The least seed oil Super Bowl
Game day food is mostly fried and dipped. The wings, the chips and the dips carry most of the seed oil, and the sauce or the dip you pick can matter as much as the wing. Know where it hides, then change the easy ones.
Super Bowl LXI is on February 14, 2027 (date source). New to seed oils? Start with what they are, then come back.
One game day spread, two ways
One serving of each:
- Buffalo wings, 6 wings
- Homemade pizza, 1 slice
- Nachos, 1 plate
- Chili, 1.5 cups
- Stovetop popcorn, 3 cups
Our estimates: each dish from the table the app's Cook at home screen uses, once with a vegetable oil blend and once with a better fat for that dish (tallow for the fryer, olive oil for the pan, coconut oil for the popcorn).
Where the seed oil hides on game day
| Dish | Serving | With a vegetable oil blend | With a better fat | Where it hides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo wings | 6 wings | 16.0 g | 8.0 g (lard or tallow) | the fryer oil |
| Chicken tenders | 4 pieces | 11.2 g | 3.2 g (lard or tallow) | the fryer oil |
| French fries | 1 medium serving | 12.8 g | 2.8 g (lard or tallow) | the fryer oil |
| Onion rings | 6 rings | 13.3 g | 3.3 g (lard or tallow) | the fryer oil |
| Nachos | 1 plate | 7.8 g | 2.8 g (lard or tallow) | the oil the chips are fried in |
| Homemade pizza | 1 slice | 4.8 g | 1.8 g (olive oil) | oil in the dough and on the pan |
| Chili | 1.5 cups | 4.0 g | 2.0 g (olive oil) | the oil the meat and onions are browned in |
| Meatballs | 4 meatballs | 3.5 g | 1.5 g (olive oil) | the pan oil |
| Deviled eggs | 2 halves | 3.5 g | 1.5 g (olive oil) | the mayonnaise |
| Stovetop popcorn | 3 cups | 5.5 g | 0.7 g (coconut oil) | the popping oil |
Our estimates, worked the way the app's Cook at home screen works them. The better fat is named in brackets.
The fryer decides the wing
Wings come out of whatever oil the kitchen fries in. Beef tallow is about 5% polyunsaturated, olive oil about 12%, coconut oil about 2% and butter about 5%. Canola is about 32%, soybean oil about 60% and an unnamed vegetable oil blend about 58%.
At home, six wings come to 16.0 g fried in a vegetable oil blend and 8.0 g fried in tallow (our estimate). Compare more oils on the oil comparison, or check one in is it a seed oil.
Chips and dips: read the label
Store-bought game day snacks are easy to read, since the label tells you the fat. These are printed label numbers (or USDA measurements) from our grocery data.
- Tortilla chips, 1 oz (28g): 3.0 gUSDA
- Ranch tortilla chips, 1 oz (28g): 3.8 gUSDA
- Potato chips, 1 oz (28g): 3.4 gUSDA
- Pretzels, 1 oz (28g): 0.4 gUSDA
- Popcorn, air-popped, 1 oz (28g): 0.6 gUSDA
- Popcorn, oil-popped microwave, 1 oz (28g): 6.5 gUSDA
- Hummus, 1 tbsp: 1.3 gUSDA
- Bean dip, 1 tbsp: 0.3 gUSDA
- Blue cheese dressing, 1 tbsp: 3.7 gUSDA
- Bottled ranch dressing and dip, 2 Tbsp (30 ml): 8.0 gFrom the label
The dip is where it adds up: bottled ranch shows 8.0 g for two tablespoons and blue cheese dressing 3.7 g a tablespoon, while hummus is 1.3 g and bean dip 0.3 g a tablespoon.
Tortilla chips (3.0 g) and potato chips (3.4 g) run about the same an ounce. Pretzels are 0.4 g.
Want more label checks? See the grocery aisles ranked and the skip this, pick this swaps.
Ordering in: wings and pizza
Grams come from each chain's own nutrition guide. Sauce, dip and flavor change the number a lot, so most of these picks and skips are about those.
Five easy game day swaps
- Pick the sauce, not just the wing. At Wingstop ten Original Hot wings are 13.0 g and ten Lemon Pepper are 29.9 g.
- Pick the lighter dip: hummus is 1.3 g a tablespoon and bean dip 0.3 g, against 3.7 g for blue cheese dressing.
- Pick pretzels or air-popped popcorn: 0.4 g and 0.6 g an ounce, against 6.5 g for the oil-popped microwave kind.
- Pizza is the lighter order. At Domino's a hand tossed medium slice is 1.7 g and eight hot wings are 14.7 g.
- Making wings at home? Fry them in tallow or bake them: 8.0 g against 16.0 g in a vegetable oil blend (our estimate).
On Half by February? Keep it going
The four week plan to cut your seed oil in half starts in the app the day after Christmas. Super Bowl Sunday is a good test of it. See the plan.
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Common questions
Are the wings the problem, or the sauce?
Both. At Wingstop, ten Lemon Pepper wings are 29.9 g of polyunsaturated fat against 13.0 g for Original Hot, from the chain's own nutrition guide. See how the numbers work.
Is air-popped popcorn really that different from the microwave kind?
By the USDA numbers, yes: 0.6 g an ounce air-popped against 6.5 g oil-popped in the microwave. See more skip this, pick this swaps.
Is tallow a seed oil?
No. Beef tallow is an animal fat, about 5% polyunsaturated, against about 60% for soybean oil. Check any oil.
Does the app cost anything?
The tracker is free. You can download Seed Oil Tracker for free, and logging your meals, the restaurant report cards, the order builder, the barcode scanner and your goal plan all stay free. Premium is optional. It adds a few extras and helps support the project.
More guides
Seed Oil Tracker doesn't tell you what to eat. It shows you the grams so you can pick your own number. Curious about the research? Read the studies on both sides.