There are a few things essential to an A-grade grand final party: impeccable TV reception, an ice-packed esky and a litany of easy-to-eat snacks. We can’t help with the first two, but we’re all over the last prerequisite.
Whether you’re an AFL supporter or barracking for an NRL team this weekend, the below recipes will ensure you’re not awarded the wooden spoon in the snack league.
Sausage rolls are crucial game-day fare – and these puff pastry-wrapped bangers, from Melbourne’s Tivoli Road Bakery, are a cut above what you’ll get at a stadium. Fennel adds a hint of aniseed-y warmth and apples bring a whisper of sweetness to the heartiness of pork. And while this makes eight large rolls, the recipe is easily adapted for party-sized versions.
For some, nachos is a non-negotiable for dining-in-front-of-a-game fare. This version puts an Italian spin on the theme, with ragu and melty mozzarella draped over your classic corn chips. For extra brownie points, pair it with Mark Best’s guac, below.
A bowl of guacamole and a bag of corn chips is the bare minimum you can bring to the table for a grand final party. Show you’ve gone to a bit of effort by making top chef Mark Best’s (Marque) take on the avocado-based classic; it’s got a thwack of smokiness, and jalapeno brings the fire. It’s ready in 10 minutes – but Best insists on following one very important rule to ensure the perfect guac. 
Grand-final finger food is dialled up with Chin Chin’s crispy pan-Asian-inspired take on chicken wings. Extra flavour comes courtesy of a first cook in a master stock, followed by a sprinkling of Sichuan salt and chopped chilli. The final flourish? “Bandit” sauce: a heady combo of lemongrass, multiple chillies, ginger and galangal.
Ditch the supermarket baba ganoush – this version, by Melbourne Middle Eastern restaurant Rumi, is far superior. It’s caramelised, deeply smoky and incredibly easy to make. Pop it on the coffee table with breads for swiping, and you’ll have a crowd of happy footy final guests.
We’re not sure whether British chef Gordon Ramsay is an NRL or AFL fan – but we reckon if he was going to a grand final party, he’d bring these bad boys along. A trifecta of crunch coats the chicken: cornflakes, crispy fried onions and roasted peanuts, and the flavour is turned up to 10 with a punchy gochujang mayo. This is no idiot sandwich.
Once you start popping these fried florets of cauliflower, it’s unlikely you’ll want to stop (particularly if you’re deeply engrossed in the game). Light and crispy, they only take around 30 minutes to get on the table; you could even do the prep before the game starts, then finish them off during half time.
This retro Aussie classic gets a reboot via the addition of natives like saltbush and warrigal greens – but these can be subbed out for other ingredients if you’re finding them tricky to track down. It’s the perfect crowd-pleasing centrepiece to a day of footy … and might trigger nostalgic memories of happier games past if your team loses.
Dip is an important feature of any footy final viewing party. Here, we’ve scored the recipe for a real classic: the tzatziki from decades-old Melbourne stalwart Stalactites. Brimming with zingy garlic, it’s best served piled atop warm pita.
Like football, anchovies can be divisive – but if you have lovers of these salty little fish on your team, Sydney chef Joel Bennetts’s (Fish Shop) anchovy toast recipe is a winner. Umami anchovies are levelled out with pickled eschalots and a herbaceous salsa verde; it’s all loaded on toast, making it an ideal handheld snack for when the game’s heating up. And once you’ve pickled the eschalots, the rest of the recipe is quick enough to throw together during half-time.
Since Lucky Prawn – a contemporary take on classic Chinese-Australian restaurants – opened within Sydney’s Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre in 2022, its prawn toast has become a must-order. If this ginger-y, sesame seed-crusted toast doesn’t impress your fellow fans, we’re not really sure what will.
Inspired by salt and vinegar chips, these oyster mushrooms are a highbrow take on a junk-food classic – so don’t be surprised if your guests quickly devour them during a particularly stressful play. Lee (Longshore) marinates her oysters in soy sauce, wine and sesame oil, bringing a level of flavour that goes beyond the batter.
Traditionally, footy snacks have been synonymous with “dude food”. Embrace the tradition with Dan Hong’s Sydney-famous cheeseburger spring rolls, a mainstay on the menu at his mod-Asian eatery Ms G’s. One reason for their success is that they taste bafflingly like a McDonald’s cheeseburger – in fact, we recommend making a double batch, because they’re that scoffable. 
These mucver, or Turkish-style fritters, are crisp, crunchy and require only one hand to eat, perfect for when you need to shake a fist at the ref mid-snack. Melbourne-based cook and writer Ella Mittas says brilliant red Aleppo pepper adds a bit of fruitiness and cumin-like undertones to the fritters – but if you can’t make it to the Middle Eastern grocer to grab some, you can sub in a mix of smoked paprika and cayenne pepper.
Mozzarella placed between two slices of Wonder White bread, then deep-fried, sounds like top-tier comfort food to us. We want a plate of these golden-crumbed beauties in front of us to celebrate goals and commiserate losses (and maybe even soak up a bit of the booze that tends to be standard during footy games). Mitch Orr (Kiln) warns that the first bite is going to be hot.
