10 Halloween Appetizers That Will Make Your Guests Do the Monster Mash

Leave it to Molly Yeh to create a spooky treat that requires no extra equipment or fancy cookie cutters. These ghostly hand pies use a forgiving food processor dough and a cheesy onion filling that nods to the traditional Cornish pasty (without the beef). These pies are easy to make ahead and reheat for a snack on the Halloween route around the neighbourhood.

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Childhood memories of caramel corn get a grown up twist in this sophisticated take. Shiro, or white miso, dials back the sweetness of the brown sugar and corn syrup, while black and white sesame seeds play up the colours of Halloween and add crunch.

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Serving a crowd of partygoers or just looking for something to nibble on between trick or treaters at the door? This charcuterie board mixes playful and sophisticated elements including a carved Brie wheel, edible googly eyes and black olive spiders. Feel free to customize the flavours to your preferences and let our example serve as inspiration for your own fearsome feast.

Fall weather means the rush to make everything pumpkin spice begins anew. An ingenious pumpkin puree and cream cheese dip takes these chewy soft pretzels into appetizer territory, and you can provide extra pumpkin spice blend so guests can add more to their own tastes.

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Trick or treating on chilly October nights will make people grateful for this warming Thai-inspired curry pumpkin soup, redolent with aromas of lemongrass and ginger. There’s also a surprise: this creamy soup is dairy-free and totally vegan, thanks to the addition of coconut milk and pumpkin puree, which add body and heft.

Break out the air fryer for these simple sweet and sour meatballs, perfect for the trick or treat element (add red food colouring to make them extra bloody looking if you’re looking for a sinister vibe). You can even prepare the meatballs and air fry them a day in advance so that you just need to toss them in sauce while you’re trying to sort out candy and wrangle costumes. 

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Borrowing a frightful theme from the ubiquitous drink, this recipe mashes up two favourites: a Bloody Mary and a shrimp cocktail. Leave out the vodka to make them family friendly, or keep this treat as a reward for the adults braving the candy hunt.

The cranberry mushroom filling oozing from these ultra realistic looking vegan sausage rolls adds a splotch of blood-like red to an appetizer platter. For extra gore, go full Jackson Pollock and splatter extra cranberry sauce around for a crime scene look.

Related: Vegan Cranberry Tarts Are a Must-Make Fall Dessert

Let your imagination run wild with this giant cheese-stuffed cracker, which may bring back memories of that childhood staple of packaged cheese and crackers. Think pumpkins or scary faces (or if you’re truly pressed for time, just toss on a fake plastic spider or two and call it a night.)

Turn these easy, make-ahead bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers into fingers by placing a piece of sliced almond on it for crunchy and horrifying “fingernails”. To up the ante on the trick or treat theme, try using shishito peppers instead to see if you’ll get a mild or spicy surprise.

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