For football at home, make one of two things. If you want to bake, make Weelicious's everything-bagel pull-apart football: cheese-stuffed dough balls baked together in the shape of a football. If you'd rather keep the oven off, build Marissa Mullen's Game Day Plate, with wings, chorizo, two cheeses, crunchy vegetables and a couple of dips.
The bread takes more hands-on work, because you stuff and roll 32 dough balls before anything goes in the oven. The board needs wings that are already cooked. After that, it's all arranging.
2 game-day snacks at a glance
| Snack | The work | How to serve it |
|---|---|---|
| Everything-bagel pull-apart football | Stuff and roll 32 dough balls, egg-wash and season them, then bake 18 minutes plus about one more. Butter and string-cheese laces finish it. | Hot, 140°F or warmer |
| Game Day Plate | No oven. Arrange cooked wings, chorizo, pepperjack, manchego, vegetables, chips, almonds and two dips. | Two hours out at most (one above 90°F), then a fresh plate |
The everything-bagel pull-apart football
Weelicious made this one with Aarti Sequeira and chef D. Phillips. Pizza dough is divided into 32 balls, and each one is stuffed with cheese and shallots. The balls are arranged on the tray in a football shape and brushed with egg wash. Then they get a heavy coat of Everything Bagel seasoning. It bakes for 18 minutes, with about a minute more at the end. Butter and strips of string cheese laid across the top make the laces.
Stuffing and rolling the dough takes hands-on work. Clear some counter space before you start. The post doesn't say how many people it serves.
Read the whole recipe on Weelicious's post before you shop. A few of the amounts don't line up with each other, so check the dough and filling quantities against each other and confirm your oven setting before you start. Wheat, milk and egg are all in it, and the seasoning blend carries its own label.
Bring it out hot. Without temperature control, count the two-hour limit below from when you put it out, including time spent cooling on the table.
The Game Day Plate: wings, chorizo and two cheeses
Marissa Mullen of Cheese By Numbers lays this plate out step by step over seven photos:
- Spicy pepperjack and manchego go around two empty dip bowls.
- Wings go on next, with a line of chorizo down the middle.
- Mini peppers, jalapeños and celery fill the gaps.
- Chips, pretzels and tamari almonds go into the spaces that are left.
- Blue-cheese dip and hot sauce go in the bowls.
- Rosemary and chives go on last.
Her plate directory lists it as one of her swipe-to-build plates.
The plate doesn't include a wing recipe. Start with wings you've already made or bought cooked. There are no amounts in the post either, so use the photos as a layout and scale it to the plate you have. Milk is in the cheeses and the dip, and tree nuts are in the almonds. The chips, pretzels, chorizo and hot sauce each carry their own labels.
Wings, cheese and blue-cheese dip are all perishable, so this isn't a plate to leave out for the whole game. Make a smaller one to start, and when it's been out long enough, swap it for a freshly built plate instead of adding to the first.
Keep the food out for two hours at most
Cold food stays at 40°F or colder and hot food at 140°F or warmer. Check with a thermometer instead of guessing. Put food out on small plates and replace them with fresh ones, rather than topping up a plate that has been sitting out.
Any perishable food left out without temperature control for more than two hours should be thrown away. If it's above 90°F, wherever you're watching, the limit is one hour. All of this comes from the FDA's buffet guidance. Halftime is no guide to how long food has been out, so note the time when each plate goes out.
Time the bread to come out of the oven just before kickoff. With the board, keep the first plate small and have the ingredients for a second one in the fridge for later in the game.
Creators and sources
- Everything-bagel pull-apart football: Weelicious on Instagram, with Aarti Sequeira and chef D. Phillips
- Game Day Plate: Marissa Mullen / Cheese By Numbers on Instagram, and her plate directory
- Serving temperatures and time limits: FDA, Serving Up Safe Buffets
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