Kickoff Your Tailgate With A Dip Into Dairy

Football season is here. That means one thing: It’s time to TAILGATE! This season we plan to step up our tailgates with the addition of homemade dips and dressings. Dairy-based dips and dressings are a terrific way to add essential nutrients such as potassium, calcium, and vitamin D to your tailgating meal without sacrificing flavor.

Feta Greek Yogurt Dip, Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing, and Bacon Buttermilk Dip are versatile and delicious items to have on your tailgating menu. You can bring all three to one tailgate, or serve them one at a time on different game days throughout the season. If you are pressed for time, these recipes can be made a day or two before your tailgate and will keep in the refrigerator until game day. Then all you need to do is grab the dip or dressing that you made, and you are ready to go. Transport them to the tailgate in a sealed container inside of a cooler filled with ice or ice packs.

Our dips and dressing will liven up any standard store-bought vegetable tray. When served as a trio, they bring a whole new level of fun to your chip and dip station. Everyone loves the classic combination of wings and blue cheese, but if you are looking for something new, try the feta or bacon dip with your favorite takeout or grocer’s deli wings.

When your entrees are ready to come off the grill, thin the dips with a little buttermilk or skim milk and use them as a zesty condiment or sandwich sauce. The flavors of feta and Greek yogurt are an obvious partner for grilled lamb, but we hope you will try them with grilled chicken or pork as well. Creamy Bacon Buttermilk Dip is great with baked potatoes and steak fries or thinned and used as a dressing for fajitas and chopped salads. Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing is a natural partner for bacon cheeseburgers. We like our blue cheese dressing on a salad of beer can chicken, garden tomatoes, arugula, and toasted pecans.

These dairy based dips bring extra protein to your tailgating menu without weighing you down. If you or your guests are lactose intolerant, don’t rule these dips out. Greek yogurt and feta cheese are naturally lower in lactose. Additionally, you may make these recipes by substituting lactose-free dairy foods for regular dairy foods.

You will feel like a game day winner when you serve your guests delicious and nutritious foods. As you plan your tailgating menu, consider bringing Feta Greek Yogurt Dip, Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing, or Bacon Buttermilk Dip. Create a meal that they will talk about long after the final down by kicking off your tailgate with a dip into dairy.

Guest post by Sally James Mathis and Taylor Mathis

Sally James Mathis (left) and Taylor Mathis are a mother and son duo from Charlotte, NC. Sally, a professional recipe developer, and Taylor, a professional food and lifestyle photographer, work together to create beautiful and delicious recipes designed to be eaten anywhere. They are the creators and authors of the food post Taylor Takes A Taste and worked together on The Southern Tailgating Cookbook.