Football Veggie Tray – Easy Game Day Platter
It’s easy to make this adorable veggie platter for your next football party! Made with fresh veggies in the shape of a football.
Honestly, it’s getting super expensive to buy a pre-made vegetable tray at the grocery store! I still think there’s nothing wrong with buying a fresh veggie tray when you’re short on time, but I think most of us can agree the price for a good vegetable platter are getting a little offensive! When my beloved Kansas City Chiefs got to the AFC Championships, I decided I wanted to make a football veggie tray. I took my charcuterie skills and decided to arrange raw veggies in a football shape for our game day spread!
First, I considered making this veggie tray in the shape of a football field. My idea was to use use green veggies and cauliflower florets for the yard lines. But, I ultimately decided I’d be able to work in a more colors if I went with the classic American football shape. My vision for this design was that I’d have the shape of the football in the middle of the tray. Then, I’d layer in green veggies on the far ends of the tray to represent the “endzones.” Finally, I’d use colorful slices of peppers on the sides to represent the fan! I chose red and yellow peppers for my favorite team.
I was so happy with how this stylish Superbowl tray turned out! This easy veggie tray took me about 25 minutes to assemble. If you recruit someone to help you with chopping, it could certainly be done in 15-20 minutes! It made me feel good to know that I was contributing healthy food to our snack spread, and the veggies paired so well with this Jalapeno Lime Ranch Dip and Veggie Cream Cheese spread!
You will need a large platter or serving tray to make this crudité platter! actually used a rimmed sheet pan, which I lined with aluminum foil for easy cleanup.
Football Veggie Tray – Recipe Substitutions
The best veggie tray is the one that uses the fresh vegetables you have on hand at home! Feel free to substitute your favorite vegetables for any element of this great recipe. I have included some ideas below:
- Substitute fresh snap peas, steamed green beans or asparagus for the green veggies.
- Substitute any seasonal veggies you can find!
- Use sliced mini sweet peppers instead of bell peppers.
- You could absolutely use this same design to make a football fruit tray instead of a veggie tray.
- Use any variety or color of cherry tomatoes.
- Cut your own carrot sticks in place of the baby carrots
Check out all of my easy appetizers on Blackberry Babe.
Serving Suggestions
This game day veggie tray is perfect for your tailgate party, Superbowl party, game night or any game day party!
Serve this football tray alongside one of your standard veggie dips. I recommend choosing a variety of flavorful dips like homemade ranch dip, dill pickle dip, chip dip, dill dip, ranch dressing or French onion dip! You could also serve it with a cheeseball! Keep with the theme and add a charcuterie board for a complete meal.
Finger foods are definitely the way to go! Consider serving this veggie tray alongside another great appetizer, like these simple sliders, Jalapeno Popcorn, this Smoked Buffalo Chicken Dip (with tortilla chips), or my Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts.
Storing Leftovers
Store leftover veggies in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days! We enjoyed munching on the leftover vegetables for the days following our watch party.
Football Veggie Tray – Easy Game Day Platter
Ingredients
- 10 ounces grape tomatoes
- 10 ounces baby carrots
- 25 celery sticks sliced to 3-4 inch pieces
- 1 large cucumber sliced
- 3 large bell peppers sliced
- 1 cheese slice for football laces
Instructions
- First, arrange the grape into the shape of a football.
- Fill the football shape with the baby carrots.
- Place the celery sticks in a diagonal in each corner.
- Next to the celery sticks, add layered rows of cucumber slices.
- On the sides of the tray, add the pepper slices.
- Finally, cut the cheese slice into one long, thin piece, and three short, thin pieces to make the football laces.
- Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 day before serving.
Turned out great for our football watch party thank you