Whether you and your family are rooting for the same team or are on opposite sides of a heated rivalry, everyone can agree on the need for tasty snacks to make a day of football even better.
We’ve compiled a list of football finger foods that will score a touchdown with everyone in your household. Best of all, you can make these snacks on a budget since many of these recipes rely on ingredients you probably already have in your home.
One way to make appetizers budget-friendly is to use recipes with just a handful of ingredients. Each one of these is simple to make, too, requiring only a few steps.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a container of refrigerated breadstick dough. Wrap each breadstick with a piece of bacon and sprinkle a bit of garlic powder and Parmesan cheese on each stick. Cook them in the oven for 10-15 minutes; check them at 10 minutes to ensure they do not overcook. Serve with a dish of ranch dressing for dipping. Want to add a healthier twist to the snack? Substitute asparagus for the breadsticks!
Not all snacks are unhealthy. If you have kids, bust out the fruit kebobs and be ready to get the hero’s treatment. Children tend to love food on a stick, and these may just top their list of favorites.
You can use any assortment of fruit, tailoring the kebobs to your taste. For simplicity, use three fruits for your kebobs. Cut up the fruit into similar sizes and place it in three separate containers. You can have your kids thread the kebobs with the fruit, using any combination of flavors they want. For a special treat, put a marshmallow in the middle of each one.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut six potatoes lengthwise, so you get strips that are about one-inch thick. Place them in rows on a cookie sheet covered with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping the potatoes halfway through. Remove from oven. Top each one with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, a few crumbles of bacon, and some sliced chives. Bake for another five minutes. Serve with a dish of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt for dipping. Ranch dressing or dip would be delicious, too.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Get a tube of crescent dough and a package of cheese sticks from the refrigerated section of the store. Place a tablespoon of marinara sauce near the wide end of each crescent and put two pieces of pepperoni on the marinara sauce. Add one half of a cheese stick on top. Roll up the crescent and put it on a cookie sheet. When you’ve made all of them, put the cookie sheet in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Serve with extra sauce for dipping, if desired.
Everyone loves s’mores, and if you’re watching the game outside, you can certainly make these the traditional way over an open flame. But you can also use the oven to make your s’mores. And either way, you can add this fun twist: substitute other candy bars for the traditional milk chocolate. Try peanut butter cups, caramel bars, coconut cream, or any other type of candy bar you love.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Halve 20 graham crackers and lay out 10 crackers on a cookie sheet. Put one large marshmallow on each one. Place the sheet in the oven for five minutes, checking at three minutes to make sure the marshmallows don’t burn. Remove the sheet from the oven. Place your favorite candy bars on top, and cover with the remaining graham cracker halves.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Open a bag of tortilla chips — you’ll want to find the ones shaped like a small bowl, if possible. Place the chips all along the sheet. Fill each one with a spoonful of refried black beans. Add a sprinkle of cheddar cheese atop each taco bowl. Bake the tiny tacos for five to seven minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and add a small dollop of salsa or sour cream atop each bowl.
No matter what sporting event you may be tuning into, these fun recipes will fit right in. Enjoy the start (or end) of the season – and go [your favorite team]! To find more money management tips and resources, check out our blog or visit our WalletWorks page.