This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Dr Pepper®. Game Day Greats brought to you by Kroger. The opinions and text are all mine.
Football season is in full swing!!! This means Saturday mornings are for getting your housework done so you can start watching college football! Cheering for our college favorites is much more than just a pastime, it’s a time-honored tradition. It’s about tailgating, cooking, eating, enjoying a beverage, and most of all it’s about cheering our team to the national championship.
As we root for our team this year, Dr Pepper® and Kroger Game Day Greats have everything we need to get ready for all the games. Since we moved from Ohio to Michigan last year, I imagine the neighbors will not be quite as friendly this college football season, but we will manage! A great ice-breaker when a rivalry game is in process is, and always has been a nice cold Dr Pepper®.
The game day experience is even better when you include Dr Pepper® and Game Day Greats from Kroger. Dr Pepper® and the rest of the Game Day Greats make up a great team and will help keep you and your fellow homegaters going all game long.
Normally our homegating experience consists of us putting on our gear to support our team and making a delicious and fun menu that is cooked on the grill or in our smoker. As we prep for our party, Dr Pepper® is involved in a couple of areas and lucky for us we can stock up on this and everything we need at our local Kroger.
I love the prices, the ease and the huge selection that Kroger offers, so it’s a breeze to load up on everything we need for our game day to make it the best it can be. While you are at Kroger, make sure to check out the in-store sweepstakes courtesy of Miller Coors/Kellog’s®/Dr Pepper® for fly away trips to Rivalry Games. All the details are in your local Kroger so make sure to check it out and enter as you are picking up all of your Game Day Greats.
Like I mentioned earlier, we have an affinity for cooking on the grill and smoker, so a football party at our house is synonymous with 3 simple letters . . . BBQ. Whether it’s ribs, brisket, pulled pork, or chicken, football is just better with some great BBQ. It is a great way to get and keep everyone together.
Dr Pepper® is an important teammate in our BBQ experience. We use it to help cook everything in the smoker, to make a killer BBQ sauce and of course – to pass around for all the guests to drink.
Dr Pepper® can be used to marinade ribs and other meats, I have done this in the past, but now I prefer to use Dr Pepper ® as the liquid in my smoker to help keep the ribs, chicken and pork nice and moist as they cook. It does a great job of making the meat nice and tender and tasty.
Another way Dr Pepper® helps out is the BBQ sauce. Most people don’t know this, but if you make your own BBQ sauce, adding Dr Pepper® helps make an incredibly tasty sauce that everyone puts on everything. Every time we have made this, it has been a hit and it goes quick, so we make a double portion – I especially love it on pulled pork!
Ingredients
- 12 oz can of Dr Pepper® or Cherry Dr Pepper® for some extra flavor
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped (preference, I like more!)
- 1 cup ketchup
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons chili powder – Add some kick!
- 1 teaspoon fine ground white pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Melt butter, sauté the onion & garlic until translucent.
- Add the remaining ingredients, stir and simmer for about 15 min to blend all the flavors together. Continue cooking on low heat until sauce thickens – about 25 minutes.
- A good chef always tastes their work, add salt, pepper or some heat at this point to make it perfectly yours!
- Let the sauce cool for about 10 minutes so it is warm, but not boiling anymore. Puree with an immersion or traditional blender to thicken up the sauce.
- Slab it on those ribs or pulled pork and enjoy! Brush some on the food while it is still cooking and then make sure to have some extra on the side.
- The BBQ sauce will be good for about 2 weeks if you keep it tightly covered in your fridge – but I doubt it will last that long.
We love cooking up the BBQ, but a huge part of the Game Day experience (prior to enjoying the main course) is all the snacks. We also make sure to pick up lots of the Game Day Greats from Kroger like Cheez-It® Crackers, Club® Crackers and more. Dr Pepper® does a great job of bringing both our home cooked and store bought snacks together. It’s pretty common in our house for Kora and I to chow down on the ribs, while somehow Tesa and Logan make all the Cheez-It® Crackers disappear.
I can’t wait for Saturday afternoon to hang out with some friends, watch some good football games and eat some great food. Get creative and have some fun with your homegating menu this football season.
Best of luck this and every game day to you and your team . . . unless of course, they are playing my team!
