How Chicken Wings Became A Super Bowl Sunday Staple

Over-the-top commercials, friends yelling passionately at the TV, appetizers covering the kitchen table, and cans of beer occupying every coaster in the living room — it must be Super Bowl Sunday. And one of the most classic food pairings for this special game day (aside from some of the best game day dips) is a hearty plate of chicken wings. 

It wasn't that long ago that the fate of chicken wings was looking bleak, with prices for the meat skyrocketing in recent years due to high demand, inflation, and bird flu. Now, Restaurant Business reports that things have leveled out a bit, and we no longer need to resort to subbing out the beloved poultry product with its close cousins like chicken thighs. Wingstop was famous for doing this for a while, per USA Today, going by "Thighstop" at the height of the chicken wing shortage. 

But just in time for the Super Bowl, chicken wings are making a comeback to appease us hungry sports fanatics once again. Per the National Chicken Council, Americans are on track to consume over 1.3 billion chicken wings during the 2023 Super Bowl weekend (via TIME). That's a whole lot of chicken. But, out of an entire world full of appetizers, why are chicken wings the treat that Football fans resort to? There's actually a moment in history we can look back on and thank for making chicken wings a Super Bowl Sunday staple.

According to NPR, you can trace the chicken wing craze during the Super Bowl season to the rise of sports bars. As chief economist Bill Roenigk of the National Chicken Council told the station, wings became the food of choice at sports bars because of one thing. Money. While ribs and pizza were popular choices at these establishments, they proved to be too expensive compared to a plate of Buffalo chicken wings.  

Per the National Chicken Council, wings also proved just to be a great snack to share and make a fair pairing with a cold beer. So bar owners pushed chicken wings in lieu of other food choices to avid sports fans, changing the appetizer of choice for the Super Bowl forever. (Not to mention contributing to higher prices for the suddenly very in-demand snack).

While the chicken wing has been a part of the Super Bowl experience since the first sports bar opened its doors in 1979 (per Vinepair), decades later, it still remains a beloved part of the Sunday. Per Reader's Digest, the love for chicken wings is so great on Super Bowl Sunday that the National Chicken Council has even tried to dub the following Monday "National Chicken Wing Appreciation Day." No luck for the organization thus far, but hey, there's always next year.