Tailgating at Home: Grilled Chicken Sliders

One of my family’s favorite fall traditions is tailgating at home during football season. Football reigns supreme here in Tennessee so Saturdays are spent with friends and family cheering on our favorite teams.

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.

Tailgating at Home

With kids and life, it’s not always easy to travel to the games, but tailgating at home? I have that down to an art form! It might not be stadium-side, but I find tailgating at home to be a lot easier. No crowds or lines and lots of space to grill and party! 

This football season, I’m excited to partner with The Home Depot to share why we love tailgating at home as well as a recipe for one of my very favorite grilled appetizers – grilled chicken sliders! 

The best part about tailgating is the food, right? YES! Grilled appetizers, burgers, hot dogs and more. Grilling is just part of the football and tailgate experience, and The Home Depot has all the grilling essentials you’ll need for fall football season. We have loved the Nexgrill Evolution 5-Burner Gas Grill. It’s big enough to grill all kinds of tailgating foods for our at-home tailgating parties. It also has a side burner that is super handy for cooking sides or keeping them warm while grilling!  

Grilling is one of my favorite parties about tailgating season! We try to grill as much as we can throughout the year, but especially during fall football season. My husband is the grill-master in our house, and he *loves* this grill! It comes highly recommended! As for Blakely? She loves helping me set the table and eating all the yummy foods (and throwing the football around too)! 

For our latest tailgate at home, we made Grilled Chicken Sliders as an alternative to the usual burgers and hot dogs. They’re super easy to make, customizable for your favorite flavors, and I have a printable recipe for you below. 

Tailgate Tablescape Tips

I served up the grilled chicken sliders on mini wood boards as the perfect starter to our football meal. As you know, I love setting up tablescapes as a way to jazz up the typical dinnertime decor even during football season. You can decorate in your team’s favorite colors to add character to your typical weekend football party. 

Orange napkins and florals add a pop of team color to a gray and white buffalo check tablecloth. Layer simple white dinnerware with mini wooden boards. The wooden boards are one of my favorite entertaining must-haves. They’re great for mini charcuterie boards as well as an alternative to appetizer plates. Serve up sliders or any grilled appetizer on them! Add on mini footballs to the boards as well as scattered throughout your tablescape along with some fall decor like mini pumpkins. Choose florals in your team colors and tuck in golden wheat for a touch of autumn! 

Let’s talk about these grilled chicken sliders, shall we? They’re the easiest appetizer to make for tailgating at home! Plus, you can customize them with your favorite marinades and sauces. Or set up a grilled chicken slider bar with all the toppings and let your guests make their own! 

It all starts with the grill! Like I mentioned above, our grill is the Nexgrill Evolution. We’ve been grilling multiple times a week with this grill, and we love it. It’s perfect for our small family as well as the times we’re grilling for a big tailgate crowd. It has 676 sq. in. total cooking surface making it perfect for entertaining friends and family. 

Our family is always hopping over to the The Home Depot so it’s easy to grab everything we need for tailgating at home, including the grilling essentials! 

We love grilling jalapeno poppers, hot dogs, mini cheeseburgers, shrimp skewers and more for football season, and we’re always switching it up. This week we loved these grilled chicken sliders!  They’ve instantly become one of my favorite apps we’ve made!

I topped them with tomato, lettuce, colby jack cheese and bacon – of course! Bacon is always a must at our house. The sliders were easy to pull together and the perfect football food. I skewered them with fun football “touchdown” flags which are not only festive for football but also kept all the toppings in place! 

I hope you’re inspired to host family and friends for a tailgate at home this football season! It has become one of our very favorite fall traditions. Whether you’re grilling your own favorite foods or making my grilled chicken sliders (recipe above), it’s the perfect time of year for grilling. Don’t forget to find everything you need for the football season at The Home Depot!