Your Super Bowl party might look a little different this year, but there’s no reason to drop the ball on the snacks.
And what better way to up your game than with some trendy, TikTok-inspired fare? On Sunday, while the Kansas City Chiefs go helmet-to-helmet with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you can test out a viral snack hack, in which you separate a tortilla into quadrants, fill it with four complementary ingredients, and then fold to flavorful perfection.
“Tortillas are a blank canvas and I think that’s what’s so approachable and fun about this entire trend,” said Kelly Senyei, 35, a professional chef, TV host and founder of the food site Just a Taste. “You can pick four of anything — any of your flavor profiles that you love, any ingredients that you love [and] sandwich them together into this perfect pocket.” (Senyei’s Instagram video, of a dessert tortilla with Nutella, toasted coconut, strawberries and bananas, took off in January, earning more than 100,000 views in under 48 hours.)
The hand-held dish lends itself perfectly to Super Bowl Sunday grazing, 2021 style: It’s made in individual servings, perfect for small gatherings or solo watching. You don’t want to make a giant pan of seven-layer dip if there’s no one to share it with, right?
Senyei recommends riffing on nachos supreme, Buffalo wings and pizza when you take on the tortilla trick.
“We’re using the same flavors — we’re just going to incorporate them in a different way,” she said. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel; we just need to make it a little bit better.”
No matter which toppings you choose, the approach is the same four, easy steps.
First, place a round flour tortilla on a flat surface. Then, using a knife or a pizza wheel, make one cut down from the center to the bottom edge.
Next, map out the tortilla’s four quadrants, and fill each “triangle” with a sprinkling of the toppings (one ingredient per quadrant). Senyei said using about a quarter cup of each topping is the sweet spot — and the results won’t be too melty and messy.
Once that’s done, take the bottom right quadrant of the tortilla, then fold it upwards in a counter-clockwise direction over the quadrant with the other filling. Repeat that motion until the tortilla becomes a neat, triangular pocket.
Finally, add one tablespoon of butter to a skillet over medium heat, then sear the tortilla for up to three minutes on each side until the shell becomes golden brown and crisp.
“The beauty of this recipe is that it’s really more of a template, which means it’s a great way to make use of leftover odds and ends in your fridge or pantry,” said Senyei.
And you can level up even further with dips. Consider sour cream or guacamole for the nacho wrap, blue cheese dressing for the Buffalo chicken, and Ranch or extra marinara for the pizza.
Even if you’re not handy in the kitchen, it’s worth giving it a whirl, Senyei said. “It doesn’t require any special equipment, and it doesn’t require pricey ingredients. If you can make a slit in a tortilla, you can do this trend — and that’s what’s best about it.”
Here are three delicious filling ideas for Super Bowl Sunday tortilla snacks.
Nacho-inspired tortilla
Spread quadrants with quarter cup of refried beans, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, smashed avocado and pickled jalapeños.
Buffalo chicken tortilla
Divvy the quarters with cream cheese, shredded rotisserie chicken tossed with Buffalo hot sauce, provolone cheese and caramelized onion.
Pizza-style tortilla
Simple but savory: Try marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella, sliced pepperoni and roasted red peppers.
