Let your creativity run wild in the kitchen with some frighteningly fun food and spooktacular recipes this Halloween.
Whether you’re transforming your place into a haunted house, making your own costume or putting together a scary good menu, Halloween is about being creative and having fun.
From zombie brain cakes and spiderweb cookies to ghoulishly good cupcakes, Halloween is an opportunity to go wild in the kitchen. Here’s our guide to the best spine-tingling treats and recipe ideas that will be a real scream with all your guests this Halloween.
READ MORE: How to throw a Halloween party
READ MORE: Where to buy Halloween costumes
READ MORE: Easy Halloween costumes for DIYers
Halloween food ideas
There’s no limit to your imagination and creativity when it comes to Halloween food - food should look terrifying to eat but taste delicious. Think zombie brains made from raspberry jelly, spiderweb cupcakes made from buttercream and fondant or vampire blood cocktails made with red wine sangria and cup decorations.
Image source: Pinterest
Image source: Pinterest
Image source: Pinterest
Baked goods such as cakes, cookies and cupcakes are always a hit and are super-easy to decorate. There are plenty of creepy cake moulds, Halloween props and fun designs you can try.
Find inspiration with these popular Halloween food ideas and get your creative juices going.
Top Halloween food ideas
Halloween cupcakes
Cupcakes are easy to bake and fun to decorate! For Halloween, think pumpkin-flavoured cupcakes, black and orange decorations, black cats, vampires, ghouls and goblins. Bring out the guts and gore with fun decorations and themed food toppers, toothpicks, sprinkles, icing and fondant and edible wafer papers, as well as fun cupcake liners and wrappers.
Whether you’re looking to create cute and creepy cupcakes or terrifying ones this Halloween, here’s some cupcake decorating inspiration to get you started:
Image source: Pinterest
Image source: Pinterest
Image source: Pinterest
Image source: Pinterest
Image source: Pinterest
Image source: Pinterest
Top Halloween cupcake decorations
Best Halloween Recipes
If you’re planning on throwing a Halloween party this year, here are 3 spooktacular recipes you can try at home.
Eerie Eye Pops
Recipe: BBC Good Food
Makes 10 cake pops
Ingredients:
- 100g Madeira cake (sponge cake)
- 100g Oreo cookies
- 100g milk chocolate, melted
- 200g white chocolate, melted
- Smarties and icing pens to decorate
- Pumpkin for display
How to make Eerie Eye Pops
- Break the Madeira cake and Oreo cookies into the bowl or food processor, pour in the melted milk chocolate and whizz to combine.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl, then use your hands to roll into 10 walnut-sized balls. Chill in the fridge for two hours until firm.
- Push a skewer into each ball, then carefully spoon white chocolate to completely cover the balls. Stand the cake pops into the pumpkin, then press a Smartie onto the surface while wet.
- Chill again until the chocolate coat has set. Before serving, using the icing pens, add a pupil to each Smartie and wiggly red veins to the eyeballs.
Cocktail Sausage Mummies
Recipe: Taste magazine
Makes 24 cocktail sausages
Ingredients
- 24 beef chipolata sausages
- 1 egg, lightly whisked
- 4 sheets (25 x 25cm) ready rolled puff pastry
- American mustard, to decorate
- Tomato sauce, to serve
How to make cocktail sausage mummies
- Preheat oven to 200°C.
- Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Preheat grill on medium-high. Cook sausages under preheated grill, turning, for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from grill and set aside to cool.
- Use a small sharp knife to cut the pastry into 1cm-thick strips. Lightly brush pastry with egg. Wrap 2-3 pastry strips around each sausage, leaving a little gap at one end for the face. Trim and discard excess pastry. Place on the lined tray.
- Repeat with remaining sausages, pastry and egg.
- Bake in preheated oven, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and puffed.
- Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.
- Give the mummies eyes with the mustard. Place on a serving platter, serve with tomato sauce.
Stuffed Capsicums
Recipe: Citron Limette
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups cooked brown rice
- 4 large capsicums
- 350g beef mince
- 1 cup chopped onions
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp ground allspice
- 1 cup tomato and basil pasta sauce
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup chicken stock
How to make Halloween stuffed capsicums
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Wash the capsicums and cut faces into them with a sharp knife.
- Slice the tops off and scoop out the seeds and cores.
- Heat a large pan over medium-high. Add in and combine the beef, onions, parsley, paprika, salt and ground allspice.
- Cook for four minutes or until beef is lightly browned, stirring to crumble then remove from heat.
- Add rice, ½ cup pasta sauce, and cheese to beef mixture, stirring to combine.
- While beef cooks, combine ½ cup pasta sauce and chicken broth in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
- Spoon ¾ cup beef mixture into each capsicum.
- Place capsicums on a baking tray coated with cooking spray.
- Add chicken broth/sauce mixture.
- Cover with foil and bake for 35–40 minutes. Uncover and bake for another five minutes.
