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Super Bowl Sunday is just around the corner. It’s a great time to invite your friends over for a causal get together and indulge in some heavy duty snacking as you cheer your favorite team onto victory. The challenge with Super Bowl Party menus is that they generally don’t lend themselves well to healthy eating themes. But with a little forethought and creativity, you can strike a happy compromise with a menu somewhere between double crust pepperoni pizzas and beer and raw veggies with low cal dip and diet sodas. Here are some suggestions for making your Super Bowl Party buffet hearty and healthy:
• Chili, subs, and anything that has barbecue and/or hot sauce in it or can be dipped in barbecue and/or hot sauce is perfect Super Bowl Sunday fare. For a healthy option, serve a vegetarian chili and offer a veggie and/or turkey sub alongside the meat filled one. Oven baked, skinless chicken legs served with a selection of hot and barbecue sauces are a delicious alternative to a bucket of deep fried chicken. Offer Styrofoam or heavy heat resistant cups to your guests so they can pour some of the barbecue or hot sauce in them for portable dipping cups for the chicken legs.
• Crunchy snacks are a Super Bowl Party “must”; so have plenty of potato chips, pretzels, popcorn, and corn chips on hand. Air popped popcorn, baked chips, pretzels, baby carrots, celery sticks, and slices of crispy jicama are healthy alternatives to the more fattening and fried snacks.
• For beverages, offer light and dark beers along with a selection of sparkling waters and soft drinks for the designated drivers and non-drinkers. Diet sodas, unsweetened iced tea, alcohol free beer, and low carb beer are calorie conscious options for your beverage selection.
• When selecting desserts, forget fussy or fancy cakes, puddings, pies, and anything that has to be eaten from a plate or bowl using a fork or spoon. Choose a hand-held dessert item such as brownies, lemon bars, and cookies. A bowl of chilled red and green grapes and/or apples would be a healthy addition to your dessert menu.
• Fortunately, pizza does have a lighter side. For a healthy choice for your guests, order at least one veggie thin crust pizza along with that meat lovers’ deep dish special.
I am a great fan of party dips. And I think every Super Bowl party buffet table should feature an insanely delicious, gooey, warm, “I cannot get enough of this” dip. The following buffalo chicken dip recipe meets that criteria in spades. You might want to make at least two batches of this. It will disappear from your buffet table faster than you can say “Go, Team!!”
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Super Bowl Snackin'
Super Bowl Sunday is just around the corner. It’s a great time to invite your friends over for a causal get together and indulge in some heavy duty snacking as you cheer your favorite team onto victory. The challenge with Super Bowl Party menus is that they generally don’t lend themselves well to healthy eating themes. But with a little forethought and creativity, you can strike a happy compromise with a menu somewhere between double crust pepperoni pizzas and beer and raw veggies with low cal dip and diet sodas. Here are some suggestions for making your Super Bowl Party buffet hearty and healthy:
• Chili, subs, and anything that has barbecue and/or hot sauce in it or can be dipped in barbecue and/or hot sauce is perfect Super Bowl Sunday fare. For a healthy option, serve a vegetarian chili and offer a veggie and/or turkey sub alongside the meat filled one. Oven baked, skinless chicken legs served with a selection of hot and barbecue sauces are a delicious alternative to a bucket of deep fried chicken. Offer Styrofoam or heavy heat resistant cups to your guests so they can pour some of the barbecue or hot sauce in them for portable dipping cups for the chicken legs.
• Crunchy snacks are a Super Bowl Party “must”; so have plenty of potato chips, pretzels, popcorn, and corn chips on hand. Air popped popcorn, baked chips, pretzels, baby carrots, celery sticks, and slices of crispy jicama are healthy alternatives to the more fattening and fried snacks.
• For beverages, offer light and dark beers along with a selection of sparkling waters and soft drinks for the designated drivers and non-drinkers. Diet sodas, unsweetened iced tea, alcohol free beer, and low carb beer are calorie conscious options for your beverage selection.
• When selecting desserts, forget fussy or fancy cakes, puddings, pies, and anything that has to be eaten from a plate or bowl using a fork or spoon. Choose a hand-held dessert item such as brownies, lemon bars, and cookies. A bowl of chilled red and green grapes and/or apples would be a healthy addition to your dessert menu.
• Fortunately, pizza does have a lighter side. For a healthy choice for your guests, order at least one veggie thin crust pizza along with that meat lovers’ deep dish special.
I am a great fan of party dips. And I think every Super Bowl party buffet table should feature an insanely delicious, gooey, warm, “I cannot get enough of this” dip. The following buffalo chicken dip recipe meets that criteria in spades. You might want to make at least two batches of this. It will disappear from your buffet table faster than you can say “Go, Team!!”
Frank's Buffalo Chicken Dip
Made with cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, celery, boneless skinless chicken breast halves, hot sauce, cream cheese, ranch salad dressing
Made with cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, celery, boneless skinless chicken breast halves, hot sauce, cream cheese, ranch salad dressing
Serves/Makes: 12
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, boiled, drained, and shredded with 2 forks
- 1 bottle (12 ounce size) Frank's Louisiana hot sauce
- 2 packages (8 ounce size) cream cheese
- 1 bottle (16 ounce size) ranch salad dressing
- 1/2 cup celery, chopped
- 8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a 13x9x2 inch baking pan, mix together the shredded cooked chicken meat and entire bottle of hot sauce, spreading to form an even layer.
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine cream cheese and entire bottle of Ranch dressing, stirring til hot and smooth. Pour this mixture evenly over the chicken mixture to form a second layer. Sprinkle with chopped celery and bake uncovered for 20 minutes, then sprinkle on cheese and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes til bubbly.
Serve hot or at room temp with celery sticks and/or any sturdy chip.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/victoria-wesseler/450-superbowl-snacks/