Halloween Party Appetizers

Bite into these creative and savory Halloween appetizer ideas, from mummy-wrapped finger food to monstrous cheese balls, for your next frightful bash.

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Creepy Bug Buns

Eyeball Quiche

Black Cat Cheese Ball

Mr. Bones & Double Dips

Heart Card Sandwiches

Halloween Hors d'Oeuvres

Hummus Pumpkin

Meaty Mummies

Wicked-Easy Snack Mix

Chicken Fingers

Halloween Nachos

Breadstick Bones

Vampire Bagel

Jack-o'-Lantern Cheese Ball

Spiderweb Soup

How-To: Make Spiderweb Soup

Moldy Cheese Balls

Shrimp Brain Cocktail

Tombstone Sandwiches

Blue Cheese Ricotta Dip

Mummy Dogs

Graveyard Dip

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp Skewers

Spooky Stew

Witch's Hat Calzones

Handy Pretzels

White Slime Fondue

Oozing Brie

Deviled Eyes

Demon Dip

"Slithering Snakewich"

Cheesy Goblin Head

Green Pepper Frog

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Anthropologie Palazzo Serving Platter $68.00 Anthropologie

Crate & Barrel Myro 14" Platter $29.95 Crate & Barrel

Le Creuset Le Creuset Stoneware Oval Serving Platter $55.00 Casa.com

Sur La Table Italian Whiteware Handled Serving Platters $49.95 Sur La Table

Crate & Barrel Acacia Wood 15.75"x12.25" Platter $16.95 Crate & Barrel

Williams-Sonoma Monogrammed Apilco Oval Platters $69.00 Williams-Sonoma

Crate & Barrel Pumpkin Platter $29.95 Crate & Barrel

Sur La Table Italian Whiteware Oval Serving Platters $39.95 Sur La Table

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Creepy Bug Buns

Bugs are crawling on the table! Your Halloween guests will love it. These pizza-inspired buns are filled with oozy mozzarella and blood-red pizza sauce. Pretzel sticks and nuggets form the legs and head of each bug. Made with frozen dough, these buggy buns are quick to assemble and bake, too.

Creepy Bug Buns

Yield: 12 bug buns

Prep: 30 mins

Rise: 10 mins

Bake: 15 mins

Eyeball Quiche

Staring red eyes give these zombie-faced mini quiches an undead aura. The bite-size appeal and tasty filling will have Halloween guests gobbling them up anyway! Pimiento-stuffed olive slices serve as the hypnotic eyes, but pearl onions hidden beneath keep the eyes from sinking into the rich egg-and-cheese filling.

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

Eyeball Quiche

Yield: 20 mini quiches

Prep: 50 mins

Chill: 1 hr

Bake: 20 mins 375°F

Black Cat Cheese Ball

Your Halloween party guests will get wide grins on their own faces when they see this black cat on the table. Filled with cheeses, garlic, onion, pimiento, and spices, the cheese ball has a savory kick that brings smiles after the first bite, too. Rolled in crushed blue tortilla chips, this grinning cat tastes as good as it looks. Make the cheese ball ahead so you have plenty of time to enjoy the compliments.

Cheshire Cat Cheese Ball

Yield: 1 cheese Ball

Prep: 45 mins

Chill: 4 hrs to 24 hrs

Mr. Bones & Double Dips

Dem bones, dem bones, dem tasty bones! Fresh vegetables form this colorful skeleton that will be the hit of the Halloween table. Smoky Red Pepper Dip and Creamy Avocado Dip encourage guests to pick away at these good-for-you bones. Make sure you have plenty of extra dippers. This skeleton is doomed to vanish quickly.

Mr. Bones and Double Dips

Makes: 12 servings

Yield: 2 cups red pepper dip; 1-1/2 cups avocado dip

Start to Finish: 30 mins

Check out Halloween party theme ideas.

Heart Card Sandwiches

Do a card trick at your party. These unconventional playing cards add a bit of magic to a Halloween party buffet. A rich cheesy filling hides beneath heart-encrusted slivers of bread. Whether you're inspired by the magic of the haunted season or the Alice's adventures with the Queen of Hearts' playing-card army, these appetizer-size sandwiches will disappear.

Editor's Tip: Instead of cutting out the hearts freehand, use tiny heart-shape cookie cutters.

Heart Card Sandwiches

Makes: 12 servings

Start to Finish: 20 mins

Throw an Alice in Wonderland Halloween party.

Halloween Hors d'Oeuvres

These Halloween appetizers are much more delightful than frightful. To make, use mini Halloween-theme cookie cutters 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.

Hummus Pumpkin

This spooky hummus pumpkin is just begging to be carved into. To make, scoop hummus onto a serving plate, then cover with finely shredded carrots. A small piece of green onion makes a perfect pumpkin stem.

Meaty Mummies

Wrap a legion of scary mummies for a Halloween dinner or party appetizer. To make, skewer a purchased meatball and a 4-inch piece of summer sausage stick with a 6-inch wooden skewer. Combine 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1 teaspoon of 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.

Wicked-Easy Snack Mix

Sweet and salty, this mix comes together in seconds for a last-minute Halloween appetizer. Toss together equal amounts candy corn, pretzels, peanuts, and corn chips and get ready for grazing.

Chicken Fingers

Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the real thing, these fingers make a fun addition to the buffet table. Simple chicken breasts become Halloween appetizer-worthy when sliced and served with Romesco Dipping Sauce.

Chicken Lady Fingers with Romanian Romesco Dipping Sauce

Makes: 10 servings

Yield: 40 fingers

Prep: 15 mins to 30 mins

Broil: 4 mins to 5 mins

Stand: 15 mins

Watch the video!

Halloween Nachos

Grinning jack-o'-lanterns made from taco ingredients keep the buffet line moving. To make, start with large round crackers, spread with sour cream and/or salsa, and top with cooked taco meat and shredded cheese. Use tomatoes, peppers, and olives to make the jack-o'-lantern faces.

Breadstick Bones

Transform traditional breadsticks into bare bones for this frightful skeleton. To make, simply cut the ends of uncooked breadsticks before baking. Arrange the ghastly bites around a marinara head, decorated with mozzarella cheese and black olives to ghastly perfection.

Vampire Bagel

With a savory to-die-for taste, this Transylvanian is something guests will love to sink their teeth into. To make, spread cream cheese over a mini bagel half, then use triangle strips of red pepper for a colorful collar. A cut olive serves as this count's eyebrows and 'do, while a strip of carrot makes a wicked nose. Close the casket on this treat with thin slices of green onion and capers for eyes.

Jack-o'-Lantern Cheese Ball

A tasty cheese ball turns into a Halloween-worthy 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. Press three olive halves into the cheese ball 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.

Spiderweb Soup

You might frighten your guests with this spooky spiderweb, but they'll forgive you when they taste the simple milk and sour cream flavors that weave it together.

How-To: Make Spiderweb Soup

Watch this video to learn how to turn a dollop of sour cream into a spiderweb on top of soup.

Moldy Cheese Balls

These green cheese balls look past their prime, but their "mold" is just an herb coating that adds to the flavor. When plated with plastic spiders, they really achieve a gross-out appearance.

Dilled Onion Cheese Ball

Makes: 30 servings

Prep: 35 mins

Chill: 4 hrs

Stand: 15 mins

Shrimp Brain Cocktail

This delightfully gruesome concoction will win any creepy-eats contest. But with red pepper "veins" and plenty of flavors, guests won't be able to keep their hands off it once they get their first bite.

Scary Cerebrum

Makes: 12 servings

Prep: 25 mins

Chill: 5 hrs

Watch the video!

Tombstone Sandwiches

For a quick Halloween appetizer so good it comes from the graves, serve guests 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.

Tipsy Tombstone Sandwiches

Makes: 14 servings

Prep: 45 mins

Chill: 2 hrs to 24 hrs

Blue Cheese Ricotta Dip

Good with crackers or apples for goblins and for ghouls, your guests will go wild over this Halloween appetizer. Ten minutes -- start to finish -- and this tasty dip is ready to be devoured. Serve it in a hollowed-out squash or pumpkin for a nice Halloween touch.

Blue Cheese-Ricotta Dip

Makes: 8 servings

Prep: 10 mins

Stand: 1 hr

Mummy Dogs

Cook up some 'dogs for an all-wrapped-up take on finger foods. Refrigerated breadsticks do the legwork. Make the appetizer lighter with cocktail wieners and a pinch of the breadstick dough rather than a full breadstick.

Mummy Dogs

Makes: 12 servings

Prep: 8 mins

Bake: 12 mins 375°F

Graveyard Dip

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.

Tombstone Taco Dip

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp Skewers

With this Halloween appetizer your guests will be too busy saying "yum" to be frightened -- that is, once they get past the spider guarding the dip. The bacon-wrapped shrimp and accompanying dipping sauce are fiery hot and tasty.

Devils on Horseback

Makes: 12 servings

Yield: 48 skewers

Start to Finish: 1 hr

Spooky Stew

Every party needs a few savory offerings to balance the snacks and sweets. Turn a favorite 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.

Witch's Hat Calzones

Though these Halloween appetizers will frighten your guests, their tasty insides will quickly put them under your spell. Gather pizza ingredients and you won't need to toil and trouble long to conjure up these tasty calzones.

Witch's Hat Calzones

Yield: 8 calzones

Prep: 35 mins

Bake: 8 mins to 10 mins 425°F

Watch the video!

Handy Pretzels

Give new meaning to the concept "finger food" with these Halloween appetizers. Large pretzel sticks resemble useful appendages when the ends are dipped in melted candy coating and topped with a sliced almond "fingernail." Display the digits in a shirt sleeve-covered jar.

White Slime Fondue

Invite guests to circle around a fondue "cauldron" to dip delectable treats into white chocolate fondue. For more Halloween flair, dye the fondue orange or set black and orange sprinkles aside for guests to indulge in.

White Slime

Makes: 16 servings

Yield: 4 cups

Prep: 15 mins

Oozing Brie

This Halloween appetizer will put some spook into those with queasy stomachs. To make, top Brie with an assortment of "guts" -- flavorful dried tomatoes, onion, basil, and garlic. Once they get past the macabre plating, guests will eat this dish up.

Oozing Brie

Makes: 20 servings

Prep: 20 mins

Chill: 30 mins to 5 hrs

Bake: 12 mins to 15 mins 350°F

Deviled Eyes

Spooky peepers -- made from sliced black olives, asparagus tops, and bits of red pepper -- put a frightful spin on deviled eggs. Arrange the Halloween appetizer in fun dishes that emphasize them as the focal point of the party.

Night Eyes

Demon Dip

Basic cheese fondue becomes Demon Dip when served in a witch's cauldron. Use breads, vegetables, and tortilla chips as dipping options for this savory Halloween appetizer.

"Slithering Snakewich"

This sneaky guy's stuffed with pizza ingredients. A red pepper strip provides the sinister tongue.

Slithering Snakewich

Makes: 8 servings

Prep: 20 mins

Rise: 1 hr 30 mins

Cool: 2 hrs

Cheesy Goblin Head

This crazy cheese ball is delightfully fun! The frightful hairdo is a mound of curly shredded beets.

Cheesy Goblin Head

Makes: 20 servings

Prep: 40 mins

Chill: 4 hrs to 24 hrs

Stand: 30 mins

Green Pepper Frog

Make veggies fun to eat at Halloween by making them into a silly frog. Remove the top of a green pepper and set aside. Remove all seeds and membrane. Cut out leg shapes from another green pepper and attach to the front body using toothpicks. Fill with favorite vegetables. Add a long slice of carrot for a tongue. Using toothpicks, place two large pimento-stuffed green olives on top of the pepper lid for eyes. Serve with a favorite salad dressing if desired.

Halloween Party Appetizers

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