skewers for an amazing presentation sure to wow your mom. If you really want to lean into the game-day theme, these football skewers are fun.
7. Mini Reubens
We’ve been married for more than 20 years, and I made this the first football season that we were married. I’ve made them every year since. They are my husband’s number one pick.
We’ve made them with corned beef and with smoked turkey. They turn out great both ways! And you can freeze these after assembling if you are not going to eat them all then. (Once frozen, we let thaw in the fridge, and then cook at 325 for 10 minutes when ready to eat.)
Pro Tip: The cocktail loaves are not always easy to find. Some stores wait until closer to the holidays to carry these. Our alternative is buying whole, sliced rye or pumpernickel loaves and cutting these in quarters.
8. Taco Meatballs
Our friends brought these to our last Super Bowl party, and our family loved them! Who doesn’t love tacos? And, combining tacos and game day? Brilliant. Thanks Stevens family!
These are easy to make. If you like more spice, you can add hot sauce to your game-day condiments, or add some chili powder while cooking.
9. Baked Ham & Cheese Sliders
My mom used to make these for the Super Bowl growing up. We’ve seen them called lots of names (like “Ham Delights”) but keeping it simple here: baked ham and cheese sliders. We love to make them several hours before. The combination of toppings makes these a game-day favorite. Strongly recommend using Hawaiian rolls to add a hint of sweet to this.
Pro Tip: Cover with foil the first half of baking. This helps the bread not dry out or get too brown on the top!
Recipe for Baked Ham & Cheese Sliders
10. S’mores dip
Eating S’mores of any kind is an experience. With this game-day recipe, it doesn’t have to be limited to a campfire! This can be thrown together in 10 minutes. The lightly browned marshmallows give this the perfect presentation for your family and friends. Just watch the broiler! (But, if they get burnt, doesn’t that always happen roasting marshmallows to someone in the group? Unless you seriously char it, everyone will still swoop in for this.)
Pro tip: if you’ve got young kids around, Scooby Snacks graham crackers are a fun dipping option for the s’mores dip!
11. Oreo Balls
Finally: Oreo balls. Our list of game-day recipes is not complete without Oreo Balls. These 3-ingredient treats look fancy and fun to make. Our favorite part is drizzling melted chocolate over them as the final step. We’ve also added peppermint shavings around the holidays to jazz them up.
Top 11 Game Day Recipes: What’s Your Favorite?
These eleven recipes give variety and check off the healthy, the indulgent, the savory, and the sweet. There are dozens to choose from, but these are our go-to’s each football season. If you have a favorite, we’d love to try it. Share it with us here!
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