Recipes for Grill-Gating Success

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias Inc. and its advertiser. #GrillGatingHero #GrillGating The opinions and text are all mine.

The fall season is upon us and aside from the weather cooling down and the season for hoodies and sweats upon us, it is also tailgating season! For my family and I this means it is time to show our team colors off, pack our bags for the stands, and time to show off those grilling skills as we tailgate with other fans in the parking lots. Like many, as we prepare to go and cheer on our favorite pro, College or kids football teams, we head to our local Walmart where we can pick up all of the items we need to make our tailgating fun a success. While at Walmart we can pick up the essentials needed for our grill-gating like the Kingsford® Charcoal, Dr Pepper®, along with the Hidden Valley® Ranch and RITZ crackers to help bring our grill-gating recipes together.

To get started with planning out our grill-gating menu of ribs and pasta salad, I like to head to my local Walmart where I can find the ingredients needed. I like that I can easily locate all of the items by first going to the Lawn and Garden section where I can find the Kingsford Charcoal. From there I can go to the Soft Drinks aisle and stock up on the 12 oz cans of Dr Pepper, and go right on over to the Cookies and Crackers aisle where I was able to pick up the family size pack of RITZ Crackers. After getting those items, I was then able to head down the condiments aisle to find the Hidden Valley® Ranch needed for my pasta salad.

Aside from some of the basics as listed above for our tailgating recipes, we also picked up some elbow noodles, cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes, avocados, bacon, sour cream, shredded cheese, grill rub, a bottle of barbecue sauce and ribs. Once back home, we took the ribs along with some of the 12 oz cans of Dr Pepper we picked up, and marinated the ribs in gallon size zipper bags the night before our tailgating party.

Dr Pepper Marinated Ribs:

2 slabs pork ribs
2 12 oz cans Dr Pepper
1 container of favorite grill rub
1 bottle of barbecue sauce
Salt
Pepper
Gallon Reusable Bags

Preparation (night before tailgate)
Place 1 slab ribs in bag, add 1 12 oz can of Dr Pepper, add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper then mix well. Repeat with each additional slab, place the marinating ribs in fridge and leave overnight.

Cooking:

Get charcoal grill and add Kingsford® Charcoal to the grill, add lighter fluid and light. Let coals get hot before placing ribs on grill, approx 15 minutes after lighting. Take ribs and apply your grill rub to the ribs. After grill and coals are ready, place ribs on grill and cook for 1 hour, flipping ribs halfway through and after flipping add barbecue sauce to the ribs, depending on amount of ribs you are cooking. Let rest for about 10-15 minutes and serve!

Hidden Valley® Ranch and RITZ Crackers Pasta Salad:

1 lb of elbow noodles
2 cucumbers
2 heirloom tomatoes
4 avocados
1 cup Hidden Valley® Ranch
1 cup sour cream
1 sleeve RITZ Crackers (crushed)
1/2 cup shredded cheese
5 slices bacon (cooked and chopped)

Boil elbow noodles on stove top. Drain water off and rinse with cold water to cool the noodles down, place aside. Cook the bacon and chop it up. Chop the cucumbers, tomatoes and avocados then measure out the rest of the ingredients. Add the Hidden Valley® Ranch, Sour Cream, and cheese to cooked noodles and mix well. Add in rest of the ingredients and mix until all is mixed in well, cover and place in fridge or ice chest for serving during your tailgating party!

So as you prepare for your next grill-gating, be sure to pick up the essentials like the Kingsford Charcoal, RITZ and Dr Pepper at your local Walmart, also check out this site where you can get some great grilling tips and recipes from pro football star, Emmitt Smith! And be sure to join in the fun, share your grilling photos for a chance to see your photos end up on the Grill-gating website by using the hashtags #GrillGatingHero #GrillGating on Twitter and Instagram when you share your photos.




Find these great products and more grill-gating inspiration here.