Fast Game Day Snacks

Fried meatballs are a Florentine specialty; this version can be made with any cooked meat, from roast or boiled beef to chicken and pork.

Melted cheddar cheese and barbecue chicken stuffed in a crispy quesadilla is a great summer appetizer.

Tortilla chips heated in a quick-cooking chile sauce and topped with feta, onion, sour cream, cilantro, and chicken make a particularly tasty version of this popular Mexican dish. Don’t let the idea of softened chips put you off. This recipe is a winner.

Chef Christopher Tunnell sought his mom’s approval before serving this hearty sandwich, which is spiked with ketchup. “When she tasted it, she was proud,” he says.

The lemony aioli gets its deep flavor from smoked paprika.

Eight-year-old Dani Shaub loves making these juicy fajitas—a recipe she based on the ingredient list from a packet of fajita seasoning—because it involves lots of slicing (one of her favorite cooking tasks) and "everyone gets to participate and pick their own toppings," she says.

More Terrific Mexican Recipes

Adam Erace uses soppressata to top this clever prebaked-crust pizza, along with mashed sweet potatoes and mozzarella cheese.

Smoky Spanish pimentón makes these eggs distinctive. It is available at specialty food stores.

This timeless tapa from Spanish cookbook author Penelope Casas has everything going for it—it’s sweet, smoky and savory, all in one bite.

In this play on nachos, chef Gonzalo Martinez tops a chunky guacamole with gooey melted cheese.

Deconstructed nachos were the inspiration behind this fun pizza. Made with chili-spiced black-bean puree, tomatoes, olives, shredded lettuce and low-fat Jack cheese on a whole-wheat crust, the pie also gets a little low-fat sour cream (that nacho staple) on top.

These roasted (rather than deep-fried) buffalo-style chicken wings are smothered in a spicy green jalapeño sauce, which is pureed with pickled jalapeños for an extra hit of puckery flavor.

These crispy rolls, adapted from the cookbook Nirmala’s Edible Diary are a riff on Argentinean street food.

Hummus can do more than cling to a carrot stick. Grace Parisi’s sublime version adds nutty flavor to potato salad, eggs and soup.

This recipe can easily be made using leftover Spice-Roasted Pork Tenderloin.

“Because everything’s better with bacon,” is the perfect description for this addictive sweet and salty snack.

This all-American, over-the-top, cheese-smothered dip is the ultimate comfort food.

Savory snack mixes are typically flavored with soy sauce, Worcestershire and butter. Grace Parisi prepares her crunchy mix with a little maple syrup for sweetness and Thai curry paste for heat.