Win Over Guests With These Game Day Beef Recipes

Your friends and family are gathered to cheer on your favorite team, and the dishes you crafted need to score major flavor points. It’s game time! We’ve drafted four of our favorite game day and tailgating recipes to win over guests and secure your position in the hosting hall of fame. 

Bite-Sized Tacos with Big Flavor

Mini Tacos with Barbacoa

This easy recipe makes your favorite taco flavors bite-sized and handheld (no fumbles here). Simply put an Aspen Ridge^® chuck roast into your slow cooker with all ingredients, cover, and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Your Natural Angus barbacoa will come out fork tender and flavor packed.

Top your chips with the barbacoa and finish with your favorite taco fixings. If you want something classic that’ll please any crowd, top with tomatoes, avocado, red onion, and Mexican cheese. Or, if you want to try something a bit more eye popping, top your barbacoa mini tacos with fresh pineapple, red onion, cilantro, and Tajin. This sweet, spicy, and savory flavor profile is inspired by our New York strip Mexican skewers (more on those later).

An Elevated Twist on a Game Day Classic

Top Sirloin-Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers with Grilled Guacamole

This dish uses top-tier ingredients, plating, and presentation to elevate a game day classic. Your guests will be so impressed, you’ll be the talk of the tailgate. Our jalapeño poppers recipe features tender, flavorful top sirloin steak, grilled avocado guacamole, and jalapeños with a citrusy cream cheese filling.

This recipe has many amazing flavors, but one of our favorites is the grilled guacamole. Putting a light char on the avocados before finishing the guacamole is not only a trendy technique—it adds subtle smokiness and amps up the butteriness of the avocados. Your fans will be back for seconds.

An Elite Beef Burger Made with Perfect Technique

The Ultimate Burger

There are burgers, and then there is the Ultimate Burger, made juicy and tender with only the best ingredients and perfect technique. Our recipe uses Natural ground beef seasoned with garlic, onion powder, black pepper, salt, and Worcestershire sauce.

Here’s the game plan: Once your grill is at medium-high heat, add the burgers and grill for 5-7 minutes on each side. Make sure to only turn your burgers once, as flipping too much will dry them out. Maintain consistent contact with the hot grill grates to create that flawless crust. Top with cheese and melt for 30 seconds before removing from the grill.

Want more grilling tips from our coaches? Learn how to create grilled flavors your guests will rally around with just a fire, tongs, and your imagination.

Steak Skewers with an MVP Seasoning: Furikake

Japanese New York Strip Steak Skewers

Skewers are the perfect easy-to-enjoy appetizer for any tailgate. We have a collection of steak skewer recipes featuring our tender New York strip steak, including this Japanese version. The steak is marinated in sugar, soy sauce, garlic, oil, and green onion before skewered with mushrooms and grilled.

The MVP of this easy recipe is the seasoning. Furikake is a colorful blend typically made with sesame seeds, nori (seaweed), dried fish, salt, and sugar. It adds a savory, crunchy, undeniably umami flavor that complements and boosts the flavor of juicy Natural Angus steak.

Want more skewers? Bookmark our recipes for Mexican and Indonesian skewers. They each benefit from a distinctive seasoning—Tajin for the Mexican and sambal for the Indonesian skewers.

Kick off the Perfect Tailgate with More Satisfying Beef Recipes

If this tailgate playbook has your mouth watering, you’re in luck. Our growing collection of original recipes has something for every guest, from restaurant-quality entrées like our Caprese Steak Sandwich with Balsamic Glaze to ideas for making your own burger bar.