This year, make the ultimate call for the championship game: host a stress-free, unforgettable tailgate right at home. It’s the simple, easy, and most relaxing way to enjoy all the action, ensuring you’re comfortably seated just in time for kickoff. Elevate your game day spread by serving delicious DIGIORNO® pizza, expertly cut into dippable strips and paired with sensational homemade dipping sauces. This winning combination is guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser, helping you score a TOUCHDOWN with your guests!

Elevate Your Game Day: The Ultimate Home Tailgate Featuring DiGiorno Pizza & Homemade Dipping Sauces

The most anticipated sporting event of the year is rapidly approaching, and in our household, that means one thing: it’s time to finalize our game day strategy. But by “strategy,” I’m not talking about plays on the field; I’m talking about the feast! We absolutely adore hosting friends and family. For us, the essence of game day is being surrounded by loved ones, sharing laughter, cheering on our favorite team, and, of course, indulging in an incredible spread of delicious food. In previous years, my ambition as a host often meant I’d find myself buried in the kitchen, still cooking furiously when halftime rolled around. Ugh, the missed moments! But not this year, dear friends, not this year. I’ve meticulously crafted a game plan well in advance that promises a stress-free experience, leaving me kicked back in my favorite chair, ready to roll the moment the whistle blows.

Why DiGiorno Pizza is Your Game Day MVP

What’s the star player of our game day menu, you ask? Pizza! Yes, that universally beloved food that’s perfect for game time, dinner time, and especially for tailgating at home. But here’s the best part: it’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno. This isn’t just a catchy slogan; it’s a promise of fresh-baked taste straight from your own oven. Imagine bypassing the agonizing wait for a delivery driver who might show up with a lukewarm, soggy pizza that’s less than subpar. With DiGiorno, you control the quality and timing. You ensure a perfectly hot, crispy, and delicious pizza every single time. So, make the right call and choose DIGIORNO® pizza for your entire crew. The only thing standing between me, my comfortable chair, and the big screen TV is a mere 20 minutes in the oven. BOOM, done, and ready to enjoy!

In our home, pizza isn’t just a meal; it’s a way of life. Just last night, my husband declared he could happily eat pizza every single day. So, when I started brainstorming what to serve for this year’s game day gathering, the answer became brilliantly clear the moment I opened the freezer – PIZZA! But I wanted to put a fun, interactive twist on it. I envisioned serving the pizzas cut into convenient, dippable sticks, accompanied by a selection of homemade dipping sauces. Everyone, from the youngest fan to the most seasoned sports enthusiast, loves a good finger food that can be dipped and devoured.

Selecting Your Winning DiGiorno Lineup

Armed with this brilliant idea, I headed to the grocery store. I picked up two fantastic varieties of DIGIORNO® pizza to cater to different tastes: the hearty Three Meat pizza, a sure hit with the guys, and the savory Spinach, Mushroom, and Garlic, which I knew the ladies would particularly enjoy. The beauty of DiGiorno is its extensive range of options; there’s truly a flavor to please every pizza lover. To be completely honest, DIGIORNO® pizza is a perennial household favorite for us. The crust consistently bakes up perfectly crispy yet wonderfully soft, the toppings are always generous and flavorful, and each pizza emerges from the oven to absolute perfection. It’s truly mouth-watering and delicious. You’ll rarely find fewer than two DiGiorno pizzas in my freezer at any given time, which is precisely why it’s my go-to choice for hassle-free, crowd-pleasing game day food.

Beyond the Pizza: Crafting the Perfect Game Day Ambiance

While at the store, I also stocked up on some other essential game day supplies to set the perfect atmosphere. Serving dishes, plates, napkins, cups, themed tablecloths, festive football-themed toothpicks, and even fun football penalty flags – I grabbed it all. Since we host the championship game every year, along with several other football games throughout the season, I know these items will always come in handy. Any extras can be stored for future gatherings, but I have a strong feeling our hungry guests will be going back for countless more pizza dipping sticks.

The Art of the Pizza Stick: Easy Cutting for Dippable Perfection

Once the pizzas emerged from the oven, golden and fragrant, it was time for the transformation. Here’s my simple method for cutting them into perfect, dippable sticks: First, I cut the round pizza in half. Then, I cut each half in half again, which gave me four equal triangular quarters. Working from the center of each triangle outwards, I cut each quarter into four uniform strips. This process left me with a total of 16 perfectly sized pizza sticks per pizza, ideal for dipping and sharing.

Homemade Dipping Sauces: The Perfect Complement

With DIGIORNO® handling the main course with such ease, I felt it was only right to contribute a little extra homemade goodness to the spread. So, I decided to whip up a couple of complementary dipping sauces that would perfectly enhance the flavors of our chosen pizzas. For the hearty Three Meat pizza, I opted for a robust and spicy marinara sauce. And for the more delicate Spinach, Mushroom, and Garlic pizza, a creamy garlic ranch dipping sauce seemed like the ideal pairing.

Crafting Your Signature Sauces: Simple and Quick Recipes

These sauces were incredibly simple and quick to prepare, proving that homemade doesn’t have to mean complicated. For the spicy marinara sauce, I combined some aromatic garlic paste, rich tomato paste, diced tomatoes, a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes for that extra kick, and a blend of Italian seasonings in a saucepan. I brought it to a boil, then let it simmer gently until it thickened to a perfect dipping consistency. The garlic ranch sauce was even easier: I blended smooth mayonnaise, tangy sour cream, fresh herbs (parsley, chives, dried dill), and more of that delightful garlic paste. A splash of milk thinned it out to just the right consistency. Each sauce took me about five minutes to prepare, freeing up more time to enjoy the game.

Here’s a little visual guide below to show you how effortlessly you can make your own garlic paste at home. While store-bought garlic paste is certainly an option for saving time, making it yourself yields a fresher, more potent flavor. Simply mince about three cloves of garlic, sprinkle them with some coarse salt, and then, using the flat side of your knife, begin to rub the salt into the garlic. Continue piling up the garlic and working the knife back and forth until a smooth, fragrant paste forms. This homemade paste adds an incredible depth of flavor to any dish.

Garlic paste is an incredibly versatile ingredient. You can incorporate it into countless dishes – from stir-fries and pasta sauces to marinades and, as I’ve demonstrated here, fantastic dipping sauces. I used it generously in my creamy Garlic Ranch dipping sauce and utilized the remainder to infuse even more flavor into the Spicy Marinara sauce.

The spicy marinara sauce proved to be an awesome partner to the robust three-meat pizza, adding a delightful little kick that created a fun, savory twist. The garlic ranch dipping sauce, on the other hand, perfectly complemented the spinach, mushroom, and garlic pizza, boosting its inherent garlic flavor while adding that subtle hint of ranch that us Midwesterners often can’t resist adding to our pizza. As an additional time-saving tip, DiGiorno also offers its own pizza dipping sticks, but for those who love to customize and enjoy the fantastic rising crust varieties, making your own pizza sticks is incredibly rewarding.

Print

Tailgate At Home with DIGIORNO® pizza and homemade dipping sauce

Cook 5 mins

Total 5 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Make the right call during the BIG game this year and tailgate at home. It’s simple, easy and stress free which will leave you sitting down just in time to enjoy the game. Serve DIGIORNO® pizza, cut into strips with homemade dipping sauce on the sides. Sure to be a crowd pleaser and having you scoring a TOUCHDOWN!

Ingredients

• Spicy Marinara Dipping Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1-14.5 oz can of Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasonings
• salt and pepper
• Garlic Ranch Dipping Sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1.2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chives, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
• 2 tablespoon milk

Instructions

1. Spicy Marinara Dipping Sauce
2. In a small pot, add oil and turn heat to medium.
3. Add garlic paste and crushed red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add in tomato paste and cook for an additional minute.
5. Add in can of diced tomatoes, Italian seasonings and salt and pepper and continue to cook for 3-5 minutes.
6. Garlic Ranch Dipping Sauce
7. In a medium bowl add all ingredients and stir to combine. Add more milk for a thinner consistency.

Notes

Spicy Marinara slightly adapted from Five-Minute Spicy Marinara

Game Day Fun: Beyond the Scoreboard

I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely counting down the minutes to this weekend! How are you planning to celebrate the biggest football game of the year? Is your team vying for the championship trophy this season? Do you find yourself glued to every play, or are you more interested in the hilarious commercials that air during breaks, or perhaps captivated by the spectacular halftime performances? As for me, I confess, I enthusiastically engage in all three! It’s all part of the fun and tradition of game day.

For more fantastic tips and creative inspiration on how to #MakeTheRightCall for your next game day gathering, and to enjoy the entertaining “Typical Game Day Party Guests” video series, be sure to check out the official DIGIORNO® Twitter page @DiGiornoPizza or their YouTube channel at Youtube.com/DiGiornopizzas. These resources are packed with ideas to make your hosting experience even better!

You can even watch NFL star Clay Matthews in a few of those humorous videos, titled “Typical Game Day Party Guests.” Let him give you a fun lesson on how not to be one of “those” guests this year! Hint: a surefire way to avoid any party fouls is to simply serve delicious DIGIORNO® pizza.

No matter how you choose to spend your Sunday, remember to have an absolute blast, stay safe, and make sure to serve up some fantastic DIGIORNO® pizza for an unforgettable celebration!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.