Healthy party snacks your friends willl still love
With football season upon us, it’s time to start brainstorming ideas for game-day snacks. Although it’s fine to indulge every now and then with a fully loaded plate of nachos or a slice of pepperoni pizza, if you’re doing game day every weekend, indulging will quickly turn into over-indulging. Here are a few lightened-up versions of popular game-day snacks that everyone at the party will love.
Baked Buffalo Wings [PopSugar]
Greasy fried Buffalo wings are a game-day favorite, but with their high fat content and calorie count, it’s easy to go overboard quickly. Create a healthier chicken wing with this recipe, which opts for baking instead of frying and uses only a tablespoon of butter, plus garlic, thyme, and hot sauce. It even includes a recipe for healthy bleu cheese dip that is mostly made from low-fat Greek yogurt, which you can serve with celery sticks.
Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins [Half Baked Harvest]
Potato skins are another snack that has a lot of potential to be healthy, but tends to come loaded with fat, salt, and calories. This recipe brings the antioxidants by using sweet potatoes in place of white potatoes, and adds an extra dose of nutrition with spinach on top. It’s mixed with cheddar cheese and a blend of spices, plus skinless chicken, for some lasting sustenance. Garnish with Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.
Spicy Popcorn [Bake Your Day]
Popcorn is the perfect snack to nosh on while watching the game because it’s so low-calorie that it’s one of the few foods that’s okay to eat mindlessly, as long as it’s not loaded with salt and butter. The only problem? It doesn’t taste good without salt and butter. That is, unless you add some heat. This spicy popcorn recipe adds just a dash of butter, letting the rest of the flavor come from herbs and spices like garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, and cumin.
Baked Parmesan Zucchini Fries [Damn Delicious]
French fries are another classic comfort food that serve as a game-day staple. You might not think you can get used to a fry that’s made from zucchini instead of potatoes, but don’t knock it ‘til you try it. By cutting zucchini long-wise into fry-like fingers, then coat them with parmesan cheese, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Bake until they’re tender, then broil to crispy. You might be surprised by how close these zucchini fries come to the real thing.
Chickpea Cookie Dough Dip [PopSugar]
After a game’s worth of noshing on salty snacks, it’s time to break out something sweet. If you loved licking the spoon when you made cookies as a kid, you’ll love this cookie dough dip. Don’t be deterred by the fact that it’s made mostly from chickpeas. The texture of the beans actually mimics that of cookie dough quite closely. The agave, chocolate chips, and vanilla extract completely cloak any beany flavor, and peanut butter brings a creamy texture. When you scoop up this cookie dough dip on a pretzel or slice of apple, you’re actually helping yourself to a solid serving of protein and fiber.