Football is great and all, but how about the snacks? During tough games, they give you something to bite other than your nails. During slow ones—or ESPN-filmed ones, which guarantee to last twice as long due to all the commercial breaks—they liven things up. The right appetizers are magical like that, whether they’re on a platter in your living room or crammed into your stadium bag.

And, long before I launched this blog, I ran a site called Collegiate Cook. While most people associate it with dorm food, it was really all about game day and tailgate food. (What can I say? I live for snacks. Especially those slathered in Buffalo sauce and cheese.) So, almost 20 years of watch party preppin’, what are the football game snacks I swear by? So glad you asked. These are my tried-and-true go-to’s, divided into four sections for my…

• Meat Lovers
• Buffalo Sauce Lovers (because honestly, that’s its own category of food on game day)
• Vegetarians & Vegans
• Sweets Fanatics

Ok, enough rambling—let’s get to the recipes! The game approach-eth!

9 Meat Lovers’ Football Party Snacks

1. 4-Ingredient Chili Cheese Dip
2. BBQ Pulled Pork Wontons
3. Cap’n Crunch-Crusted Chicken Tenders
4. Chipotle Bacon Deviled Eggs
5. Doritos-Crusted Chicken Sliders
6. Everything Bagel Dogs
7. Greek-Inspired Stuffed Zucchini Boats
8. Pretzel Dogs (tip: make ’em mini—they’re so much better than pigs in a blanket!)
9. Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sliders

3 Buffalo Sauce Lovers’ Appetizers

1. Buffalo Chicken Tots
2. Buffalo Chicken Brie Bites
3. Buffalo Deviled Eggs

6 Vegetarian-Friendly Snacks

1. Baked Sweet Potato Fries (honey glaze optional)
2. Dos Caminos-Inspired Guacamole
3. Garlic-Herb Deviled Eggs (if you’re ovo-lacto)
4. Oven-Baked Fries with Pepperjack Cheese Dip
5. Spinach Artichoke Dip
6. Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip

10 Sweet Snacks

1. Baked Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Donuts
2. Birthday Cake Monster Cookies
3. Chocolate Chip-M&M Cookies (with a gooey center, a la Levain)
4. Fruit Salsa with Homemade Cinnamon Chips
5. Green & Goldies Cookies (for USF fans! But fine, you could swap out the M&M colors to suit your team)
6. Mini Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting
7. Oreo-Potato Chip Seven-Layer Bars
8. Pastelitos, aka Guava-Cream Cheese Pastries
9. Puffy Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies
10. Sunbutter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies