For the first post of 2026, I wanted to talk about the recipes that I did for the Super Bowl this year.
Since I showed in my Football Snack Foods blog back at Week 1 of the NFL season, I thought it would be a fitting end to the season to do another batch of football foods for the Super Bowl as well. Given that the Super Bowl only has 2 teams, instead of week 1 having all 32, I wanted to feature an item that is specific to each team, but also throw in a couple of favorites as well. It didn’t take long to figure out a featured food from each team that would also be a good addition to a game-day menu.
The Seattle Style hot dog is something that was absolutely new to me, as I didn’t even know they had their own style of hot dog, but what says big American football game like a hot dog? The Seattle Style dog is an all-beef hot dog with cream cheese and grilled onions on top. My first thought for this was “smoked cream cheese would be a great way to elevate and customize it,” so that’s exactly what I did. I got 2 blocks of cream cheese, coated them thoroughly in my Lovely Jubbly BBQ And Then Some BBQ rub, and put them on my Pit Boss Sportsman 1100 at 300 degrees for about 2 hours. I caramelized some onions in a pan and cooked the hot dogs on my Weber kettle with The Good Charcoal Company lump charcoal. Once everything was done, I spread the smoked cream cheese on the hot dog and topped it with the caramelized onions. I need to start by saying that I knew beforehand that every part of this dish was good individually, but I wasn’t sure how it would come together. I promise you, it was an absolutely amazing bite, and I ended up going back for seconds. The cream cheese with the rub on it really lent itself to the vibe I was going for, and it was just fantastic. I will definitely be making these again.
Boston Baked Beans. What more do I need to say about them? A classic BBQ side dish staple, and the perfect dish to represent the New England Patriots with. I started off with a 1-pound bag of navy beans and soaked them in salted water at room temp for about 20 hours. Soaking them in salted water helps them soften up, so when they are being cooked, the beans don’t burst open and fall apart. At that point, I started my cast iron dutch oven on the stove top and added molasses, dark brown sugar, a halved onion, soy sauce, dry mustard, salt pork, water and some of our Lovely Jubbly BBQ The Everything all-purpose seasoning, and brought it up to a boil. Once it came up to a boil and I stirred it all, I took it out to the Pit Boss Sportsman 1100 and let it smoke for about an hour. Once an hour was done, I stirred everything in the pot and put the lid on, allowing the steam to soften everything and make it tender. Once the 2 hours were up, i brought the pot in, spooned out the big chunks of onion and salt pork. I pulled the salt pork chunks as if I were doing pulled pork, and added it back into the bean pot. The beans had excellent flavor and were very tender. Cooking them on the smoker was great because the flavor of the pellets added another layer of depth and flavor to the beans.
Once I had the team-specific foods out of the way, I went with some classic game day foods. The next item on the menu was a dish that I’ve blogged about before, and that was my bacon-ranch chicken wings. I mixed a Hidden Valley Ranch dips packet and some bacon seasoning, coated the wings heavily, and tossed them to make it even. The one thing I did with the wings this time that was different than normal is something that may get me in trouble, but I stand by it. I cooked them in the air fryer. Hear me out, I put them in at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, at which point I tossed them in the air fryer basket and put them back on for 10 more minutes. The wings had crispy skin and were perfectly bite-through tender. I take my wings to about 200 degrees internal so they are always perfect, and these were no exception. If you wanted to smoke them first at a lower temp until they are about 150-160 degrees internal and then finish them in the air fryer, you absolutely can do that.
Lastly, I did cheesesteak sliders. Given that a certain team from Pennsylvania was not in the big game this year (thankfully), I was able to get away with just calling them cheesesteaks and making them my own. I tried something new here and got the pre-cut Carne Picada from Walmart, which turned out to work very well. I got a 12-pack of King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, a yellow and orange bell pepper, and a yellow onion. I sliced the onion and cut the bell peppers up into strips, and put them all in a separate pan so start caramelizing and cooking down. I had the meat in a cast-iron pan and seasoned it with my new Lovely Jubbly BBQ A Little Moo’er beef rub. I took the pack of rolls and cut them in half, doing my best to not to separate the rolls (my best wasn’t good enough), and then put them center up in the oven under the broiler to toast the rolls for just a couple of minutes. I also, in the meantime, shredded a block of sharp cheddar cheese; any time you can shred your own, do it. Once the steak was done, I put it on the bottom portion of the rolls, covered it with the cheese, and then topped it with the onions and peppers mix. The sliders were perfect for a good plate of game-day foods, and the onions and peppers really woke up the sandwich and added some freshness. The sharp cheddar was a good choice of cheese because it was able to stand up to the bold flavors from everything else.
Overall, this selection of foods for the Super Bowl was a home run, and I’ll definitely be cooking all of these foods again. This post was just to explain the menu; the next one will have all of the recipes.
Don’t forget to check out http://www.lovelyjubblybbq.com for our signature rubs and even more great BBQ products and accessories! Our rubs are also exclusively in store at Ava’s a posh boutique in Watertown, WI, if you just can’t wait for shipping!
If you are looking for a Pit Boss pellet grill or other Pit Boss accessories for yourself or someone you love, follow the link below to the Pit Boss website, where they have some fantastic deals on some even more fantastic products! As an avid Pit Boss user, I couldn’t be more proud to be an affiliate of Pit Boss Grills, and I look forward to growing this partnership over time. We have also become affiliated with Weber Grills as well, which is my favorite grill of choice for cooking everyday meals. We have the Weber Grills link below as well for your convenience! Our newest Affiliation is with Inkbird Tech! They have the best line of thermometers I have ever used, and I take my instant-read everywhere I cook, so I always know what my temps are. Get your Inkbird today!
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