Tag: Game

Big Game Watch Party Recipes by Gordon Ramsay

The BIG GAME coming and is considered the second most important “food holiday” after Thanksgiving. Food is an essential part of any watch party, so it’s time to fire up with my annual watch party recipe roundup.

Graphic for Big Game roundup 2019

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Introduction

Most of us are looking forward to the big game this week. God knows we need a distraction. I almost always enjoy the game. But even if you don’t enjoy the game, there is no reason not to have great food and a party.

While I will admit to liking college football more than pro, I do enjoy professional sports during their playoffs. They seem actually to try harder. Personally, I’m a reformed Lions fan, which means I don’t watch regular-season games. It is so nice not to waste that 3 hours every Sunday.

And is 7 hours of pregame programming really needed? We will be enjoying the puppy bowl part of that time. OK, I’m off task, back to the food.

Let’s divide the recommendations into four classes, finger foods, chili, main courses, and sweets.

🖐️Finger Food Recipes

If you are hosting a party, finger foods are great for watching the game and munching. Here are some of my best.

image of Watch Party finger foods

Crispy Baked Chicken Wings

Easy to follow step by step photo instructions for crispy oven baked chicken wings. No need to fry to get the great crispy skin. Add a Buffalo coating, and you have an American favorite. Now you can do it at home. Plus it is healthier.

Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce

All great wings deserve a great dipping sauce. You can whip this up in a few minutes for everybody to enjoy.

Quick French Bread Pizza

Great tasting pizza perfect for that quick evening meal or a party. And at 20 minutes it’s faster than a speeding pizza dude.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Bacon Wraps

What could go wrong with bacon, sugar, and spices? Cubes of chicken wrapped in bacon and coated with brown sugar, chili powder, and cumin? Great finger food for that “bring a dish” party. A skill level of 3/10 (easy). Plus it is easy to double or triple if needed.

Mango Pineapple Salsa

Mango salsa is so simple to whip up. Wonderfully tasty and a great compliment to spicy Mexican foods. Just a little slicing and dicing and you’re there. Perfect for a party and friends.

Mango Salsa with Pineapple from 101 Cooking for Two

Easy Guacamole

A quick and easy guacamole recipe that is healthy, creamy, a bit spicy, and delectable. Using only fresh ingredients and about 10 minutes, you will have one of the best guacamole you can make at home.

🥣Chili Recipes

To me, the watch party must have a chili or two. You can check all my chili recipes in my chili category. But here are some of my favorites.

Crock Pot Chili

Who says everyday crock pot chili needs to be blah? A wonderful tasty red ground beef chili recipe made crock pot easy. A great hardy meal but good enough for that Superbowl party.

Ultra Simple Crock Pot White Chicken Chili

This is the easiest and best crock pot white chicken chili recipe you will ever taste. Dump, dump, dump, then cook for 4 hours. You are rewarded for your laziness with a great chili, and all your friends will demand the recipe.

White Chicken Chili on a spoon over bowl

Crock Pot Stew Meat Chili

Super easy dump and go chunky stew meat chili. This wonderfully tasty chili brings multiple levels of taste with the optional use of different types of chili peppers. Tender chunks of beef will make this chili a favorite.

Salsa Verde White Chicken Chili a la Crock Pot

A little spice and lots of taste. This Salsa Verde White Chicken Chili takes chicken chili up a few notches.

Close up of a spoonful of Salsa Verde White Chicken Chili

Low Fat High Taste Crock Pot White Chicken Chili

Great tasting healthy crock pot white chicken chili with only about 250 calories and 2 gram of fat per serving. Just follow these easy step by step photo instructions. No pre-cooking the chicken here.

Low Fat Crock Pot Chicken Chili on a spoon

Crock Pot Three Bean Turkey Chili

One of my best chili recipe ever. A wonderful crock pot three bean turkey chili that the whole family will love. Plus it’s healthy. Now you can have it all.

🥘Main Course Recipes

Maybe you are having more of a dinner. Here are some classics in all three food groups: beef, pork, and chicken.

Spicy Taco Meat

Great Mexican for all. The best taco meat you will ever eat for tacos and nachos. You will never open an envelope of taco mix again.

Oven Pulled Pork from Pork Butt

Outrageously good pulled pork without a smoker. Low and slow is how you do it with these easy step by step photo instructions with only a few minutes of active time.

pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce on a bun

Crock Pot Pulled Pork the Right Way

Great melt-in-your-mouth pulled pork is now an easy economical dinner recipe. Cooked all day low and slow in your crock pot, pork butt becomes pull-apart tender for the family or a crowd.

close up picture of a BBQ Sandwich with sauce on a blue plate

Crock Pot French Dip

An easy recipe for crock pot French dip sandwiches that are melt in your mouth tender and bursting with wonderful taste. Easy to follow step by step photo instructions.

image of a French dip sandwich with dip on a gray plate.

Kansas City Oven Baked BBQ Beef Brisket

Great BBQ for everybody. The ultimate KISS recipe with only two ingredients and only about 5 minutes of total work time, what could be better? A never failed recipe we have used for 40 years.

Oven Baked BBQ Brisket from 101 Cooking for Two

Oven Baked Chicken Legs

Oven baked chicken legs are a simple dinner the whole family will love. Just trim, pat dry, simple spices, and bake them in the oven. You will have perfect crispy, juicy chicken legs every time with these easy step by step photo instructions.

Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Thighs

Deliciously crispy skin and juicy inside, oven baked chicken thighs have it all. They are quick, economical, tasty, and require almost no skill — a great recipe for two or a crowd. Just one pan and a bit of seasoning will get you some of the best baked chicken you will ever taste.

🍬Sweets Recipes

No party or dinner is complete without something sweet. Give them something great to talk about that you can make ahead.

Crock Pot White Chocolate Almond Clusters

Great white chocolate almond clusters are an easy crock pot candy with these step by step photo instruction for the perfect white chocolate candy.

white chocolate almond clusters on a white plate

Easy Oreo Fudge

Outstanding Oreo fudge that will practically melt in your mouth. Only 4 ingredients and ultra-simple. Great for the holiday office party or a gift.

Cheesecake Bars

New York cheesecake bars will impress your friends and family. Creamy delectable cheesecake, great for that special brunch with friends or family gatherings.

Crock Pot Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Just 5 minutes, 4 ingredients and 2 hours in the crock pot will get you some of the best candy.

Easy Lemon Bars

Six-ingredients are all you need for these easy lemon bars. Bursting with great sweet-tart lemon taste and a buttery shortbread base, they are everything a lemon bar should be. Perfect for every day or a special occasion.

Homemade Candied Nuts

Don’t you just love the smell of the candied nuts at the mall or a fair? You can do it at home with these easy to follow step by step photo instructions.

close up image finished candied nuts on the cooking tray with white parechment paper

My Pine Cone

Have a great watch party.

DrDan

Editor note: Originally Published January 30, 2017. This post will be refreshed yearly with my current recommendations.

Molly and Lilly Playing with a Stick

SMOKY RANCH DIP & GAME DAY SNACK TRAY by Gordon Ramsay

Smoky Homemade Ranch Dip served with all your game day favorites: hot wings, chicken strips & more! Wow the crowd with this savory game day snack tray that’s delicious & easy to put together.

This is a sponsored conversation from Tyson and Kroger. All opinions are 100% mine. #TysonStateFairatKroger

Game Day is pretty important at our house and we take our snacks seriously! I try and serve protein snacks that fill everyone up and taste great too. Everyone has their favorites and I do my best to accommodate with a fantastic finger food spread.

Game Day Snack Prep

To prep, I head to my local Kroger store with my list in hand, so I don’t forget anything. Here are a few things I like to get, in addition to my Ranch dip ingredients:

Tyson Any’tizers Hot Wings Bone-in Wings Buffalo Style: Made with all white meat chicken, these hot wings are easy to make and have fantastic flavor.

Tyson Crispy Chicken Strips: My kids devour these in minutes! They are made with 100% All-Natural Ingredients and are perfectly crispy and tender.

State Fair Classic Corn Dog: These are my boy’s favorites! They’re not only tasty, but a good source of protein, made with no by-products and real honey!

Tyson products are so easy to prepare, they help make game day prep much faster, so I can get to the good part of the day, EATING. I mean, watching the game… ha!

I also like to serve tortilla chips & salsa, and veggies that go well with ranch dip like carrots, celery, sweet peppers, and cucumbers. I add fun snacks like sunflower seeds, pretzels- really, add anything your family enjoys!

How to Make Ranch Dip

Measure out all seasonings. Combine with dry buttermilk powder. You can transfer the mixture to a small food processor and blend the ingredients to make the seasonings finer in texture. This step is optional, but it does make your Ranch Dip look more traditional.

Mix 4-5 TBSP of the blended seasoning with 16-oz sour cream. Stir thoroughly. Store in the fridge for 4-5 hours. Stir once more before serving.

How to Assemble your Game Day Snack Tray

I took a large cookie sheet and layer down pieces of kale. Then I added my proteins- the hot wings, chicken strips and corn dogs.

Next step is to put the ranch dip at the center.

I then added whatever vegetables and snacks we enjoyed- some in small bowls, others just directly on the tray. I like putting small amount of the snacks in a couple different locations on the tray so that it’s easily accessible to everyone!

Serve & enjoy. Go team!

Homemade Smoky Ranch Dip ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own Ranch Seasoning:

1/2 cup dry buttermilk powder
2 TBSP dried parsley
1 TBSP onion powder
2 tsp dried chives
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
16-oz container of sour cream

How to make Homemade Ranch Seasoning

Combine all spices in a small food processor. Pulse several times, until mixture is more powder-like.*

Mix 4-5 tablespoons of the ranch seasoning (3 TBSP is the equivalent of 1 packet of store-bought ranch) with 16 oz sour cream. Let sit for several hours, stir, then serve.

This dip pairs well with a variety of foods like chips, carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumber slices, hot wings, chicken strips, etc. Get creative- I even like it on French Fries!

*Using a small food processor is optional- you can just stir the seasonings all together and go from there!

How To make Ranch dressing

To make your own Ranch Dressing for salads, here’s what you’ll need to do.

Combine 3 TBSP of this Ranch mix with 1/3 cup mayo, 1/3 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup milk. Taste, then adjust to your liking!

HOMEMADE RANCH DIP

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: homemade ranch dip, ranch seasoning

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Chilling time: 3 hours

Total Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 20 +

Calories: 61kcal

Author: Butter With A Side of Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup dry buttermilk
2 TBSP dried parsley
1 TBSP onion powder
2 tsp dried chives
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
16- oz container of sour cream

Instructions

Combine all spices in a small food processor. Pulse several times, until mixture is more powder-like.
Mix 3 tablespoons of the ranch seasoning (which is the equivalent of 1 packet of store-bought ranch) with 16 oz sour cream. Let sit for several hours, stir, then serve.
To make Ranch dressing: Combine 3 TBSP of this Ranch mix with 1/3 cup mayo, 1/3 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup milk. Taste, then adjust to your liking!
This dip pairs well with a variety of foods like chips, carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumber slices, hot wings, chicken strips, etc. Get creative- I even like it on French Fries!

Notes

*Using a small food processor is optional- you can just stir the seasonings all together and go from there!

Nutrition

GAME DAY POPCORN SNACK MIX by Gordon Ramsay

Easy Popcorn Snack Mix is sweet, salty, & perfect for excited sports fans! Customize candy colors to celebrate your team in this snack mix recipe!

We love popcorn! We have popcorn quite regularly at our house and I love that it’s actually a pretty healthy snack that all of my kids enjoy. Every once in a while, adding some extra sweet stuff in makes it an extra special treat. And for GAME DAY, adding colorful chocolate candies, in your team’s colors, is the perfect treat!

Everyone loves munching on this irresistible sweet & salty popcorn mix. I’ve been looking for the best game day recipes, and I have to say, this popcorn mix, with chocolate candies and you’ll be ready to go for game day.

gameday popcorn mix recipe

Ingredients needed for Popcorn Snack Mix

This are the ingredients you’ll need to make game day popcorn mix:

Popcorn kernels (or microwave popcorn)
White chocolate bark/coating, broken into individual squares
Chocolate candies in your team’s colors
Canola, vegetable or coconut oil (omit oil if using microwave popcorn)
Butterscotch chips
Pretzels and/or bugle chips
Mini marshmallows
Salted cashews

How do you make Snack Mix?

This is how you make game day popcorn mix recipe:

To start, pop your popcorn. You can see the different ways to pop your popcorn below.

Remove unpopped kernels and pour popcorn into a very large bowl. Salt popcorn lightly if desired.

Microwave chocolate bark on high for 1 minute. Add in butterscotch chips and microwave an additional 1 minute. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir gently. Microwave in additional 15 second increments, letting mixture sit for 1 minute and stirring gently before adding additional time.

Pour chocolate over popcorn and stir thoroughly to coat, then spread it out on wax paper. Sprinkle on marshmallows and cashews immediately so that they stick to the popcorn before it cools.

Break large pieces up gently and transfer back to a large bowl. Add in pretzels and chocolate candies with the popcorn. Toss and serve.

Store in an airtight container on the countertop for up to a week. I loved serving these in cute football snack cups!

What is the best way to make popcorn?

You can make popcorn in any one of the following ways:

Air-popped: This is easiest if you have an air popper like this one. If you don’t have an air popper, you can use a paper lunch bag. All you have to do it place about 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels in a brown paper lunch bag and fold the top over 1-2 times. Place upright in the microwave and microwave for about 1.5-2.5 minutes – until the gap between pops is one second long.
Stove popped: Popcorn can easily be made on the stove and this is the method I prefer because I like the consistency/texture of the popcorn the best. Directions can be found earlier in this post!
Microwave: You can definitely use microwave popcorn in this popcorn cake recipe if you prefer. The recipe works a little better if you use a more natural popcorn that does not have a lot of salt or butter on it. The plainer the better!

Gameday Popcorn Mix

Gameday Popcorn Mix is sweet, salty, and perfect for your crowd of excited sports fans (especially when you easily customize it to your team’s colors)!

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dessert snack mix

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 20

Calories: 497kcal