How To Throw An All-Buffalo Super Bowl Party

When it comes to Super Bowl bites, nothing compares to a big basket of Buffalo wings, with that perfect combination of fiery, tangy sauce and creamy, cooling blue cheese to ease your burning mouth. No matter which apps and dips we serve, the wings are always the first to vanish. So this year, we're taking that addictive sauce and dousing Brussels sprouts (see the recipe), spiking spinach-artichoke dip (see the recipe) and filling cheese puffs (see the recipe) for an all-Buffalo party.

We're not the only ones taking wing sauce to the next level, either. "One of my top three favorite things to eat is Buffalo chicken wings, but we are a restaurant, not a dive bar," Daniel Serfer, chef and owner of Mignonette in Miami, says in defense of the Buffalo scallop dish on his menu at the uptown location. Playing off the sweetness of the mollusks, he tosses seared scallops in the good stuff and then tops them with pieces of fried chicken skin.

"There's something macho about eating spicy food. Macho as in, Can you take it?" Georgette Farkas, owner of Rotisserie Georgette in NYC, tells us. "That fits right in with the pounding beating on the football field."

With Super Bowl Sunday being the restaurant's busiest day for delivery, the rotisserie chicken haven adds Buffalo flair to the classic, offering a whole Buffalo rotisserie chicken in addition to its refined Buffalo wings. "The whole bird is first brined with our own hot sauce and then roasted over the open flames of our rotisseries," Farkas explains. "We season the wings with a mixture of sweet smoked paprika, garlic, coriander, salt and brown sugar. Then we fry them and toss them in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, sugar and chile flakes."

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Inspired by chefs incorporating Buffalo dishes into their menus and fueled by our own love of the sauce, we're running with three recipes for a Super Bowl lineup that will garner more attention than the game itself.

First up, we take the obligatory spinach-artichoke dip for a spicy spin. After mixing smoky bacon, caramelized onions and garlic into the spinach and artichokes, we kick up the heat with a blend of smoked blue cheese and hot sauce. With a final dusting of bacon bread crumbs, it's crunch time.

Next up, we give classic gougères a game-day makeover. The traditional French puffs of choux pastry get laced with nutty Gruyère cheese. Once they're puffed and golden brown, we fill the gougères with a Buffalo cheese sauce made with sharp cheddar and more Gruyère. This is how you spell addiction.

Finally, we throw a healthy (sort of) option into the mix, taking the lead from our favorite Buffalo cauliflower recipe and swapping one crucifer for another. We roast Brussels sprouts to golden, crispy perfection before tossing them in a spicy and garlicky Buffalo sauce. Topped with Stilton cheese, these fancy Brussels are our new favorite way to get our greens.

All together, you'll have yourself the ultimate Buffalo-themed Super Bowl spread that your friends will be talking about long after the big game winds down.