It’s Super Bowl season, so if you can explain intentional grounding, forward progress and the two-toe sideline tap, then hats off! But if your football interest leans more toward how spicy the wings are and whether there’s enough ranch dressing for dipping, you’ll really dig this Super Bowl news: Instacart has just released its 2026 Snacktime Report detailing the yummy things we’re devouring this year.
To be fair, this year’s matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks is predicted to be very competitive. But for many, the food is the best part of Super Bowl Sunday, along with the TV ads and halftime show (Bad Bunny!). We caught up with Instacart’s trends analyst Alex Orellana to get key insights from the report, so if you’re already salivating at the thought of a big game-time spread on Feb. 8, read on to learn which snacks surge this time of year. Then, get your own snacks, grab some extra napkins and cheer your team!
Get Reader’s Digest’s Read Up newsletter for more food news, cleaning, humor, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.
How did the study determine the most popular Super Bowl snacks?
To figure out which Super Bowl snacks surge in popularity for the big game, Instacart’s number crunchers compared typical snack orders throughout the year with ones ordered during Super Bowl weekend. Here’s how:
First, they added up the share of snack orders during the previous Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 7 to 9, 2025) and compared them with the share of snack orders over a 12-month period from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025. Here’s some help with the data-speak: A share of orders is determined by taking the number of orders containing at least one item from a given snack category and dividing it by the total number of orders placed.
Both relative and absolute differences were weighted equally, then Instacart used the weighted data to rank the most popular snack category by state. Instacart’s press office told me that “this methodology is designed to surface regional quirks,” adding that certain places “stand out because geography, demographics and local preferences can differ meaningfully from the nation overall.”
What is the No. 1 most popular Super Bowl snack?
It’s cheese! In fact, cheese reigns supreme in two forms: processed cheese and queso. Processed cheese ranked No. 1 in 12 states in the Plains, South and Southeast, while queso, that tangy Tex-Mex delight, dominated in six more spots in the Pacific Northwest and upper Midwest. That brings cheese supremacy to a total of 18 states!
As for the runners-up, tortilla chips are the leading snack category in 12 states, mostly in the West, New England and the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as the District of Columbia. Savory chicken wings are nearly their equal, with purchases around the big game skyrocketing in a dozen states in the Midwest and parts of the West, Florida and Alaska.
Hold on—what’s the difference between queso and processed cheeses?
If you’re scratching your head over the difference between queso and processed cheeses, you’re not alone. Here’s the deal: Processed cheese, like American, is usually made with real cheese, often cheddar and colby, mixed with dyes, preservatives and emulsifiers to enhance the way it melts. And then there’s Velveeta, a processed cheese product that contains no actual cheese but is made with milk and canola oil.
Queso, aka chile con queso, on the other hand, is a Tex-Mex dip that’s made from cheese. It may be prepackaged (as it is in this report) or a homemade dip containing melted cheese (often American or Monterey Jack) and other ingredients, like onions, tomatoes and spices. People also add ground beef or sausage, corn, beans and/or jalapeños. The tricky part? Queso is often made with processed cheese, as in the traditional three-ingredient queso cheese dip recipe: a block of melted Velveeta and a can of Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles.
Which are the most popular Super Bowl snacks in each state?
Do your favorites match where you live? Here are the Super Bowl snacks that surge this time of year.
- Alabama: Processed cheeses
- Alaska: Chicken wings
- Arizona: French onion dip
- Arkansas: Canned diced tomatoes
- California: French onion dip
- Colorado: Processed cheeses
- Connecticut: Chicken wings
- Delaware: Tortilla chips
- District of Columbia: Tortilla chips
- Florida: Chicken wings
- Georgia: Processed cheeses
- Hawaii: Sour cream
- Idaho: Queso
- Illinois: Chicken wings
- Indiana: Chicken wings
- Iowa: Beef sausage
- Kansas: Processed cheeses
- Kentucky: Chicken wings
- Louisiana: Tortilla chips
- Maine: Tortilla chips
- Maryland: Queso
- Massachusetts: Tortilla chips
- Michigan: Chicken wings
- Minnesota: Queso
- Mississippi: Processed cheeses
- Missouri: Processed cheeses
- Montana: Tortilla chips
- Nebraska: Tortilla chips
- Nevada: Chicken wings
- New Hampshire: Tortilla chips
- New Jersey: Buffalo sauces
- New Mexico: Processed cheeses
- New York: Buffalo sauces
- North Carolina: Processed cheeses
- North Dakota: Tortilla chips
- Ohio: Chicken wings
- Oklahoma: Processed cheeses
- Oregon: Queso
- Pennsylvania: Buffalo sauces
- Rhode Island: Tortilla chips
- South Carolina: Processed cheeses
- South Dakota: Canned diced tomatoes
- Tennessee: Processed cheeses
- Texas: Processed cheeses
- Utah: Chicken wings
- Vermont: Tortilla chips
- Virginia: Chicken wings
- Washington: Queso
- West Virginia: Tortilla chips
- Wisconsin: Queso
- Wyoming: Tortilla chips
Were there any big surprises?
Plenty! There’s clear loyalty in certain regions. “What really surprised us was how personal game-day snacking is,” Orellana says. “Whether it’s Buffalo sauce in the Northeast or queso across the West, people often stick with the flavors and ingredients that feel local and most familiar to them.”
Other interesting tidbits in the state-by-state report are the oddball items that appear in just one or two places.
Take Iowa and Hawaii, for example, the only states where beef sausage and sour cream, respectively, fly off the shelves around the Super Bowl. Or South Dakota and Arkansas, where canned tomatoes are the No. 1 surging snack. “We don’t know exactly how customers are using tomatoes, but these items are versatile, such as in recipes, as toppings or as standalone ingredients,” he says. (It’s not a huge leap to assume some of these folks are probably making the classic queso dip mentioned above.)
Meanwhile, good ol’ French onion dip dominates the snack-shopping race in only California and Arizona. What gives? It’s good to remember that the report measures Super Bowl surges. “When we see items like tomatoes or beef sausage pop in certain states, it means those categories over-index there compared to the rest of the country, not that they’re the most popular items locally,” explains Orellana.
What else did the report reveal about game-day munchies?
State-by-state data brings a local focus to snacking, but what about nationwide game-day munchies? Tortilla chips and buffalo sauce see huge spikes this time of year. The data reveals a few other cool findings about our game-day munchies, including:
- Buffalo is boffo: When the Super Bowl rolls around, Buffalo sauce sees a 201% increase compared with the 12-month average. And Instacart knows you’re probably making Buffalo chicken dip since both cream cheese (up 319%) and canned chicken (soaring a whopping 693%) are often purchased alongside it.
- Wings fly high: A lot of that Buffalo sauce also goes on chicken wings. Regular wings surge 956% when bought with Buffalo sauce, and frozen wings skyrocket 740% when paired with it. Frozen wings are added to carts 123% more often for the Super Bowl, and they also rise during March Madness.
- Ranch rules: Ranch dressing is the runaway winner when paired with wings, surging 886% and besting blue cheese by a mile. Ranch is also ordered 53% more than the next closest dip, French onion. Ranch is king in West Virginia, which selects the creamy condiment 81% more often than the national average, followed by Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.
- Crunch is king: You can’t go wrong with chips and dip at the Super Bowl. Crispy, salty and eminently shareable, tortilla chips and potato chips are quite a bit above average at this time of year, along with salsas, up 96%, and shelf-stable dips, up 227%.
RELATED:
- New Report: These Are the Most Popular Potato Chip Brands in Each State
- These Are the Most Popular Chain Restaurants in Every State. Did Your Favorite Make the List?
- New Report: These Are the Most-Ordered Grocery Items of 2025, According to Grubhub
About the expert
|
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Alex Orellana, Instacart trends analyst; email interview, Feb. 2, 2026
- Instacart: “Instacart’s 2026 Snacktime Report: What Americans are Craving for the Big Game”
- Bon Appétit: “What is processed cheese?”
- U.S. Dairy: “What is queso cheese?”
- Kraft Heinz: “Velveeta Original Cheese”
The post New Report: These Are the Most Popular Super Bowl Snacks in Each State appeared first on Reader's Digest.
from Reader's Digest https://ift.tt/G2favd6
Comments
Post a Comment