8 Chicken Wings, Fried Chicken and Popcorn Recipes for Any Time Snacking Pleasure

My interest in sporting events is more about the food than the competition between teams. When I was in college going to USC Trojan football games, people's tailgate menus interested me and so did our snacking before, during, and after attending the games.

So when it comes to Super Bowl Sunday, the idea of eating lots of fun finger foods always appeals. Unless you're vegetarian, what's not to love about chicken wings? They're messy, salty, spicy and sweet. They go well with beer. And they can tilt toward many cultural directions. My chicken wings lean toward Asia, naturally.

Aside from chicken wings, there are other snack ideas to consider for the occasion, like crispy fried boneless chicken. You can deep-fry but low-fat air-frying works too.

Popcorn is a great nosh and counterpoint for the rich wings. You may buy popcorn at supermarkets, but it's so simple and cost effective to pop your own corn. It seems that the cost of the packaging and transportation add up to more than the cost of the actual food inside.

If you're getting ready for Super Bowl or just looking for great snacking ideas, below are eight to consider. There are three chicken wing recipes, two fried chicken options, and three popcorn recipes.

If you have Vietnamese Food Any Day, also consider the crispy baked chicken wings and vegan cauliflower wings recipes that lead off the snacks chapter. Photographed below by Aubrie Pick, they're fantastic and reader favorites.

Baked, Grilled, and Fried Chicken Wings

At the top of this post is Baked Kung Pao Chicken Wings, a recipe based on a deep-fried ditty by chef Dale Talde. The sauce is devilishly good and restaurant-y, which means it's meant as drinking food. I baked the wings for an easier path to snacking fun.

Don't want to bake or fry? The Hoisin-Glazed Grilled Chicken Wings are for you. Do the cooking outdoors, or even on a stovetop grill. The recipe by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, veteran grillers and cookbook authors, calls for outdoor grilling, but since this is February, you may be cooking indoors. If that's the case, use a cast iron grill like (I use a rectangular Le Creuset, but there's a less expensive round one). Regardless, heat it over medium-high heat, and lightly brush oil on the grill for good measure.

If you want to replicate restaurant food, make Spicy Asian Chicken Wings. They're deep-fried then tumbled in sauce. I'm partial to combining fish sauce, garlic, chiles with the requisite sugar for a salty, sweet, spicy finish. I suppose you could name the recipe "Spicy Southeast Asian Chicken Wings" if you want to get more specific. Either way, they're delicious so go at the recipe!

Fried or Air-Fried Chicken Nuggets

What if you don't want to deal with bones? Fry chicken nuggets -- not the kind that's processed for commercial food production, but rather, cook up boneless chicken.

Korean Fried Chicken Nuggets look fiery but not that dangerous, unless you gobble up the entire batch. The sauce blends ideas from a trusty Korean home cook plus Korean cooking expert Maangchi. These are deep-fried and well worth the trouble.

Air-Fried Japanese Chicken is my unfried fried version of the popular drinking snack, kara-age, or tatsuta-age. The recipe requires deboning chicken legs but I walk you through it with pictures. If you don't have an air-fryer, deep fry the chicken. Unlike the other chicken recipes included here, the Japanese style chicken is enjoyed without sauce to allow the chicken flavor to sing.

Flavored Popcorn

Lighten your load calorie and cooking wise by making popcorn. I grew up with microwave popcorn but it's darn easy and fun to do it yourself and dress it up with fun flavors.

Sichuan Magic Dust Popcorn is a personal favorite, not just because I can practically inhale it. It's spicy, savory, a touch sweet -- perfect for eating by the handful. Also, I collaborated on the recipe with a dear friend, Andrew Janjigian, a former Cook's Illustrated editor who now has a terrific baking newsletter called Wordloaf.

Similar in concept but different in process, Curry Popcorn is coated with a DIY spice blend that clings to the popcorn during the stovetop popping. The recipe goes back decades to when I cooked at a restaurant in Los Angeles. The popcorn was a free bar snack, the kind of nosh that goes well with a cold beer or refreshing cocktail.

After eating at a Roy Choi restaurant where I first tasted Furikake Caramel Corn, I had to make some to eat at home. It's like Asian Cracker Jacks. That's to say, it's sweet, salty and briny. Japanese furikake seasoning is often sold in the Asian section of supermarkets. If you want to make it yourself, check out Just One Cookbook's furikake recipe.

Hope these ideas add spark, joy and ideas to your Super Bowl and overall snacking sessions.