So, Halloween is just around the corner and you’re racking your brain for Halloween-centric food and treats. You may even be thinking about preparing some of it beforehand – before all the Halloween craziness sets in.
But how? How does one prepare snacks, treats, and even dishes that not only taste good, but also look especially Halloween-worthy?
Fret not, we have a list of the best quick and creative ideas – from cute-spooky treats to downright frightening finger food. We’ve got you covered (in cobwebs)! >:)
Read on to discover the best Halloween food recipes ever!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) At-home Halloween Food Recipes
2) Halloween Cocktail Recipes
3) Easy Halloween Recipes (For Kids To Make!)
At-home Halloween Food Recipes
1) Meatball Monster Sandwiches
Now this one’s a treat the kids will especially love. It’s bite-sized and packed with (scary fun) protein!
You’ll need:
24 frozen precooked meatballs
2 cups (or 473 ml) of spaghetti/pasta sauce
3 tablespoons of softened butter
24 pimento-stuffed olive slices
Follow these instructions to make it – it’s pretty simple and you can’t go wrong with this. Be sure to arrange each little sandwich so that the top bun is slightly pushed back and you’ll have space just under it for the olive slice eyes.
2) Devilled (Eyeball) Eggs
Simple to make and can either be served on its own or in a salad, this recipe is too good to pass off.
You’ll need:
6 large eggs
¼ cup (or 59 ml) of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
⅛ teaspoon of salt
12 to 20 pitted black olives
Even with these same ingredients, you may either slice the pitted olives to make the “iris” parts on the eyeballs, or you may follow the decoration methods in the instructions and make spiders instead.
3) Mummy Pot Pie
How cute! These small pies are a meal on their own – and their spooky appearance definitely sets the mood for a nice Halloween dinner.
Follow the full instructions here.
Tip: you can swap out black olives for green ones for extra rotten looking mummy eyes 😉
4) Rotting Evil Pumpkins
Here is one of my favourites – the tiny Jack-O-Lanterns filled with worms! This meal is cleverly encased in carved bell peppers, making them absolutely on point for Halloween.
Make your own favourite pasta or follow this simple 3-step recipe. You can even add some brown or pink food colouring into the spaghetti and the pasta sauce to make it look even more like worms!
5) Mummy-dogs
This one’s a classic – one of the fun ones!
You’ll need:
Your favourite sausages
Crescent dough (or any bread dough you can make)
American cheese slices
Dijon mustard
Basically, you’re going to wrap your hotdogs like in this video here in cheese slices and dough, and bake them until they’re cooked. Dot some mustard to make the glowing yellow eyes and you’re done!
6) Ghostly Pizza
This haunted delight is made possible by simply re-arranging the same old ingredients on a pizza to form your ghostly apparitions.
You’ll need:
Pizza base (you could also hand-make some pizza dough)
Marinara sauce
Large pitted olives (black and green for best results)
Sliced mozzarella
For this to work, you’ll have to first bake the crust with ONLY the marinara sauce on it for around 15 minutes at 425°F (or 218°C). Cut the olives to make into spiders and then cut the cheese slices into ghostly shapes. Once the pizza base is done, put all the ghosts and spiders together and voila!
Tip: The olives also make up the ghost eyes and mouth!
7) Severed Fingers
Get ready to prepare some truly frightening finger food!
You’ll need:
Cocktail sausages
Ketchup or homemade chilli sauce
Fresh onions (you may substitute this with almond slices)
All you’ll need to do is boil the sausages, make slits in the middle (to make the knuckles) and carve out the nail beds at the tip of each sausage. Then, stick onion slices onto the tips (to make the nails). Use ketchup or homemade chilli dip for blood and as a sticking agent.
Tip: Almond slices will make pretty gory-looking fingernails! Just carve out the nail beds and stick the almond slices right in it.
8) Cinnamon Intestines
Beware: this is a dessert you may not have the stomach for! We promise that it tastes wayyy more delicious than it looks.
You’ll need some typical cinnamon roll ingredients plus a load of red food colouring for the gutted, bloody look. Then of course, roll them into slim long intestines instead of thick rolls and voila!
Halloween Cocktail Recipes
1) Poison Apple Cocktail
Nothing screams poison drink like a swirl of edible glitter!
You’ll need:
1/3 c. apple cider
1/3 c. cranberry juice
2 oz. fireball
1 oz. grenadine
1/4 tsp. edible gold glitter
Some ice
All you’ll have to do is combine the ingredients into a shaker and shake it until the drink is totally cold. Don’t forget to REALLY swirl the glitter – or it won’t have the same effect!
2) Bloody (Mary) Syringes
A trick and treat all in one! These shooters make the perfect addition to any Halloween dinner table or party. Best of all? They’re unbelievably easy to and only take 5 minutes to whip up.
You’ll need:
2 c. tomato juice
8 oz. vodka
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. horseradish
2 tsp. hot sauce (such as Tabasco)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
Throw these into a large bowl and whisk it well. And then, fill up those syringes!
3) Jell-glo shots
Now here are some jell-o shots that will mess with your head before you even drink (or eat?) them!
You’ll need:
2 c. tonic water, divided
2 packages of Jell-O (two flavours; this uses pineapple and orange)
1 c. water
1 c. vodka
If you’re planning on having a Halloween party with loads of black light, then this recipe is perfect for you. It may take a while to wait for the jell-o shots to freeze in between preparation, but it’s totally worth it in the end.
4) Fluorescent Margaritas
Watch as your Margarita changes colour while you party – and wonder if it’s just the alcohol playing tricks on you.
This genius idea simply combines ice made of steeped purple cabbage (totally flavourless, don’t worry) and your favourite margarita recipe. If you don’t know what kind of Margarita to make, you could also cop this recipe.
5) Boozy Screamsicle Shakes
Beware: children will want some, so make sure you make mocktail versions of this too!
You’ll need:
Chocolate sauce, for garnish
6 Oreos, finely crushed
1 qt. orange sorbet
3/4 c. milk
8 oz. vanilla vodka
Whipped cream, for garnish
Orange & black sprinkles, for garnish
Dip the rim of your glasses in chocolate and then in the Oreo crumbs. Blend the sorbet, milk, and vodka and serve in the chocolate-drizzled, Oreo-rimmed glasses. Top off with sprinkles!
Tip: If you can get a hold of spider-shaped sprinkles, the drink would be extra spooky.
Tip #2: You could definitely sneak a couple of plastic spiders to give your drunk party guests an extra scare!
Easy Halloween Recipes (For Kids To Make!)
1) Witch Hat Cone-Cakes
How cute! This might be a little messy when making, but the process is fun and totally worth it. Kids will love decorating these little treats 🙂
You’ll need:
Ice cream cones (the pointier, the better)
Black food colouring (if the cones aren’t already dark coloured)
Yellow and purple food colouring (any colour you’d like the hat belts to be!)
Your kids’ favourite icing
Dark coloured store-bought cookies (or homemade cookies)
If the cones aren’t already dark-coloured, you’ll want to paint or spray them with black food colouring and leave to dry.
Afterwards, you’ll want to mix up some food colouring and icing to make purple, yellow, or any colours you prefer.
Then, fill the cones with icing and stick some cookies to make the base hats.
Next, decorate the cone with colourful icing to make the witch-hat belts like in the photo. And that does it!
2) Witch Fingers
This is a spooky sugary treat that your kids will love making AND eating!
You’ll need:
Cookie dough (prepared beforehand)
Green & red food colouring
Favourite icing (or red candy melts)
Almond slices
To make things easier, prepare your favourite cookie dough beforehand, and add some green food colouring in until it becomes the perfect witch finger-green. If you don’t have a recipe, you could also follow this one.
Mix some red colouring into your favourite icing (also prepared beforehand), OR simply get some red candy melts and melt according to packet instructions.
Let your kids roll them out into long 4 or 5-inch finger sticks, and make depressions on the “fingertips” (to form nail beds) and thin slits to form the knuckles.
Once the cookies are baked, let them cool and then add red candy melts (or red icing) to stick on the almond slice into the nail beds. Add more at the base of the fingers for a severed bloody look.
3) Monster-Mallows
This set of treats are almost as easy to prepare as they are to eat.
You’ll need:
Marshmallows
Blue, green, and orange food colour spray (or you could make them with food colouring)
Toothpicks and cake pop sticks
Black icing or candy melts
Before getting the kids involved, you may want to spray or paint the marshmallows beforehand. If you can find already-coloured marshmallows, even better!
Get your kids to slowly stick the coloured marshmallows onto the cake pops (preferable 3 on a stick).Using the candy melts (or black icing), decorate the marshmallow to make the monster faces and hair. Let it cool in the refrigerator and then stick in a bucket of your favourite candy to prop it up!
4) Haunted House
Remember Hansel & Gretel? Kids will enjoy participating in all the fun making this edible haunted house.
Warning: This recipe involves a LOT of icing.
You’ll need:
Cookie house kit
Candy corn and any candy you’ll want as decorations for the house
Soft black and purple icing (or any colour you’ll want the house to be)
Coloured fondant icing
Once you’ve put the cookie house together, start with the roof. Spread black icing with a spatula and attach the orange fondant icing (in pieces) as roof tiles. Feel free to add any ghoulish candy pieces on the roof at this point, but be careful not to break it!
Make the front door and all the windows with your soft coloured icing. Make sure to solidify the edges with more icing, which will definitely help keep it together. Stick candy to make the door knobs and more candy to decorate all the windows and walls.
Now, finish up the rest of the house by putting more icing to the floor all around the house (this keeps the house together while making it look complete).
A bed of black grass? Green swamp? Red blood? You can do anything with the “ground” surrounding your spooky house!
5) Tiny Horrors (Cupcakes)
A classic in any Halloween party. And quite possibly the easiest to make!
You’ll need:
Your favourite cupcake recipe
Mini cupcake moulds and liners
Loads of different food colouring
Soft icing
Decorative candy in various shapes
Sprinkles
Bake the mini cupcakes and let them cool.
Tint batches of icing in all the colours you’ll want to decorate with.
And start decorating your cupcakes!
With this simple recipe, you can go as simple or as crazy as you want with the decorations. Kids love this because it allows their imagination to run wild and they will be proud of their work once it’s done!
Best part of it all? They’re cute, yummy, and bite-sized.
Whether it’s an adults-only party, a kids party, or a family gig, these recipes have got you covered. The cocktails can be tweaked to be made into mocktail versions – without compromising on the excitement and fun.
What are you waiting for? Go ahead and start planning your graveyard party!
Oh, if you’re worried about spills on your sofa this Halloween, get these Performance Weave slipcovers to protect your sofa from spills and any messy food.