15 Delicious Dips You Need for a Winning Super Bowl Party

Perfect for game day snacking.

By
The Serious Eats Team
The Serious Eats Team
At Serious Eats, we’re a team of self-proclaimed food nerds who are ever-curious about the “why” behind cooking. The staff has worked in restaurants, test kitchens, bakeries, and other notable publications, bringing extensive culinary and editorial expertise to the table.
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and
Genevieve Yam
Headshot of Genevieve Yam
Genevieve Yam
Culinary Editor
After graduating from the International Culinary Center, Genevieve cooked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Per Se. Prior to joining Serious Eats, she was an editor at Epicurious. She grew up between Toronto and Hong Kong and is a graduate of the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She currently lives in New York with her husband and two cats.
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Published February 02, 2025
Bowl of pickle dip garnished with panko, dill and pickles, surrounded by a wooden plate full of potato chips, on a green tabeltop

Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

Like finger foods, dips are a natural choice for game day snacking because of how easy they are to eat on the couch. But they have other advantages, too: They're easy to make in large quantities and light enough to eat for a couple hours straight. If we watched the game with nothing more than a spread of dips, we'd be perfectly happy. The challenge, then, is deciding which ones to serve. Guacamole and a silky smooth cheese sauce for serving your nachos with are both obvious choices, and your Buffalo wings would be incomplete without a blue cheese or ranch dip. But don't sleep on the other flavorful spreads we've included below—like fried pickle dip!—because there's no such thing as too many dips at a Super Bowl party.

  • Ranch Dressing

    OVerhead view of ranch dressing
    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez.

    What else would you dip your Buffalo wings in? Buttermilk gives this homemade ranch dressing its pleasant tanginess, while fresh parsley, chives, and dill provide a delightfully herbaceous flavor profile.

  • Perfect Gooey Cheese Sauce

    Alka-Seltzer cheese sauce atop nachos.

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    This creamy, silky smooth cheese sauce has a secret ingredient—and takes less than 5 minutes to make. Serve it alongside cheese fries and drizzle it over your nachos.

  • Fried Pickle Dip

    finished dip, garnished with dill, and pickles

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

    In this recipe, a jar of pickles works its magic on a creamy sour cream and mayo dip, which we punch up with ranch dressing mix, fresh dill, and lots of chopped pickles. While we could have stopped there, we take it a step further with breadcrumbs that are toasted in a combination of butter and pickle juice—a nod to fried pickles—before being used to top the dip.

  • Savory Caesar Dip

    Dipping a chip in the caesar dip

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    This Caesar dip pairs the assertive garlicky anchovy flavor of Caesar dressing with the texture of a cream cheese-based dip.

    Continue to 5 of 15 below

  • 7-Layer Buffalo Chicken Dip

    20160129-7-layer-buffalo-chicken-dip-finished-morgan-eisenberg.jpg
    Morgan Eisenberg

    Buffalo chicken dip gets the seven-layer treatment with refried beans, pepper jack cheese, blue cheese crumbles, crispy bacon, and more.

  • Hot Spinach-Artichoke Dip

    spinach artichoke dip headnote 1

    Serious Eats/Morgan Hunt Glaze

    Rich creamy dips are one of life’s greatest pleasures, and the old party stalwart, spinach-artichoke dip, is among the best. Our recipe nails the ideal proportion of spinach to artichokes, and a trifecta of cream cheese, mayo, and sour cream give the dip its ultra creamy texture.

  • Whipped Feta Dip

    20190614-whipped-feta-vicky-wasik-11
    Vicky Wasik

    Versatile whipped feta cheese can be served as a dip, slathered on toasts and sandwiches, dolloped into soups, and more.

  • Fully Loaded Vegan Queso Dip

    20150228-vegan-loaded-queso-dip7.jpg
    J. Kenji López-Alt

    Chock-full of veggies and soy chorizo, with a base of creamy vegan nacho cheese sauce, this vegan queso dip is good enough to please even the omnivores.

    Continue to 9 of 15 below

  • Real French Onion Dip

    Overhead view of french onion dip surrounded by Chips

    Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

    This creamy dip with an intensely onion flavored base is better than any jarred version.

  • Blue Cheese Dip

    Overhead view of blue cheese dip on a veggie platter

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

    The combination of sour cream, blue cheese, and mayonnaise makes for a creamy and well-balanced dip that's especially delicious with Buffalo wings or raw vegetables.

  • Maryland Crab Imperial With Buttery Golden Bread Crumbs

    A blue baking dish holding golden brown Maryland Crab Imperial. The bottom left corner of the baking dish shows a metal spoon holding a spoonful of the crab, while on the lefthand side of the image is a light blue ceramic plate holding small pieces of bread, one of which has been topped with the crab.

    Serious Eats / Qi Ai

    Delightfully creamy and rich, crab imperial is as delicious as a Maryland crab cake, but a lot less fussy to make.

  • Clams Casino Dip

    20190113-clams-casino-dip-morgan-eisenberg
    Morgan Eisenberg

    This fun riff on clams casino turns the classic dish into a creamy, party-perfect dip.

    Continue to 13 of 15 below

  • Classic Pico de Gallo

    a bowl of pico de gallo with tortilla chips on the side

    Lynn Wolsted

    Also known as salsa fresca or salsa mexicana (because of its resemblance to the colors of the Mexican flag), pico de gallo is made by combining chopped tomatoes, onions, and chiles. Here, we salt then drain diced tomatoes, which concentrates their flavor and improves their texture.

  • Classic Guacamole

    20210318_BasicGuacamole_LizClayman-9
    Liz Clayman

    At its most basic, guacamole requires little more than avocados and serrano or jalapeño chiles—traditionally mashed in a large basalt mortar and pestle—and some salt. The best guacamole happens to be the simplest, made with attention to just a few key details.

  • Hummus B'Tahini (Hummus With Tahini)

    Overhead view of hummus b'tahini

    Serious Eats / Mai Kakish

    This foolproof recipe produces easy, delicious hummus that's ready in 10 minutes—and requires no food processor.

January 2020

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