If you’re looking for a hearty treat on game day, well look no farther than these cornbread chili mason jars! The are a great make-ahead treat for all of your guests!!

How many of you out there are football fans?

Well, if you’ve read my previous posts about Super Bowl food, you’ll know that I love the NFL…I was introduced as a “young bride” and fell in love.

Now, my repertoire of player knowledge isn’t what it used to be (I was able to name all of the starting quarterbacks of every team…and even some of the backup quarterbacks!).  I may not be as invested, but I’ll still turn it on and walk in and out of the room all day on Sunday.  The “sound” of Sunday football is nostalgic to me!

But, the SuperBowl is game day on a whole other level!

There’s the commercials…AND the food!

There’s football shaped cheese-balls and crudites platters that look like actual stadiums (like, seriously guys, I can’t make some of this stuff up!).

But, for me, I just want something that’s going to fill my belly and hopefully bring a bit of fun into the game!

Like, these bacon wrapped cheese stuffed jalapeno poppers are just the thing to satisfy that spicy bite of goodness.

And, you ain’t had piggies in a blanket until you’ve had these dough wrapped babies surrounded by a sea of chili and finished with a scoop of salsa!

Also,  it just wouldn’t be game day unless you made a big batch of chili!  It’s the best thing for crowds because you can just leave it in slow cooker and have everyone serve themselves…especially when you make it into a serve yourself chili bar like this below!

Aren’t these cute little tortilla cups adorable?!? If you want to make your own, take a peek here!!

Speaking of chili, I have another great way of serving a crowd…these cute little mason jars filled with cornbread chili.  Honestly folks, isn’t this a “game” changer!?! This cornbread chili will have your guests talking about your hosting skills for a very long time!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe for Cornbread Chili:

• Because single serve meals are epic. Period.
• These jars can stay in the oven for a long time, just keeping warm until your guests are ready!
• This cornbread recipe is the most epic recipe you will ever find. Period.
• You can make the chili and cornbread mixture ahead of time and assemble the day-of!  All you have to do is make a batch of my Big Batch Chili and then make a batch of my famous cornbread!

What You’ll Need For This Cornbread Chili:

• homemade chili
• homemade cornbread batter
• oven-safe mason jars (like Bernadin or Ball)

How You Can Change This Cornbread Chili:

• Use my vegetarian chili recipe as a base instead of this meat chili
• You can add some cooked mac and cheese to the top instead of cornbread!
• You can add mashed potatoes to the top (my make-ahead mashed potatoes would do the trick!)
• Need a sweet mason jar idea? Make up a batch of my big batch brownies, pop some batter into a smaller mason jar, tuck in a few caramel candies and top with marshmallows!!

Storing/Freezing/Make-Ahead Instructions or this Cornbread Chili:

• You can make these jars the day before the big game and either bake them up on game day or bake them the day before and warm them up just before your guests arrive!
• If you have any leftover, baked jars of cornbread chili, you can keep them in the fridge for 5 days or freeze them (with the mason jar lid on!!) for up to 6 months and then reheat in a warm oven!

Bring on the eats and the fun and the commercials (okay, and the football!).

Just make sure you make enough for leftovers…’cause you’re gonna wanna bring some of this to work with you on Monday!!

And as the announcers say, “Are ya ready for some football??”

NOTE: You guys know I’m all about the jokes here on the blog but I have something serious to tell you about.  I had my eyes opened by a friend of mine when she spoke about the issues on the streets surrounding big events like the Superbowl.  Whenever there are events that bring a pile of people into a city, it can become a hotbed for sex trafficking.  Oftentimes, young girls (and boys) will be brought into a city when there are big games like the Superbowl to sell their “services” to deep-pocketed fans looking for this kind of “action”.  It’s very sad but it happens all the time.  There are organizations like World Vision that are trying to reduce vulnerability to trafficking and child slavery as well as provide help to survivors.  Now, my feeling is that if we protest against the Superbowl, then we must also protest against The World Cup and all of the other events out there that might be a platform for these activities.  I think our mission should be to support organizations who are trying to change the landscape for the better.  Just my two cents…

Meal-in-a-Jar: Cornbread Topped Chili Mason Jars

Need options for game day?? Well, I got you covered with this very unique way of serving up some chili!!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

• 1 recipe Just Crumbs Chili (see link above)
• 1 recipe Just Crumbs cornbread (see link above)

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 and grab about 12 mason jars (you can use whatever size you want but these are the 1 cup measures).
• Make a batch of my chili (you can even make this a few days ahead of time or even a month earlier and freeeze it!!); ladle it into mason jars.
• Make a batch of my cornbread and pour about 1/3 cup on top of each chili -filled jar.
• Place the filled jars on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes (you'll notice when the cornbread starts to get brown on the top and it is firm to the touch).
• You can bake any leftover cornbread batter in muffin tins and freeze them for another time (they're awesome with a salad!!)
• Serve warm!!