It’s hard to believe that it’s almost October, and with it comes the best parts of fall: crisp apples, cooler temperatures, evening fires, hot cider, and the heart of football season. Around here, that means weekends filled with tailgating at our favorite sporting events. We love supporting college football (especially UVA), and each year we attend and tailgate at several games with friends and family — often cheering on more than one school’s team. Every gathering brings its own colors, traditions, and energy, which makes the season memorable.
Last year, we shared our Tailgating Essentials Checklist to help simplify your game day prep. It covered everything from folding tables and coolers to seating and entertainment. This season, we’re focusing on the food that makes tailgating memorable — and nothing says Southern hospitality quite like our Shookhill Pimento Cheese recipe. We like to prep this staple during the week so that it is ready to go on game day. When it comes to hosting a tailgate party, we focus on making one or two dishes and using store bought items for the rest. We focus on finger food that is easy to eat while standing or sitting with a plate in your lap. If we are bringing a sweet treat, we tend to bake off some of our frozen cookie dough (another time saving trick we highly recommend and shared in our The Secret to Warm Chocolate Cookies Anytime post).
Shookhill Pimento Cheese
Our variation of this classic recipe is creamy, tangy with a little zip, and versatile, our pimento cheese is always a hit. We serve it with crackers, pita chips, and crisp veggies, but it’s also delicious spread onto sliders or tucked inside mini sandwiches. Best of all, it can be made the night before — saving time and stress on game day morning.
Building the Perfect Spread
While pimento cheese steals the spotlight, a great tailgate spread is all about variety. Here’s what we typically pack:
- Pulled Pork Sliders layered with apple slaw and pickles
- Seasonal Salads like pasta salad or potato salad
- Snack Mixes & Chips for quick, easy munching make our Cheese-It Crack (recipe below) or try another fav – 5 o’clock crunch
- Sweet Treats such as cookies, caramel corn or tailgate almonds (from our fall charcuterie post)
- Coolers & Drinks stocked with water, sodas, cider, and favorite adult beverages
Pair this with your Tailgating Essentials Checklist — stocked with platters, utensils, napkins, wipes, and a little shade — and you’ll have everything you need to keep fans fueled and happy all day.
Why We Love Tailgating
Tailgating is more than just a pre-game tradition. It’s where community happens. We decorate our tables with team spirit, set out a spread of food, and play cornhole for a little friendly competition. It’s a great time to relax, enjoy good food, catch up with friends and share a few laughs before heading into the stadium.
So, as October weekends fill with football and friends, make sure your spread is game-day ready. Add our Shookhill Pimento Cheese and Cheese-It Crack to the menu this year — they may just become your tailgating MVPs.
Shookhill Pimento Cheese
Ingredients
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese Cabot Extra Sharp – mix of fine and course shred
- 6 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- ¼ teaspoon celery salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup red onion chopped fine
- ½ cup Original Wickles pickles chopped
- ½ cup roasted red peppers chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Siracha sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine the softened cream cheese and mayonnaise until creamy and free of lumps.
- Add all remaining ingredients except the cheddar cheese, salt and pepper.
- Combine mixture until well incorporated.
- Add Cheddar cheese 1 cup at a time.
- Once all cheddar has been added, flavor with salt and pepper to taste.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve, or up to 1 week.
- Serve with a variety of crackers, bread, carrot sticks, cucumber slices and celery.
Cheez-It Crack
Ingredients
- 32 ounces Cheez-It Crackers or other bite-sized cheddar cheese crackers
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 ½ ounces Ranch Dressing mix powdered form
- 1 Tbsp dried dill weed
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Whisk together the olive oil, ranch mix, dill weed, and garlic powder in a liquid measuring cup or small bowl.
- Empty crackers into a large bowl and drizzle with the liquid mixture.
- Toss to evenly coat.
- Divide coated crackers between two large-rimmed baking sheets. Spread crackers in an even layer.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool on pans for 30 minutes—store crackers in a large airtight container.
