Better Homes And Gardens Halloween Appetizers

plate of Halloween appetizer crackers

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul

Your Halloween party appetizers should be as creative as your costume. Take a bite out of Fright Night with Halloween appetizers that give a new meaning to finger foods.

Mummy Dogs

mummy hot dogs on orange tray with sides of ketchup mustard in web patterns

Credit: Matthew Clark

Halloween appetizers don't have to be complicated. Store-bought hot dogs wrapped in breadstick dough, plus dots of mustard or ketchup for eyeballs, are all you need for yummy mummy dogs.

Halloween Hors d'Oeuvres

plate of Halloween appetizer crackers

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul

These easy Halloween appetizers are much more delightful than frightful. To make, use mini cookie cutters ($6, Target) to cut out pieces of cheese and meat. Place cutouts on top of various crackers along with lettuce leaves; use olive pieces to decorate the faces.

Pumpkin-Shape Meatball Biscuits

Pumpkin Shaped Meatball Biscuits

Credit: Hannah Bigot

This recipe is semihomemade. Purchased, frozen cooked meatballs are wrapped in a pack of refrigerated biscuits, along with cheese and pesto. Fresh rosemary leaves give this a sophisticated flare making it a perfect Halloween finger food for adults.

Spooky Strawberry Pumpkin Patch

Credit: Matthew Clark

Strawberries in orange candy coating are the "pumpkins" in this Halloween party menu pumpkin patch. A steady hand with a piping bag makes the lines on each little "pumpkin."

Halloween Mummy Baked Brie

Credit: Mindy Cone

Keep your appetizers under wraps—mummy wraps. Baked Brie, along with dried cherries and pecans, is the filling of this spooky-yet-sophisticated Halloween party appetizer.

Chomping Halloween Oreo Monsters

Credit: Matthew Clark

Who knew Halloween food could be this precious? These Halloween cookies are more adorable than scary, which makes them even more appealing. And if you're looking for a group activity, let the kids make the mini monsters themselves.

Pumpkin Bread Truffles

Credit: Courtesy of Elizabeth LaBau

Nothing says fall like pumpkins! Made with spiced pumpkin bread and cream cheese frosting, these tasty bites are sweet additions to your party menu. If you have the piping skills, use black icing to transform the pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns.

Bloodshot Peanut Butter Eyeballs

Credit: Blaine Moats

Keep an eye on your Halloween appetizers. To make, gradually add 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar to 1/2 cup peanut butter, stirring until combined. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on waxed paper until they dry. Melt 8 ounces of white candy coating in a saucepan, stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Dip each ball into coating. Let them sit on waxed paper until the coating is dry. Using a paintbrush, paint red food coloring on the coated peanut butter balls to create veins. A small dot of black icing makes the pupil.

Monster Mouths

Credit: Steve Struse

Add some childhood nostalgia to your Halloween party menu. Nothing harkens back to a lunch box quite like apples and peanut butter. The addition of candy corn teeth takes this to Halloween appetizer level.

Wicked Witch Hats

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul

A wicked witch is definitely not sweet, and neither is her hat. Blue corn tortilla chips give these salty, cheesy, and slightly spicy Halloween appetizers their dark color, and a thin carrot peel adds some witchy style. Serve with extra chips to dip.

Easy Pretzel Fingers

halloween pretzel sticks

Credit: Greg Scheidemann

Even if your Halloween party is for adults, you can have some finger food. Pretzels dipped into melted candy coating, with almond sliver "fingernails" are a salty-sweet Halloween treat. Using a jar wrapped in a shirt cuff adds another eerie aspect.

Halloween Nachos

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul

These nacho jack-o'-lanterns are ready to be the star of your Halloween party menu. Start with large, round crackers (or tortilla chips), spread each one with sour cream and/or salsa, and top with cooked taco meat and shredded cheese. Use tomatoes, peppers, and olives to make jack-o'-lantern faces on these easy Halloween appetizers.

Breadstick Bones

Breadstick skeleton with marinara head

Credit: Blaine Moats

Normal breadsticks, slightly sliced before baking, are doughy bones. To take the breadstick bones to the next Halloween appetizer level, create a skeleton. A bowl of marinara, with olive eyes and a mozzarella mouth, is your breadstick skeleton's skull.

Tombstone Sandwiches

Tipsy Tombstone Sandwiches

Credit: Greg Scheidemann

For a quick Halloween party appetizer, whip up tombstone sandwiches. To make, cut chicken salad sandwiches into tombstone shapes, roll the edges in chopped pecans for a pebbly look, and serve from a graveyard covered in creepy cabbage.

Chicken Fingers

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul

We have quite the take on this chicken appetizer. Simple chicken breasts become Halloween party food when sliced and served with Romesco Dipping Sauce.

Halloween Hand

Credit: Peter Krumhardt

Red lace candy strings and Pirouette Cookies work together to create skeleton hands—giving a whole new meaning to Halloween finger foods. Different candy bits form the hand and fingernails.

Hummus Pumpkin

Hummus pumpkin with chips

Credit: Marty Baldwin

This hummus pumpkin is perfect for a Halloween party menu. Scoop purchased or homemade hummus onto a serving plate, and form it into a rounded shape. To get the pumpkin's signature orange color, cover with finely shredded carrots. A piece of green onion makes the perfect stem. Talk about an easy Halloween food recipe!

Mr. Bones and Double Dips

Mr. Bones & Double Dips

Credit: Jason Donnelly

Fresh veggies form this colorful skeleton and are a fresh addition to the Halloween party menu. Smoky Red Pepper Dip and Creamy Avocado Dip encourage guests to keep coming back to this Halloween finger food. Think ahead and make an entire skeleton crew for your guests to snack on.

Goblin Cookie Truffles

Credit: Courtesy of Crystal Owens

These frightening critters are a must-have for your next Halloween party menu. Rich, chocolaty, and topped with ghoulish candy eyes, these Halloween sweets are scary good.

Graveyard Dip

Tombstone Taco Dip

Credit: Jay Wilde

Dig into this spooky graveyard—if you dare! Venture into this Halloween appetizer and you'll discover a tasty taco dip. Layers of refried beans, lettuce, and black olives mimic dirt and grass. Eerie shapes cut from tortilla shells complete the spooky Halloween landscape.

Devils on Horseback

devils on horseback halloween appetizers

Credit: Scott Little

Devils on horseback (AKA bacon-wrapped shrimp) will encourage your guests to bypass the spider to get a bit of dip. With this Halloween appetizer, your guests will be too busy saying yum to be frightened. The bacon-wrapped shrimp and accompanying dipping sauce add heat to a Halloween party menu.

Mr. Bones

Credit: Andy Lyons

Get the kids involved with the Halloween party menu. Prepare the base of pressurized cheese spread on each cracker and let the kids make their pretzel skeletons.

Wicked-Easy Snack Mix

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul

Sweet and salty. This mix comes together in seconds for a last-minute Halloween party appetizer. Toss together candy corn, pretzels, peanuts, and corn chips, and get ready for grazing. The best part about this Halloween food recipe? If you run out during the party, you can whip up another batch in minutes.

Chocolate-Dipped Pumpkin Marshmallows

Credit: Courtesy of Elizabeth LaBau

These fluffy, chocolate-dipped homemade marshmallows don't just look like pumpkins—they taste like them, too! We've added a sweet dose of pumpkin puree and seasonal spices to these easy Halloween treats for comforting fall flavor that is perfect for your Halloween party menu.

Eyeball Quiche

Credit: Jason Donnelly

Olive eyes give this mini-quiche an eerie aura—perfect for a Halloween party menu. The bite-size appeal and tasty filling will have Halloween guests gobbling them up, which is exactly what you want for Halloween finger foods!

Test Kitchen Tip: If you don't have the time or inclination to make your own pastry dough for these tiny quiches, substitute refrigerated piecrust dough.

Meaty Mummies

Yummy Mummies

Credit: Jay Wilde

Wrap a legion of scary mummies for a Halloween party appetizer. To make, skewer a purchased meatball and a 4-inch piece of a summer sausage stick with a 6-inch wooden skewer. Combine 8 ounces cream cheese and 1 teaspoon purchased pesto. Spread some of the mixture over the meat skewer and wrap with cooked fettuccine noodles. For a more bulky body, spread with additional cream cheese mixture and wrap with another layer of cooked fettuccine. Add capers for eyes. Serve with pasta sauce for dipping, and these Halloween finger foods will be gone in no time.

Halloween Candy Bark

Credit: Courtesy of Glory Albin

This candy bark is salty, sweet, and frighteningly delicious. Serve up bowls of sweet Halloween candy shards, and your party guests will go crazy for it!

Creamy Halloweeny Push-Up Pops

Creamy Halloweeny Push Up Pops

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul

These candy-corn-looking treats are so fun and much easier to make than they look. With white cake mix as the base, the orange-hue treats (that's orange pudding in the middle!) will get everyone in the Halloween spirit.

Buy It: Flour Shop Pop-Up Cake Containers, Set of 12 ($13, Williams Sonoma)

Moldy Cheese Balls

Green cheese balls

Credit: Greg Scheidemann

These green cheese balls look past their prime, but their "mold" is an herb coating that adds to the flavor. When plated with plastic spiders, they really achieve a gross-out appearance—perfect for a spread of spooky Halloween appetizers.

Spooky Stew

Credit: Marty Baldwin

Every Halloween party menu needs a few savory offerings to balance the snacks and sweets. Turn a favorite (or easy-to-make) stew into a ghoulish delight with this ghostly garnish. To make, spoon servings of stew (or soup) into individual serving dishes, filling about two-thirds full. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip, pipe hot mashed potatoes into a ghost shape on top of each serving. Use capers for ghost eyes, and sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese around the base of each ghost. Boo!

Ghostly Sandwich

Ghost PB&J

Credit: Andy Lyons

A classic PB&J is transformed into a Halloween treat once it is in the shape of a ghost. For a bite-size appetizer, use a miniature-size cookie cutter ($5, Joann). Raisins (or dried cranberries) are the ghost eyes.

Jack-o'-Lantern Cheese Ball

Jack-o-Lantern Cheese Ball

Credit: Marty Baldwin

A tasty cheese ball turns into a Halloween party appetizer when costumed in nacho-cheese-flavor chips. To make, roll cheese ball in crushed chips and place on a bed of kale. Cut a black olive into two triangle-shape pieces for the eyes and press into the cheese ball. Add three olive halves to form the grin. (You might need to remove chips from these areas so the olives stick.) Place a dill pickle on top for a stem.

Creepy Bug Buns

Credit: Marty Baldwin

Buns, accentuated with pretzel sticks and pretzel nuggets, become creepy snacks. A quick dip into warmed pizza sauce makes these bugs a perfect bite.

Whoo-Hoo Hooty

Credit: Marty Baldwin

This owl is a savory, cheesy dish. Apple slice wings add a sweet complement to the cheese ball core. Almonds and cashews add a nutty crunch.

Shrimp Brain Cocktail

Scary Cerebrum

Credit: Blaine Moats

This delightfully gruesome concoction will win any creepy-eats contest. With red pepper "veins" and plenty of flavors, guests won't be able to keep their hands off this seafood appetizer.

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