Everything You Need to Host a Winning Super Bowl Party - Consumer Reports (2024)

Perhaps you don’t have time for chopping, slicing, and dicing the multiple toppings that adorn your legendary nachos. Enter the food processor. TheCuisinart Custom 14 DFP-14BCNYgarners top marks for chopping, meaning it consistently chopped onions and nuts into midsized pieces. And it’s one of the quietest models we’ve tested. It has a 14-cup capacity and stands almost 16 inches high. Many of the food processors we’ve evaluated operate with touch buttons, but this one has levers—one for on, the other for pulsing and off. The warranty covers three years, five for the motor. It’s available in brushed stainless, copper, and stainless mixed with black or white.

The Ninja Master Prep Professional QB1004 chopper has a slightly smaller 2.5-cup capacity but is still very versatile. Included in this set are a larger 5-cup processing bowl and a 6-cup blender jar. The chopper features a top-mounted motor that you push down to operate. It earns impressive scores for chopping and turning out nicely chopped veggies and nuts in our tests.

Certified International Talavera 12-Piece Melamine Dinnerware Set

Zak Designs Melamine Dinnerware Set

Not everyone wants or needs to cook for a party, which is exactly why frozen pizza exists. In our recent evaluation, this Red Baron pie was a crowd-pleaser, with a balance of flavors and textures that are just right. You get the distinct taste of crust, sauce, and cheese in each bite. “Overall, this one exceeded my expectations,” said Lauren Friedman, who heads up CR’s health and food team. As it says on the box, the crust isn’t too thick or too thin. The sauce is the standout here. “It’s very peppery and gives the whole pizza a more well-rounded and interesting taste.”

For more options: Best Frozen Pizzas

The original. The best. The pinnacle of hot dogs. This one comes from one of the oldest hot dog companies in the U.S. Its founder, Nathan Handwerker, was a Polish immigrant who worked at aConey Island hot dog standuntil he was able to scrounge up enough money to open his own business in1916. That full century of expertise is evident in this hot dog, which one evaluator, Paul Hope, a Consumer Reports home and appliance reporter and food writer, called “the Goldilocks of hot dogs: crisp skin, subtle spice, uniform texture, and juicy.”

For more options: Best Hot Dogs

These bratwursts are spectacular: juicy and garlicky, with a tiny bit of sweetness that’s balanced by a rich savoriness that places them firmly in the lunch or dinner category. (Despite that hint of sweetness, they don’t taste like your traditional breakfast sausage.) This sausage is “rich and aromatic, with notes of fennel and a deep umami flavor,” says Paul Hope, a CR food writer. “They clearly worked on this formula and it shows!”

For more options: Best Vegan Hot Dogs and Sausages

The rosé enthusiasts at your party will certainly appreciate this blend from Château Montaud, which impressed our tasters in an evaluation of the best boxed wines. One of them found it to be a juicy, medium-bodied wine with a silky mouthfeel and subtle tannins. With notes of summer dew melon, strawberries, and honeysuckle, this wine is rich and complex but still easy to drink. Though we tried this wine from a box, it also comes in the bottled version for under $25.

For more options:Best Boxed Wines We’ve Tasted

This drink is hella intense. It’s a gorgeous ruby red, and the taste is like a rave in your mouth: vivid, overpowering, bitter, sweet. Like several other nonalcoholic cocktails we tried, it’s flavored with clove, allspice, and star anise, though this one has a heavy dose of sugar, making it one of the sweetest sparklers in the bunch. On its own, it’s a bit much. But mixed with alcohol, it works, though it does defeat the purpose of a nonalcoholic cocktail. Though we haven’t tried it ourselves, it’s possible this would be equally delicious with nonalcoholic bourbon or gin as with the real stuff. You could also just add sparkling water to tone things down.

For more options: Best Ready-to-Drink Mocktails

Our CR evaluators dubbed Cutwater’s Tequila Paloma “the party pick” in a recent evaluation of canned cocktails. It’s a mild—if faithful—version of a bar paloma that’s refreshing, lightly citrusy, and not unbearably sweet. It’s a great option for parties because the price is reasonable, it’s widely available, and it’s almost impossible not to like. This also means it won’t really stand out; you drink it to chill out and have fun with friends, not to contemplate the subtle hints of black pepper and agave from the brand’s proprietary tequila, which is used in this cocktail. Buy this instead of the hard seltzer you usually get for your house parties.

For more options: Best Canned Cocktails