This Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles face off with the New England Patriots at 5:30 CST. And we, the viewers, face off with our appetites. Tradition dictates that we all shamelessly eat while we’re watching the Super Bowl. (For some of us, the game is merely a backdrop to the smorgasbord of delicious food waiting to be consumed.)
Super Bowl Sunday is the 2nd largest U.S. food consumption day of the year—Thanksgiving being the first. On average, each Super Bowl viewer will eat 2,400 calories during the game alone. Total, we’ll be eating 30 million pounds of snacks.
…And that’s just the beginning of our shocking food statistics.
THE FACT: 1.25 billion chicken wings are consumed on game day.
It’s the most popular Super Bowl Snack, so the numbers are high. To put it in perspective, that’s nearly 4 wings for every American! This amount could fulfill Hooters’ chicken wing needs for 2 entire years.
OUR VERSION: Home-made grilled BBQ chicken nuggets (or wings, if you desire).
First, make your sauce. Combine ½ cup ketchup, ¼ cup packed brown sugar, ⅓ cup brewed coffee, ⅛ cup apple-cider vinegar, 1 minced garlic clove, ¼ tsp salt, and ⅛ tsp red pepper flakes in a medium saucepan.
Cook, stirring occasionally until mixture boils. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
Cut 2 lbs chicken breast into small, bite-sized pieces, sprinkle with salt, and grill on a grill pan for 10-15 minutes, flipping occasionally. Brush chicken with sauce. Then, let grill 5-10 minutes longer.
Enjoy!
THE FACT: 51.7 million cases of beer are sold every year for the game.
It’s the Super Bowl drink of choice. The amount we will collectively drink on Sunday could fill 169 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
OUR VERSION: Instead of contributing to those Olympic-sized swimming pools, try our infamous Cranberry & Thyme Gin and Tonic.
THE FACT: 14 billion hamburgers will be served (and consumed).
The Super Bowl is the second biggest grilling weekend of the year, coming in close behind the 4th of July. Most of these 14 billion burgers will be grilled on-site at a viewing party. Yum.
OUR VERSION: Grilled veggies! Hamburgers are fabulous, but have one patty this year. Replace your seconds with our delicious Grilled Romaine Lettuce Recipe.
THE FACT: 3.8 million pounds of popcorn are eaten.
It’s by far the healthiest snack offered at Super Bowl parties (unless you’re a veggie-tray household). This is enough popcorn to fill 13,571,428 large buckets at AMC theaters, and it means Americans spend about $89 million on popcorn for the game.
OUR VERSION: Rosemary Popcorn. (Or Lime Popcorn or Habanero Popcorn or Sun-dried Tomato & Lemon Pepper Popcorn.) Just sprinkle some of our Garden-Inspired Sea Salts on your freshly-popped kernels and chow down.
THE FACT: 139 million pounds of avocados (278 million individual avocados) will be peeled, pitted, and consumed this weekend.
Just so you know, this is enough avo’ for 616,000 men to eat their weight in avocados…
OUR VERSION: Home-made cilantro-style guac. To make, mash 2 ripe avocados. Then, mix in ½ tsp salt, 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice, 2 Tbsp minced red onion, 2 Tbsp cilantro, ½ ripe tomato (seeds and pulp removed and chopped), and a dash of pepper. Serrano chiles are optional.
THE FACT: 11.2 million pounds of potato chips are eaten on Super Bowl Sunday.
It’s the third most popular Super Bowl snack, so we’re not totally shocked at this number. But…it’s still pretty staggering. 186 tractor trailers filled to the brim would barely be enough to move this amount of potato chips.
OUR VERSION: Every chip needs a dip. Our Fresh Spinach and Artichoke Dip is out of this world. If you’re so inclined, ditch the chips and use toasted bread and fresh veggies instead!
THE FACT: Dominos alone will sell 12 million slices of pizza this weekend—and they’re not the only place that delivers pizza.
Second only to chicken wings, pizza is a classic Super Bowl food item. At an average pie length of 16 inches, this is enough pizza to stretch from Boston to St. Louis, if you laid the pies down side-by-side.
OUR VERSION: Make your own, and load it with veggies! You can buy pizza dough at most grocery stores, and individual pies will be ready in 20 minutes. Easy. For extra health-points, make it vegan-style and don’t use cheese. The tomato sauce and veggies are flavor enough, we promise.
America, get your appetites ready. Whether you’re rooting for the Eagles or the Patriots, it’s gonna be an excitement-filled weekend. Happy Super Bowl Sunday!