Football, fall, and food! Three of our favorite things! Here are some of the best easy tailgate foods that you can whip together quickly to head to the stadium. Or if you are having people over to your house for the big game, any of these recipes are easy tailgate foods that will please any crowd.
This list of the best easy tailgate foods has been divided into five different categories; appetizers, chicken recipes, meaty recipes, slow cooker recipes, and dessert recipes.
Pick one from each group and you have a whole game worth of tailgate food touchdowns to celebrate in your mouth.
If you are looking for ways to save money on your groceries by meal prepping we highly recommend $5 Meal Plan or MyFreezEasy.
Tailgate Food Appetizer Ideas
Appetizer recipes are great to put together to munch on before the game. They are normally easy, throw together ingredients that make a great portion for any size crowd. We definitely love recipes that make too much so we can finish it up for leftovers later on.
Bacon Crackers
Found from Tip Hero
Cheese, bacon, and crackers … do I need to say more? Yum! This is one recipe that we will definitely be trying this football season!
Cracked Out Corn Dip
Found from Plain Chicken
Why do all of the best dips have to be so bad for your health? If you are NOT counting calories, this dip looks amazing! Everything in moderation and you can indulge in this cream corn dip.
Jalapeño Popper Wonton Cups
Found from Lemon Tree Dwelling
The pop of flavors in these wonton poppers are to die for! Loaded with bacon, cheese, and jalapeno’s. Your tailgate guests will not be able to have just one!
Mini Italian Skewers
Found from Listotic
So simple to string together a few ingredients on a toothpick for your next get together. The simplicity of bringing this appetizer tailgating allows for extremely easy pick up!
Cowboy Caviar
Found from Culinary Hill
One of our all-time favorite appetizers! I make Cowboy Caviar for almost every event I attend. It can take a little longer than the other recipes, but trust me when I say it is completely worth the time. This recipe makes a lot and I have used the leftovers in a tortilla and it is incredible!
Tailgate Food Chicken Ideas
Chicken is one of the easiest and healthiest meats to work with for tailgating recipes. When in doubt or in a crunch, I use a rotisserie chicken that I can normally get from the grocery store for around $5.
Hawaiian Chicken Kebabs
Found from Cooking Classy
These kebabs are easy to throw together before you leave the house. When you get to your tailgate, throw them on the grill and you’re ready to go. Another easy cleanup recipe.
Spicy Chicken Cheeseballs
Found from Everyday Made Fresh
Yes, you read that right! Spicy chicken cheeseballs! A simple recipe of mixing all ingredients in a bowl, roll the balls and bake for 20 minutes. SOLD!
Cheddar Ranch Popcorn Chicken
Found from BuzzFeed
I do not know about you, but recipes that have a demonstration video of the recipe bring it to whole new level. I love being able to pause the video to mix ingredients and continue. This source link has a video of how to make this amazing ranch chicken.
Chicken Avocado Burger
Found from California Avocado
This 4 out of 5 star recipe takes less than 20 minutes to make from start to finish. These burgers are also a great health alternative for anyone watching their weight or has any diet restrictions. Tailgate food doesn’t always have to have cheese … or does it?
Barbecue Bacon and Chicken Bites
Found from Lilluna
Anything wrapped in bacon is bound to be delicious! This easy tailgate food recipe made the list because it has a total of 3 ingredients!
Meaty Tailgate Food Ideas
We can’t forget some of the other favorite meats that make for good tailgate ingredients.
Easy Meatball Sliders
Found from Homemade Interest
You can clearly see from the above picture how simple and easy this recipe is. Wrap up the sliders in some tinfoil and break apart when you arrive to your tailgate.
Hawaiian Roll Ham Sliders
Found from Just a Pinch
Another recipe I make all of the time! We love these sliders so much! The dressing is incredible and the Hawaiian sweet roll is a must! The best is when I score the sweet rolls discounted on the clearance bread shelf at Wal-Mart.
Italian Pinwheels
Found from Mother Thyme
No round-up of easy tailgate foods would be complete without one pinwheel recipe. Kelan loves his meat and these are perfect when hosting a lot of manly men at your next tailgate.
Walking Tacos
Found from Neighbor Food Blog
These are perfect for walking around your tailgate and checking out what is going on. Make ahead the meat and baggie all the goodies to easily fill your Fritos bag up.
Simple Homemade Pretzel Dogs
Found from The Best Blog Recipes
Just like it says in the title, SIMPLE pretzel dogs. The worst part is waiting for the dough to rise. After that, smooth sailing and worth every second!
Tailgate Food Slow-Cooker Ideas
Slow cookers and fall just go together with football. These slow cooker recipes will help make planning your next tailgate event with ease!
Bacon Cheeseburger Crock Pot Dip
Found from Recipes that Crock
Set it and forget for 2 hours with this tasty bacon cheeseburger dip. Pair it with some tortilla chips and you can rock your tailgate.
Slow Cooker Chex Mix
Found from Gimme Some Oven
We can’t get enough of Chex mix in our house. It is so addicting and so is this recipe. I love a variety of different types of food at a tailgate to please all different kinds of taste buds. This one is most definitely a keeper!
Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip
Found from Gimme Some Oven
Spinach artichoke dip is so delicious! Again, this slow cooker recipe only calls for two hours, so it will finish just in time to bring with you to the game.
Slow Cooker Grape Jelly Meatballs
Found from Mommy Musings
How easy is this recipe? Party meatballs are awesome because they are enjoyed by everyone and it is so simple to make a large batch for everyone.
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Found from All Things Mamma
I don’t know if it is just a New York thing, but we LOVE our chicken wing dip! We have it all football season long. To mix up your dippers you could use baguette bread, tortilla chips, or celery.
Sweet Tailgate Food Desserts
Nothing wraps up a tailgating party like some freshly baked desserts.
Football Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Blondies
Found from Well Plated
How adorable are these blondies?! All she did was use a football cut out of the blondie bars. So clever! There are so many different desserts you could try that with.
Pretzel S’mores Bites
Found from Well Plated
When I think of summer ending and the beginning of fall, I still think about s’mores by the fire. You might not be able to make s’mores at your tailgate, however you can still enjoy them with this recipe.
Easy Football Cupcakes
Found from Your Cup of Cake
A basic cupcake with some chocolate frosting and white laces. Another baking technique that could be used with so many different desserts.
Referee Wafer Cookies
Found from Wilton
WOW! These easy wafer cookies will blow away all your tailgate goers! So simple and creative. I love the visual and being able to follow the order step-by-step, I know I wouldn’t mess this recipe up.
Buckeye Dip
Found from What Molly Made
In honor of our Ohio roots, this dip is a touchdown celebration for sure! I love the pairing of the graham crackers, but with fall upon us and apple picking season, I would have to cut up some fresh apples.
Tailgate Food Recipes For The Win
When it comes to preparing to watch the big game you should always be prepared to serve some great food. Let’s be honest, one of the best parts of getting together to watch some sports is the food!
Um, delish! But I think I gained some weight just reading the post. 🙂
Hahaha forgot to put the disclaimer at the top *may force you into gaining weight*.
Those grape jelly meatballs have been a classic in our family for years! Looking forward to making those pretzel dogs.
They sound amazing. We still have to try them.
Great recipes
I love this list. Delicious choices for the perfect tailgate. I recently upgraded a tailgate set up blog post and linked to this post. I hope it is ok with you that I share the love. The cowboy caviar is always my favorite.