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Game Day Recipes

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What makes the perfect game day recipe?

The perfect game day recipe should be easy to make, tasty, and crowd-pleasing. A great way to achieve this is to choose a dish that can be cooked in a big batch, such as chili or nachos. This makes it easier to have enough for everyone, no matter how big their appetites are.

Additionally, the addition of fun toppings like jalapenos, shredded cheese, olives, or sour cream can really take the dish to the next level. Everyone at your party can customize the dish to their tastes, which helps with crowd-pleasing.

Finding a balance between flavors can be key to making sure everyone enjoys your game-day creation. Sweet and savory elements can complement each other in an unexpected way that will delight your guests!

And finally, guests love finger foods. That’s why meatballs, chicken tenders, and sliders are popular game day recipes. They’re casual and easy to eat, without the formality of flatware. As a bonus, you’ll have fewer dishes to clean after the party’s over, too.

Popular game day recipes

When it comes to game day recipes, there are a few that consistently top the list:

  • Anything with chicken and buffalo sauce — buffalo chicken dip or buffalo chicken bites, for example.
  • Crockpot meatballs.
  • Sliders — beef sliders, chicken sliders, pulled pork sliders.
  • Grilled chicken wings.
  • Nachos.
  • Chili.
  • Queso dip, or any cheesy, creamy, warm dip.
  • Chips and salsa.
  • Street tacos.
  • Garlic bread.
  • Brownies and cookie bars.

What about healthy recipes for game day?

Traditionally, game day recipes aren’t healthy. They’re more like comfort foods — rich, warm, and cheesy.

But here’s some good news. You can easily add some healthy choices to your menu. A simple choice is to provide raw veggies like carrots, celery, and bell pepper alongside your salsas and dips. You could also opt for lower fat cheeses in your dips. Also try grilled chicken sliders, cilantro lime chicken thighs, or boneless chicken wings instead of the traditional boned options. For dessert, serve some fresh fruit alongside your cookies and brownies.

About prepping and serving game-day food

Game day food should be easy to eat and serve. Start by preparing dishes in advance, so you don’t have to worry about cooking on game day. Sliders, wraps, and nachos are great options that can be prepared ahead of time and popped in the oven or microwave as needed. You can also make a large batch of wings or other finger foods and keep them warm in a slow cooker.

You can serve those finger foods with a variety of dips such as guacamole, salsa, or ranch dressing. For an extra special touch, set up a build-your-own taco bar or burrito station — your friends will love it.

Drinks to serve on game day

The most popular drink choices on game days are beer, soda, lemonade, or iced tea. If you want to provide cocktails, go with easy options like margaritas, vodka soda, or gin and tonic. You could make a batch of margaritas or even Long Island iced tea ahead of time and serve it to guests in a pitcher.

Another easy strategy is to ask guests to bring a bottle of their favorite drink of choice.

Blog Chef favorite game day recipes

Carne Asada Totchos

Carne Asada Totchos Recipe

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Carne Asada Totchos
This recipe for carne asada totchos will allow you to really step up your nacho game for parties. In this recipe, tater tots are topped with cheese, grilled carne asada steak, chipotle aioli, guacamole, and pico de gallo. The steak is marinated in ingredients such as lime and orange juice and then grilled or cooked on the stove top. What helps to make this loaded totchos recipe special is the chipotle aioli that gets a lot of flavor from chipotle in adobo, cilantro, and lime juice. This is a great recipe to serve for parties. Enjoy.
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Ranch Chicken Nachos

Ranch Chicken Nachos Recipe

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Ranch Chicken Nachos
Using ground chicken for taco meat is a healthier alternative to using ground beef. These nachos use ranch flavored Doritos, ranch dressing, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole. This is a perfect recipe to prepare for game day and can easily be double if you want to feed several people. The taco meat is prepared in the pan with ground chicken, homemade taco seasoning, tomato sauce, and cilantro. For the nachos, you can use the oven to melt the cheese or place individual plates in the microwave. Enjoy.
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Mustard BBQ Pulled Pork

Mustard BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe

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Mustard BBQ Pulled Pork
Pulled pork sandwiches are great with traditional bbq sauce but if you are looking for something a little bit different, using a southern mustard based bbq sauce is a great option as well. The mustard bbq sauce is similar to the regular sauce but the primary ingredient is yellow mustard. The sauce is very easy to prepare and you probably already have most or all of the ingredients on hand already. In this recipe a pork roast is rubbed with seasoning and then cooked in the slow cooker, shredded and mixed with the prepared mustard bbq sauce. I like to serve the pork on sandwiches and you can also add some coleslaw to the sandwiches or serve it on the side. Enjoy.
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Shortrib Poutine

Short Rib Poutine Recipe

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Shortrib Poutine
Who doesn’t like poutine? When you combine gravy with cheese curds and fries you have one of the most delicious combinations. Add shredded beef short ribs into the mix and you have taken things to the next level. This recipe is prepared in the slow cooker and does not require much work at all. The gravy is just a simple combination of beef broth, worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and thyme. For this poutine I used store bought french fries but you can make your own if you want as well. There is no beer in my version of this dish but you could add some if you want! Enjoy.
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Nachos Bell Grande

Nachos Bell Grande Recipe

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Nachos Bell Grande
Here is a copy cat recipe for the Nachos Bell Grande from Taco Bell. These nachos are a classic on the menu and if you frequent taco bell chances are you have tried them in the past. Tortilla chips are piled with taco meat, refried beans, nachos cheese, tomato and sour cream. These nachos are easy to prepare and great to serve for football season. Enjoy.
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BBQ Chicken Fries

BBQ Chicken Fries Recipe

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BBQ Chicken Fries
You can take your game day food to the next level with these bbq chicken fries. These fries are loaded with shredded bbq chicken, bacon, cheese, a sauce and green onions. The chicken is baked in the oven with bbq sauce and then shredded and placed on top of the cooked fries. The sauce is a simple combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, and a few spices. Enjoy.
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Hot Dogs with Onion Rings

Hot Dogs with Onion Rings Recipe

Hot Dogs with Onion Rings
These hot dogs with onion rings are great to serve for the upcoming NFL season and can easily be prepared on the grill. The hot dog are topped with onion rings, coleslaw and bbq sauce. This is more of an idea than a recipe and you can use whatever type of BBQ sauce you like, as well as whatever coleslaw you enjoy. I like to serve these hot dogs with French fries. Enjoy.
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Chorizo Omelets

Chorizo and Potato Omelet Recipe

Chorizo Omelets
Chorizo and potatoes make the perfect omelets for breakfast or dinner. You can buy the chorizo from the store but I highly recommend making your own. Most of the time I find the stuff from the store to be a little bit too spicy for my taste. The potatoes are cubed and then fried in a bit of oil. You can use whatever type of cheese for these omelets you prefer, some good choices are cheddar or Monterey jack. You can top these omelets with additional ingredients such as salsa and cilantro if desired. Enjoy.
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Gyro Brat Hoagies

Gyro Brat Hoagies Recipe

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Gyro Brat Hoagies
The NFL preseason is upon us and that means it is that time of year again for gameday food. These gyro brat hoagies are a perfect recipe to serve for game day. The brats are first grilled and then sliced and placed on toasted hoagie rolls with sauce and onion and tomato. The sauce is a combination of sour cream, cucumber, garlic and parsley. I like to server these gyro brat hoagies with French fries. Enjoy.
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Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs Recipe

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs
These grilled bacon wrapped hot dogs are an excellent recipe to prepare on the grill during the summer. The hot dogs are wrapped in strips of bacon and then grilled until the bacon is crisp. The buns are toasted and then topped with BBQ sauce, the grilled hot dogs, Velveeta cheese sauce, jalapeno peppers, lettuce and tomato. You can use whatever type of hot dogs you want for this recipe but I used the natural casing hot dogs. You can serve this dish with cold salad or French fries. Enjoy.
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Beer Brats with Slaw Recipe

Beer Brats with Slaw
The warmer weather is coming up soon and that means it’s time to fire up the grill again. A great way to start off the grilling season is with beer brats. These brats are cooked in beer and then placed onto the grill to finish cooking. A delicious slaw is also added to these brats. The slaw is mainly oil and vinegar based (no mayo) and really adds a nice flavor to these brats. Enjoy.
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Chorizo Nachos Recipe

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Chorizo sausage goes great on nachos. These nachos are great to serve for the Super Bowl. Tortilla chips are loaded with chorizo, a Monterey jack cheese sauce, cilantro and chives. The cheese sauce is a combination of Monterey jack cheese, white wine and lemon juice. If you would prefer you can make your own chorizo right at home to use for this recipe. Enjoy.
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Slow Cooker Kielbasa Bites Recipe

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These slow cooker kielbasa bites are an excellent appetizer to prepare for the super bowl. This appetizer is very easy to prepare. The kielbasa is sliced and placed into the crockpot with bbq sauce and sweet chili sauce. You can also just prepare this in a saucepan if you are short on time. I like to serve these on toothpicks. Enjoy.
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Philly Cheesesteak Fries Recipe

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A delicious topping for loaded French fries are the ingredients of a Philly cheese steak sandwich. These fries are topped with sliced steak, green pepper, onion, and cheese whiz. The steak is thinly sliced and then cooked on the stovetop with peppers and onions. You can really season the steak however you like but I used a combination of salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder. You can also use whatever type of French fries you like for this recipe. To make things easy frozen French fries are always a good option. Enjoy.
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Chili Cheese Dog Dip Recipe

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This chili cheese dog dip is the perfect appetizer to add to any super bowl party! This recipe is pretty much pigs in a blanket with a chili cheese dip. Little smokies are wrapped in crescent rolls and placed into a cast iron skillet and a chili cheese dip is added into the center and baked to perfection in the oven. You can also prepare this in a baking dish such as a pie dish. The chili cheese dip is a combination of canned chili, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese. Enjoy.
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Blackened Shrimp Nachos Recipe

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Pan-fried blackened shrimp are sure to take your nachos to the next level. These blackened shrimp nachos are perfect to prepare for game day. The shrimp are coated with homemade blackened seasoning and then fried in the pan. The nachos are topped with Mexican cheese blend, pico de gallo, crema, lettuce, the blackened shrimp and green onion. If you want to up the heat a little, you can add some hot sauce to these nachos. Enjoy.
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Cincinnati Chili Fries Recipe

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These Cincinnati chili fries are perfect to serve for football season. Cincinnati chili is great as it is traditionally served over spaghetti but it is so good over French fries as well. The chili is prepared in the slow cooker and then spooned over the cooked fries and topped with shredded cheddar cheese and diced onion. If you are not familiar with Cincinnati chili it is chili that gets a lot of flavor from ingredients such as ground cloves, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. You can use whatever type of French fries you want for this recipe. Enjoy.
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Bacon Ranch Potato Foil Packets Recipe

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You can fire up the grill to prepare these bacon ranch potato foil packets. These foil packets make a great side dish to serve with your grilled meat. The potatoes are sliced and then mixed with ranch dressing, garlic powder, salt and pepper and placed into the foil packets with bacon and cheese. The foil packets are placed onto the grill and cooked for about 20-25 minutes or until tender. Top with fresh parsley once they are cooked. Enjoy.
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Cuban Fries Recipe

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These Cuban fries are loaded with Cuban sandwich ingredients such as ham, pickles, mustard, and a swiss cheese sauce. For this recipe, you can use frozen French fries to save a lot of time. The swiss cheese sauce is prepared on the stovetop and is a combination of flour, butter, milk, and swiss cheese. For the ham, you could use cubed ham but I like to get a ham steak, fry it in a skillet and then cut it into chunks. These fries are perfect to serve for a gameday appetizer. Enjoy.
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Chorizo Fries Recipe

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Chorizo Fries
If you are looking to take your game day food to the next level, give this chorizo fries a try. These fries are loaded with chorizo, cheese, cilantro, and chipotle crema. A little squeeze of fresh lime juice really tops this recipe off nicely. To save time, store-bought French fries are used and you can also use premade chorizo but if you want to take it a step further you can even make your own! The chipotle crema is a combination of crema, chipotle powder and cumin. Enjoy
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Grilled Italian Sausage Recipe

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Grilled Italian Sausage
You may have never even thought about it but Italian sausage is great on the grill. This recipe consists of grilled Italian sausage with onions and peppers in a sweet and sour sauce. This recipe can be completely prepared on the grill but I prepared it using a combination of the stovetop and the grill. Prepare the recipe on the stove top and then brown the Italian sausage on the grill. I like to serve this recipe on bratwurst buns but you could also serve it as is. Enjoy.
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Hillbilly Fries Recipe

Hillbilly Fries
These hillbilly fries are loaded with country gravy, cheese, bacon and green onion. This recipe makes things easy by using frozen French fries but I like to make my own country gravy. If you want to save even more time you could always use the packaged stuff. These fries make a great appetizer and are perfect to prepare for the upcoming football season. Enjoy.
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Smoked Sausage Rolls Recipe

Smoked Sausage Rolls
These smoked sausage rolls are another great recipe to prepare on the grill. These rolls consist of grilled smoked sausage or kielbasa, white bbq sauce, a fried sauerkraut and onion mixture, and Swiss cheese. The combination of flavors on these rolls is absolutely delicious. The white bbq sauce gets a lot of flavor from mustard, horseradish, and vinegar. If you don’t have an outdoor grill, these could also be prepared on the stovetop in a frying pan or using an indoor grill pan. If you want you can toast the hot dogs until on the grill. You can serve these smoked sausage rolls with French fries on the side. Enjoy.
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Shanghai Wings Recipe

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Shanghai Wings
Here is a recipe for the Shanghai wings with wasabi ranch dressing just like at Chili’s restaurant. If you have never had this appetizer at Chili’s, it is basically breaded fried chicken coated with a ginger-citrus sauce and then served with a wasabi ranch dressing. These wings have an Asian flavor to them. The sauce gets a lot of its flavor from fresh ginger, soy sauce, lemon juice, and lime juice. If you want to save some time to buy breaded boneless wings from the store and coat them with the sauce. For the Wasabi-ranch dressing, green food coloring is optional. This is another great recipe for the Super Bowl. Enjoy.
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Taco Fries Recipe

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Taco Fries
If you want to make some delicious loaded fries that are a little different give these taco fries a try. These fries are loaded with taco meat, cheese, green onion, and tomato. This is another great appetizer to serve for the Super Bowl or any party. These fries are easy to prepare easily be doubled to feed a crowd. You can add additional taco toppings as well such as lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. Enjoy.
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Frito Pie Hot Dogs Recipe

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Frito Pie Hot Dogs
Frito Pie ingredients on top of hot dogs are great to prepare for the Super Bowl! There are only a few ingredients involved to make this recipe. Hot dogs are topped with chili, cheese, and Frito chips. You can use whatever your favorite brand of chili is for this recipe. You can also cook the hot dogs however you like… the ones in the picture were grilled on an outdoor grill. I like to top these delicious hot dogs with green onions. Enjoy.
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Maple Mustard Sausage Bites Recipe

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Maple Mustard Sausage Bites
These maple mustard sausage bites are a delicious appetizer to serve for the Super Bowl or any party. What I like about this recipe is that it is so easy to make and can be ready in no time at all. The process to preparing this delicious appetizer is very simple—sliced smoked sausage in combined in a baking dish with a mixture of maple syrup, stone ground mustard and mayonnaise. The dish is baked or cooked on the stovetop and then you can serve the sausage slices on booth picks with some of the sauce on them. Enjoy.
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Refried Bean Dip Recipe

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Refried Bean Dip
This refried bean dip is an excellent appetizer to prepare for parties. This dip is very easy to make and tastes delicious. The dip is served hot and baked in the oven. A lot of the flavor comes from taco seasoning. Preparing this dip is very easy, refried beans are mixed with taco seasoning, sour cream, and cream cheese and then placed into a baking dish and topped with shredded cheese and baked to perfection. You can top this with delicious taco ingredients if you want such as lettuce, tomato, and black olives. Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy.
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Pizza Fries Recipe

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Pizza Fries
Pizza fries are a quick and easy appetizer to prepare. This is more of an idea than a recipe and is perfect to serve for your Super Bowl party. Waffle fries are topped with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni and then served with pizza sauce. If you want you can put the sauce right on the fries before the cheese but I like my fries crispy so I used the sauce for dipping. No frying is required just bake the fries in the oven and then top with pizza ingredients. Enjoy.
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Super Bowl Party Meatballs Recipe

Super Bowl Party Meatballs
You may be wondering the best way to prepare meatballs for a super bowl party or the NFL playoffs. These simple meatballs are prepared in the slow cooker and only consist of three ingredients—frozen meatballs, grape jelly, and chili sauce. Simply mix all of the ingredients together in the slow cooker and you will have this delicious appetizer prepared in no time at all. These are sometimes called cocktail meatballs or grape jelly meatballs. This is a very easy recipe to prepare for the Superbowl that can easily be made along with other dishes. Enjoy.
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Fried Ravioli Recipe

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Fried Ravioli
Fried ravioli is perfect to serve as an appetizer. This recipe consists of ravioli that are breaded and then fried in oil and served with marinara sauce. You can use whatever type of ravioli for this recipe you like. I used beef and cheese. The ravioli should be thawed and not frozen. This recipe is easy to prepare and only consists of a few ingredients. You can use either a deep-fryer or a deep skillet partially filled with oil to cook the ravioli. I like to top these with parmesan cheese. Enjoy.
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Fried Chicken Poutine Recipe

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Fried Chicken Poutine
You can take your poutine to the next level by adding fried chicken. This poutine consists of fried chicken, fries, country gravy, bacon and cheese curds! There are a few different components to this recipe and it is a lot of work but it is so delicious. The chicken is breaded in a seasoned flour mixture and then fried. The gravy gets a lot of flavor from some of the seasoned flour mixture and chicken bouillon. To make this recipe easy, you can use frozen French fries. This is a great recipe for football parties. Enjoy.
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Cranberry BBQ Meatballs Recipe

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Cranberry BBQ Meatballs
These cranberry bbq meatballs are simple to make and delicious. These meatballs make a perfect appetizer for game day and go great served for dinner as well. The meatballs are prepared and then baked in the oven and then mixed with the cranberry sauce. The sauce is just a combination of cranberry sauce and bbq sauce. You can use your favorite brand of bbq sauce or even make your own if you want. I like to serve these meatballs with mac and cheese. These also go great served over rice. Enjoy.
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Bacon Wrapped Cheese Stuffed Hot Dogs Recipe

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Bacon Wrapped Cheese Stuffed Hot Dogs
These bacon wrapped cheese stuffed hot dogs are great on the grill. This recipe consists of very few ingredients and is simple to prepare. The hot dogs are sliced and stuffed with cheese and then wrapped with bacon. The hot dogs are then grilled and brushed with BBQ sauce. You will probably want to use precooked bacon for this recipe because it will cook faster. You can use whatever type of BBQ sauce you want for this recipe. Enjoy.
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Chili Cheese Dog Grilled Cheese Recipe

Chili Cheese Dog Grilled Cheese
If you enjoy chili cheese dogs you might want to try making a grilled cheese with the ingredients! The truth is fried hot dogs, chili and cheese go great on a grilled sandwich. The hot dogs are sliced in half and then fried in the pan. For the chili, you can use whatever your favorite brand is or even make your own. I used chili with beans. You will want to go sparingly on the chili, otherwise, your sandwich may become too soggy. You can use the leftover chili to make chili cheese fries if you want. This recipe will make two sandwiches but you can easily double the ingredients (except for the chili) if you want to make four. A good addition to these sandwiches is caramelized onions. Serve with French fries on the side. Enjoy.
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Skillet Breakfast Nachos Recipe

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Skillet Breakfast Nachos
Here is a very simple way to prepare breakfast nachos. These nachos are loaded with scrambles eggs, bacon and cheese. The ingredients are prepared individually and then layered in a skillet and placed into the oven and baked for a few minutes. You can add additional ingredients to this recipe if you choose. A good option may be to use some cooked chorizo sausage in place of the bacon. These are great to serve as an appetizer. Enjoy.
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Jalapeno Chicken Wing Sauce Recipe

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Jalapeno Wing Sauce
Here is another delicious recipe for bone-in or boneless chicken wings, jalapeno wing sauce. This wing sauce has a unique flavor from the jalapeno pepper sauce. I like to prepare this sauce to go on boneless chicken wings and it is great to serve for Super Bowl parties. The sauce is prepared on the stovetop and is a combination of ketchup, brown sugar, jalapeno pepper sauce, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. This sauce is easy to prepare and only requires combining all of the ingredients in a saucepan and simmering for a few minutes. Enjoy. If you do not have jalapenos then you can try some of the jalapeno substitutes mentioned here.

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