Big Wins All Around: 10 Over-the Top Game-Day Snacks for When You're Feeling Smug About a Victory

Shrimp cocktail, bacon-wrapped figs, and more fancy-pants snacks for when you're certain you'll be celebrating your team's success.

Serious Eats / Inma Hortas

I’ve lived in Kansas City for a decade, which means I have spent the last few years becoming increasingly smug about the Chiefs. I know on an instinctive level that this is just setting me up for greater humiliation. But victory is fleeting: you’ve gotta celebrate when you can. 

When your team’s on top, you want a game-day spread for high times and high rollers. You want a menu that says: You are invincible. You are Ozymandias, King of Kings, and you don’t know a thing about any lone and level sands. People say “Pride goeth before the fall,” but they’ve never seen you goeth. 

These are the dishes to reach for when there’s zero chance you’ll be photographed morosely spooning caviar onto a paper plate while your “untouchable” quarterback is sacked for the fifth time this game. And worst case scenario, are you really going to regret eating the caviar?

Plump and Tender Shrimp Cocktail

Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

Is there anything more luxurious, more louche, than a shrimp cocktail ring you didn’t pluck from a grocery-store freezer? These shrimp get a flavor boost from a white-wine-and-ginger poaching liquid and a cocktail sauce with a secret ingredient (the secret ingredient is coriander).

Get Recipe: Plump and Tender Shrimp Cocktail

Hoisin-Glazed MeatballsSerious Eats / Mariel De La Cruz

Sweet, tangy, and impossibly tender, these cocktail meatballs are the cosmopolitan answer to a crockpot of li’l smokies.

Get Recipe: Hoisin-Glazed Meatballs

Oysters RockefellerVicky Wasik

Named after John D. Rockefeller’s little-known heir, Oysters Rockefeller, this broiled appetizer is a swanky showpiece. The oysters here are lighter and brighter than some retro versions thanks to layered alliums and anise-y notes from absinthe and fennel.

Get Recipe: Oysters Rockefeller

Easy, Ultimate Clams CasinoVicky Wasik

Few flavor combinations feel more indulgent than clams, bacon, and butter. Still, this dish ups the ante by tossing coarse panko bread crumbs in bacon fat for the savory, crispy topping.

Get Recipe: Easy, Ultimate Clams Casino

Blini and CaviarVicky Wasik

Russia’s traditional yeasted pancakes offer a feather-light base for a dollop of crème fraiche and a festive swoop of caviar. If you can’t milk your own sturgeon, store-bought is fine.

Get Recipe: Blini and Caviar

Bacon-Wrapped Figs With Blue Cheese and BourbonMorgan Eisenberg

When do “appetizers” earn the pomp of “hors d'oeuvres”? When they’re broiled figs stuffed with creamy blue cheese, swaddled in bacon, and crisped in a bourbon-caramel glaze.

Get Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Figs With Blue Cheese and Bourbon

The Best Carne AsadaJ. Kenji López-Alt

A celebratory spread doesn’t have to mean champagne and caviar. It can also mean tender marinated skirt steak blistered on the grill and dribbled with a bright ancho, guajillo, and chipotle salsa.

Get Recipe: The Best Carne Asada

Whipped Feta Dip

When queso feels insufficiently festive, break out this silky whipped feta and Greek yogurt dip. It may not scratch the same itch, but it will taste great on a pita chip.

Get Recipe: Whipped Feta

Baked Brie en Croute With Thyme and Fig JamPhotograph: Emily and Matt Clifton. Video: Serious Eats Video

You don’t have to brag about your team being up. You’re plopping a baked brie en croute on the coffee table at halftime. You’ve said enough. 

Get Recipe: Baked Brie en Croûte With Thyme and Fig Jam

Pistachio Baklava

Serious Eats / Mai Kakish

There are only two things sweeter than victory: pistachio-studded, syrup-soaked phyllo pastry and the relief of clicking this link and learning you don’t have to make your own phyllo pastry.

Get Recipe: Pistachio Baklava

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