Football Season Secrets: A Guide for Your Next Game Day Spread

Oct 24, 2024

Author: Pitmaster Rosalie Pareja
IG: @castironskillz

Hey Grill Masters Club Nation, it's Rosalie, your lead Pitmaster! Football season is here and Grill Master’s Club is here for you! As fun as this season can be, we also recognize that tailgating and hosting games can be a lot of work.

Aside from picking versatile and flexible products for the ultimate grilling season and making easy to follow recipes, we are also bringing you some amazing tips and products to make your football season one to remember!

Game Day Menu Ideas at Home

Protein Combo Ideas

These are great options for when you want minimal prep work and want to use similar ingredients!

Pulled Pork & Brisket - Pork butts and brisket both cook at either 225F or 250F, together they are a great overnight option. Don’t forget your drip tray!

Ribs & Wings - Ribs and wings can both cook at the same temperatures in their different stages. Traditional ribs and smoked wings both cook at 250F-260F, so they can share the grill. When the ribs are in the wrap stage, they can also share the grill with hot and fast wings at 325F.

Burgers and Wings - Smoked burgers and Wings both cook at 275F, or hot and fast burgers and wings can both cook at 350F.

Side & App Combo Ideas

These are great options for when you want minimal prep work and want to use similar ingredients!

Smoked Mac and Queso - You can make your cheese sauce for the Mac, the base of your queso. Just load it up with Rotel/pico, ground beef and hot sauce for a great appetizer.

Potato Skins and Buffalo Chicken Dip - Potato skins are stuffed with cream cheese, topped with chives, sour cream, shredded cheese and hot sauce. Buffalo chicken dip uses similar ingredients including cream cheese, sour cream, chives, shredded cheese and hot sauce. These two can also cook at 325F.

Potato Salad and Poppers - Both sides use bacon and cream cheese! We love a baked potato salad that is loaded with chives, bacon, shredded cheese, onion, sour cream and cream cheese. Poppers are just cream cheese stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon. The two together are a perfect duo!

Check Out 3 Tips for Planning a Game Day Spread

Pick proteins that require similar care. For instance, pork butts and briskets cook low and slow. You can cut a lot of day of work out by cooking proteins the night before that require 8+ hour smoke times. Then the next day all you have to do is wrap and prepare for serving. Then you can always add a hot and fast item like wings, poppers, or burgers when the main proteins are in the resting phase and no longer need the grill.
Pick sides that can also be mostly made or prepared ahead of time. Cold sides like coleslaw (hold the dressing), pasta salad, and potato salad can be made the day before. Or assemble your Mac and Cheese the day before and then cook it the day of day.
There’s no shame in store bought sides, just “doctor them up”. Level up baked beans by draining excess liquid, adding bbq sauce and either protein trimming or already cooked protein bits. Baked Beans can cook on low on the smoker overnight or in the morning, for an easy, inexpensive and delicious side. Store bought potato salad just needs fresh bacon crumbles and chives.

Tailgating 101

Don’t over complicate your tailgate! Do as much prep as you can so you're not slicing and dicing at the tailgate. If you’re making poppers or dips, make those ahead of time and use the grill to reheat them. I suggest just using the grill to reheat or do hot and fast grilling before the game. Remember, set up takes the longest so always allocate time for that!

Tailgate Checklist

Cooler with food supplies - Meat always on the bottom, use ice packs or sealed bags with ice, no loose ice!
Cooler with drinks - Ice melted down, so the best way to pack a cooler is a little ice on the bottom, a layer of drinks, layer of ice, and repeat!
Tent and Chairs - Having an easy pop up tent and chairs set is a great investment if you're going to be tailgating. Those 1pm games can get HOT! It has its year round uses as well!
Table - I always have a 6 foot folding table. The back of a truck is not enough space to prep and serve your food!
Power Source - If using an electric grill, I suggest investing in a battery source that's at least 1500 Watts. This also has year round use!
Portable Grill - A portable pellet grill, charcoal grill, or griddle is great for a tailgate. Don’t forget your pellets, propane or charcoal!
Trash Bag, Cleaning Supplies, Gloves, Hand Sanitizer, and Paper Towels - A folding laundry hamper is perfect for a trashcan, you’ll want to regularly sanitize your hands while cooking and or use gloves where needed, and you’ll want clean up supplies so that you don’t have to much to deal with when you get home.
Cooking Supplies - I use a small travel bag and always keep it stocked with a thermometer, spatula, set of tongs, drink koozie, bottle opener,. small cutting board, knife and scissors.
Disposable Plates, Napkins and Cutlery - I love to rep my team, so I buy a big bulk set of Tampa Bay Bucs plates at my wholesale store at the beginning of the season.
Your "Tailgate Takeover" Grill Masters Club Box! - I ALWAYS have a GMC box on hand, but this Tailgate Takeover box is perfect for your next tailgate! The products are versatile and were picked for this box for a reason!