Two things we’ve learned from watching football: One, inventive play-calling pays off, and two, your quarterback has to be able to take the heat. The same can be said about entertaining, which is why we’ve drafted Brooklyn Winery’s Brian Pierce and his recipe for spicy chili for one of the biggest weekends of the year.

Get the poblano bacon green chili recipe. 

Get those fingers primed for sticky, spicy sauce-covered pieces of dirty bird, courtesy of Hill Country Chicken’s Elizabeth Karmel, the genius behind the NYC restaurant’s buttermilky biscuits, hand-cut fries, and miniature pies.

Get the hot wings recipe. 

If you attend to every martini’s olive, you’re gonna miss the game. Instead, let guests help themselves to an irresistible rum, sherry, and cognac punch, created by Julie Reiner of NYC’s Lani Kai.

Get the Pyrenees punch recipe.

Anyone who can make frank ’n’ beans taste as good as Chris Beerman is an MVP to us. Here, the Citizen’s Band chef shares his recipe for a hearty white bean and chorizo dip that your Game Day guests are sure to huddle around.

Get the white bean dip recipe.

We couldn’t think of anything better to accompany beer than this gooey dip from Daniel Stern of Philly’s MidAtlantic Restaurant & Tap Room.

Get the horseradish cheddar dip and pretzel recipes. 

Football bores you to tears — yet you find yourself layering up week after week during game season. Take one for the team and stir up some pregame fun with a cold-weather recipe from The Whistler’s Paul McGee (adapted from LeNell Smothers and Greg Lindgren). At the very least, it’ll earn you a victory dance.

Get the toddy recipe. 

Once you’ve popped just one of The Meatball Shop’s moist, inventive balls in your mouth, you won’t be able to stop — which explains the line at the culty New York eatery. Skip the wait by making this classic sandwich-inspired recipe.

Get the meatball and dressing recipe. 

Even the kitchen averse can whip up an addictive party dip. Try your hand at one of three easy recipes by Preston and Ginger Madison of Peels.

Get the three dip recipes. 

Everyone will feel all warm and fuzzy (regardless of the game’s victor), after a few mugs of this cocktail devised by Atlanta’s Ria Pell (co-owner and chef of Sauced).

Get the mulled wine recipe.

Quinn’s Pub in Seattle serves white tablecloth fare in a casual, pubby environment. Which means there’s no reason to have qualms about diving into these aromatic duck wings and licking the creamy dip-covered plate clean.

 Get the duck wing and dip recipes. 

Give guests a break from sliders and wings with a refreshing take on tuna tartare from Miami’s Ra Sushi.

Get the tuna salsa recipe. 

Ralph Pagano of STK Miami shared this simple equation with us: beer + meat = Super Bowl-party success. He ingeniously combined the two key ingredients in a finger-lickin’-good recipe.

Get the short ribs recipe. 

A girl cannot live on sliders alone, so Benjamin Roche of Chicago’s Moto devised this clever dessert, made to look like a hamburger. Novice cooks might be intimidated, but the results are well worth the effort.

Get the banana split mini cheeseburger recipe. 

Put down that Slim Jim and step up your stick-form snacks with Jason Boso’s (of Dallas’s Twisted Root Burger Co.) buttery prosciutto twists.

Get the prosciutto and goat cheese twisted sticks recipe. 

Class up that red and white (or green and white) checked tablecloth with a plate of haute deviled eggs, courtesy of Dallas’s Kent Rathbun, owner of Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen.

Get the deviled eggs recipe. 

Come game day, you’ll be forced to choose sides. At least with Villains Tavern’s sweet and savory bacon bourbon caramel popcorn, everybody wins.

Get the popcorn recipe. 

When acclaimed chef Ludo Lefebvre — the man behind LudoBites, Los Angeles’s much-lauded touring restaurant — gave us the recipe and a stellar photo play-by-play for his gougeres, a.k.a. French-style cheese puffs, we did our best Super Bowl-worthy touchdown dance (think funky chicken into lawn mower with a bit of running man thrown in for good measure).

Get the recipe in our how to make cheese puffs gallery.