5 Healthy Super Bowl Recipes

The Super Bowl poses a problem for those "eat clean" resolutions so many of us made on January 1. Barely a month into the new year comes an excuse to indulge in as many wings, nachos, cheese sticks, chips, sandwiches and of course, six-packs as possible. Game day can quickly become a complete diet-killer.

Click here for 5 Healthy Super Bowl Recipes (Slideshow)

To make matters worse, healthy fare at Super Bowl parties too often means limp crudité, unappealing low-fat dips or soggy kale chips. The options are sad enough to make even the most determined of resolution-keepers dive headfirst into a vat of queso.  

But "healthy Super Bowl food" doesn't have to be an oxymoron. With a few simple tricks and plenty of high-flavor ingredients, you can create easy recipes that are delicious and don't destroy your diet.

The most important swap: baking instead of frying. So many Super Bowl staples are fried: wings, meatballs, onion rings, mozzarella sticks. Baking still gives you that crispy, crunchy crust, but without all of the fat and calories of frying. Plus, it's less work for you — simply stick your food in the oven and let it do all the work!

Another important change: using ground turkey instead of ground beef. Ground turkey is leaner than most ground beef blends, especially if you use ground turkey breast (which is usually 99% lean). Whether you're using ground meat in chili, nachos or meatballs, there's so much flavor in the spices added to the meat that your taste buds will hardly notice the swap (but your waistline will).

Using some of these swaps (plus a few others), you can make a fiery take on Buffalo wings, lightened up (but still loaded) nachos, spicy meatballs, stuffed potato skins and even a salty-spicy-sweet snack mix.

These recipes prove that game day doesn't need to be an artery-clogging mess. And after all, since they're healthy, that totally means you can eat more, right?