Forget Wings—You Need A Rotisserie Chicken This Super Bowl Sunday

There are two types of Super Bowl party guests: Those who are primarily focused on the game, and those who came for the halftime show. Both of these groups converge at the snack table, though. Their destination: the chicken wings.

Wings are among the top five Super Bowl party foods for a reason. Who among us doesn't have a favorite order? The same Floridian upbringing that taught me to love football has also influenced my wing order: garlic-parm wet, fried hard, all flats. Still, as great as wings are, the rest of the chicken is well worth incorporating into your party spread too.

If you're looking to diversify your chicken intake and don't want to spend the first two quarters in the kitchen, look no further than the rotisserie chicken from the deli section of your local grocery store. Purchase one of these, and you're halfway to a whole Super Bowl buffet.

I'm a huge fan of grazing boards. After hosting a few events in my home where I spent half of the evening in the kitchen preparing the next course, I vowed to alter my menu so I could spend more of my time enjoying my guests. A grazing board is based upon the same concept of a charcuterie board, where you lay out a variety of food items for your guests, allowing them to make their own combinations and leaving you free to join the party. A taco grazing board is the perfect addition to your Super Bowl get together (or any party, to be honest, because tacos are amazing).

A taco grazing board is all in the prep, and you can have as many combinations as your taste buds will allow. My favorite quickie board is set up in concentric circles: seasoned and chopped rotisserie chicken is the center circle, while the next ring of the circle contains all of the toppings in individual bowls. My topping rotation tends to feature tomatoes, shredded cheese, corn, black beans, two salsas, and quartered limes. The outermost ring should be your warm tortillas or hard shells.

We are still a few months away from barbecue season, but that shouldn't stop you from bringing out the chicken sliders for your Super Bowl party.

In the spirit of letting your guests do their thing, it's the perfect time to bring out the Crock-Pot. Pull and chop the the meat off of your store-bought rotisserie chicken, add it to the pot, squeeze in a bottle and a half of your favorite barbecue sauce, and let them simmer.

When selecting your buns, I lean toward Hawaiian rolls or Martin's potato rolls. You can make your life easier (and more delicious) by splitting them in half without first pulling them apart, brushing them with garlic butter, and popping them under the broiler to toast for a minute or two.

From there, invite your guests to build their own sliders. I like to top mine with blue cheese and dressed cabbage for a much-needed crunch. Or you can build the sliders yourself by piling the desired ingredients on the toasted rolls and setting them out while they're still warm.

You can bring the wings experience to rotisserie chicken by adding your favorite wing flavors... to the inside of a puff pastry. Puff pasty is a laminated dough, and making it from scratch is a labor of love that I've only successfully attempted once. Thankfully puff pastry sheets are readily available in the frozen food aisle of your grocery store, and these are the perfect tool to make you and your friends feel fancier than you actually are.

First, thaw your frozen puff pastry sheets. The beauty of this product is that you can slice the sheets to your preferred size once they're thawed, so you can decide how "mini" or bite-sized you want your chicken pastry pies to be. Three-inch squares is a good place to start.

Next, grab a few of your favorite wing sauces, combine some chopped rotisserie chicken with each type of sauce in small bowls, and mix well. You want the chicken to be fully coated so it's nice and flavorful, but not so saucy that it will drip out of your pastry.

Add the sauced chicken to the middle of the puff pastry squares, fold over and seal the ends, then bake according to package directions. When they're done you should have mini chicken puff pastries in your favorite wing flavors for you and your guests to enjoy without the mess of wings and bones. After all, wouldn't it be nice to enjoy some low-stakes appetizers with a high-stakes game on TV?

While everyone else is out looking for wings this weekend, just go pick up the whole chicken.