I love this easy meal idea for game day entertaining and am excited to be partnering with NFL Homegating on the project. NFL Homegating is all about bringing the spirit of tailgating into your home. Setting up a French Fry Bar takes less than 30 minutes, it’s an efficient way to feed a crowd, and by letting people build their own meal you can make sure that everyone gets just what they want.
I set out 13 different ingredients which I used to make four very different styles of loaded French Fries. The only cooking involved was crisping the bacon, making taco beef by simmering beef in salsa, preparing bolognese by cooking ground beef and adding marinara sauce, and baking the French Fries. Everything came together very quickly and I loved the wide variety of options.
The Buffalo Chicken combined shredded rotisserie chicken, buffalo sauce, and blue cheese. Charles told me that this was his personal favorite.
The Bolognese has beefy bolognese sauce and mozzarella cheese. If you wanted to, you could even add meatballs.
The Loaded Baked Potato is made with cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, sour cream, and chives. This was my favorite.
The Taco has taco beef, black beans, salsa, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and jalapenos. You could add bacon too if you want.
Crinkle cut fries are my favorite, but you could opt to use any fries you want. Steak fries, waffle fries, sweet potato fries, and tater tots are all fine options.
I served the loaded fries in NFL Homegating Gametime Bowls. They were just the right size for a big handful of fries and plenty of toppings. I used an Appetizer Tray to serve the fries. NFL Homegating creates products that let you bring the spirit of tailgating into your home. The products are available online at NFLShop.com/Homegating and at major retailers.
I am from a family of Patriots fans, so NFL Homegating sent me Patriots themed products. They were a perfectly festive way to serve the loaded French Fries. The NFL Homegating collection features products with all 32 NFL team logos, and you can find products with your team logo here. They also sent over the coziest Patriots blanket and it has earned a permanent spot on my couch.
Yields 4-6
30 minPrep Time
30 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 Bag of Crinkle Cut Fries
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 pound Ground Beef
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 cup of Shredded Chicken (from a rotisserie chicken)
- 1 Jar of Salsa
- 1 Jar of Marinara Sauce
- 1 cup of Blue Cheese
- 1 cup of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 1 cup of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 cup of Buffalo Sauce
- 1 cup of Black Beans
- 1 cup of Sour Cream
- 5 slices of Bacon
- 2 Jalapenos, sliced
- 1/4 cup Chopped Chives
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and arrange the bacon in a single layer. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until crispy. Then place the cooked bacon on a paper towel and blot the excess grease. Then crumble the bacon.
- Pour the fries onto another baking sheet and place them in the oven to bake. Follow the directions on the package and bake the fries until browned.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the beef and season with the salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break the beef up into small pieces. Once it has browned, divide the beef in half. Take one half and simmer it in 1 cup of salsa for 5 minutes. Take the other half of the beef and simmer it in 1 cup of marinara sauce for 5 minutes. Keep both the taco beef and the bolognese sauce warm while the French Fries finish cooking.
- Arrange the remaining salsa, and the shredded chicken, blue cheese, cheddar cheese, mozzarella, sour cream, jalapenos, and chives in small bowls.
- Once the French Fries are ready, quickly heat the buffalo sauce and the black beans in the microwave and arrange with the other toppings. Pour the taco chicken and bolognese into bowls too. Pour the hot fries onto an appetizer platter.
- Then invite everyone to get creative and build their own French Fry Bowl.
This post was sponsored by NFL Homegating. All opinions expressed are my own.
