Our top 50 Halloween recipes

Planning a day full of frightfully delicious fun? You’re in the right place. We’ve got all the Halloween food ideas you need! Looking for a creepy-cute breakfast to serve your kids in the morning? How about some family-friendly drinks and party-worthy appetizers to snack on before trick-or-treating? Need a horribly delicious dessert to round out your Halloween dinner menu? From ghost pancakes and spiderweb-covered hot cocoa bombs to mummified hot dogs and vampire cupcakes, these halloween foods are sure to scare up everyone’s appetite. Best of all, none of these recipes are too tricky to make, chocolate-covered strawberries included. Sure, they require a bit of planning and know-how but with this recipe, you’ll find that they come together pretty easily. And, they’re one of the many Halloween foods that you can whip up a bit in advance; just be sure you don’t keep them in the refrigerator for longer than an hour. If you do, the moisture in the refrigerator can cause the candy eyes to run.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Black Magic Cake

This deep, dark chocolate cake is the perfect canvas for an eerie holiday dessert. Top it with a spider web or a mummy made from melted and stretched marshmallows.

Get the Recipe: Black Magic Cake

You won’t be able to keep your hands off these creepy butter cookies — even though a dip in raspberry jam makes them look like a pile of detached fingers!

Get the Recipe: Witch Finger Cookies

Halloween Hot Cocoa Bombs

This simple method for tempering chocolate will give you smooth, shiny hot cocoa bombs. Use a good-quality bittersweet chocolate with at least 70% cacao for best results. You can make the bombs ahead of time, but wait until right before serving to cover them in the webbing.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Hot Cocoa Bombs

A deep, rich caramel makes for a classic shiny apple. Toppings (like mini chocolate candies, shredded coconut, crushed cookies or chopped nuts) make them extra special.

Get the Recipe: Caramel Apples

Halloween Jell-O Shots

Why should kids have all the fun for Halloween? For your holiday table, include treats for grown-ups, like these vodka-spiked Jell-O shots. They’re beautifully layered in a baking dish with colors meant to evoke candy corn and flavors inspired by a creamy orange ice pop. Simply cut them into squares then top with lightly sweetened whipped cream and some orange and black sprinkles.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Jell-O Shots

How do you make chicken bites look like little pumpkins? The trick to this savory treat is a few strategic (but straightforward) knife cuts. The nuggets are soaked in buttermilk, then coated in Cheddar-cracker breadcrumbs and stuffed with mozzarella for the ultimate chicken and cheese experience.

Get the Recipe: Chicken Pumpkins

No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Brain

Spook your friends and serve a delicious brain on Halloween. This no-bake strawberry cheesecake made in a plastic mold looks hauntingly real. Top it with fruit syrup “blood” and you’ve got the scariest dessert in town.

Get the Recipe: No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Brain

Packed with blueberries and loaded with cream cheese frosting, these mummy muffins are the perfect Halloween party treat.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Blueberry Mummy Muffins

Pumpkin Cheese Ball

This adorable take on a pumpkin-shaped cheese ball gets its bright orange coloring from ground-up cheese puffs and its stem from a bell pepper.

Get the Recipe: Pumpkin Cheese Ball

These creepy-crawly spider cookies are entertaining for little ones and adults to make together. From pushing chocolate candies into warm cookies, to drawing spider legs with chocolate and making silly eyes, there’s plenty of fun for everyone.

Get the Recipe: Scary Peanut Butter Spider Cookies

Frankenshake and Bride of Frankenshake

His and hers Halloween shakes (one mint, one vanilla) are made in a single batch, then dressed up for the holiday in this ultimate trick-or-treat.

Get the Recipe: Frankenshake and Bride of Frankenshake

Fresh fruit awaits you in these chocolate-dipped webbed treats. Thick slices of tart apple stand in for candy.

Get the Recipe: Apple Spider Web Pops

Mac-o’-Lantern and Cheese Bowls

An orange bell pepper — carved and ready for Halloween — becomes an edible bowl for creamy mac and cheese.

Get the Recipe: Mac-O-Lantern and Cheese Bowls

All eyes (har har) will be on the punch bowl when this scary concoction is part of the spread. Pair blueberries and sweet lychees to make the edible eyeballs.

Get the Recipe: Berry Eyeball Punch

Halloween Oreo Roll

This easy chocolate roll cake starts with a package of chocolate wafer cookies that becomes a Halloween dessert centerpiece. We upped the spooky effect by decorating the cake with gummy spiders on a “web” made from melted marshmallows. We color the marshmallow with orange food coloring but feel free to change it to green or whatever color you like. When ready to serve, slice through the marshmallow webbing and scary spiders to reveal a beautiful hypnotic swirl.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Oreo Roll

Get crafty with this edible witch’s hat: chocolate-flavored rice cereal, green food coloring and edible gold dust transform ordinary crispy rice treats into a sweet Halloween centerpiece.

Get the Recipe: Crispy Treat Witch’s Hat

Halloween Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are monster sized and monster themed, making them perfect treats for your Halloween party. They bake up crispy on the edges and chewy inside. Feel free to vary the sprinkles and add some non pareils to the mix. Candy eyeballs come in various sizes so play around to see which combo you like best — we happen to think one medium and one large makes the monster look delightfully deranged.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Chocolate Chip Cookies

Did you ever get the feeling that someone (or something) is watching you? It could be these fun Halloween treats!

Get the Recipe: Cake Eyeballs

Bloody Pancakes

Don’t worry: No pancakes were harmed in the making of this recipe. A drizzle of sweet strawberry sauce creates the gruesome yet delicious effect.

Get the Recipe: Bloody Pancakes

Making these spider web-inspired treats is easier than you think. After you hard-boil and cool your eggs, lightly crack their shells all over. That way, when you soak them in the savory soy sauce mixture, a little bit of color can seep in.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Deviled Tea Eggs

Hot Dog Mummies

Made with store-bought crescent dough, these mummy dogs will be a hit at dinner or a Halloween party. The dough is very forgiving and easy to wrap, and the best part is it doesn’t need to be perfect — these are ancient mummies after all.

Get the Recipe: Hot Dog Mummies

Tap into your inner sculptor and make some edible Halloween art with cheese — three different kinds to be exact! Cheddar, goat cheese and a red wine and paprika-brushed Monterey Jack represent those iconic candy corn colors.

Get the Recipe: Candy Corn Cheese Tower

Poison Apple Punch

One look at this apple cider-based punch’s red hue and it’s love at first sight. Finish each glass with a wormy apple — a gummy worm and an apple slice, that is — that’s sure to delight guests.

Get the Recipe: Poison Apple Punch

This webbed guacamole is a super-easy way to make a themed appetizer for your next Halloween party. Mexican crema (or sour cream) is used for the web and black olives make an edible spider.

Get the Recipe: Spider Web Guacamole

Cake Pop Brains

Ruby chocolate is the perfect coating for these brains, but any color candy melting wafers work just as well if you want a silly rather than scary vibe. You can use a homemade recipe or store-bought cake mix for the red velvet cake.

Get the Recipe: Cake Pop Brains

For meat lovers and the not-so-faint-of heart: This edible skeleton will likely bring a ghoulish chuckle from your guests.

Get the Recipe: Skeleton Meat Platter

Candy Corn Fudge

The secret to these cute Halloween candies is a quick chill in the fridge between layers so the colors set.

Get the Recipe: Candy Corn Fudge

There’s a creepy surprise when you cut this brain open: meatballs covered in prosciutto! It’s all very ghoulish.

Get the Recipe: Meatball-Stuffed Pasta Brain

Pull-Apart Graveyard Cupcakes

Although it looks almost like a cake, this graveyard is made up of individual cupcakes, making it a self-serve party option. Just grab your cupcake and go–no knives necessary.

Get the Recipe: Pull-Apart Graveyard Cupcakes

The classic white pizza takes a ghostly turn with this recipe. Using prepared pizza dough makes this easy recipe even easier, and no sauce to simmer makes it simpler still.

Get the Recipe: Individual Scary White Pizzas

Red Velvet Vampire Cupcakes

What looks like a gory encounter with the Count himself is just raspberry jam brightened with a drop of red food coloring. And if you dare sink your own teeth into them, you’ll find that more raspberry jam and chocolate await in the center.

Get the Recipe: Red Velvet Vampire Cupcakes

Spook your guests with these “boo-tiful” cupcakes topped with chocolate ghosts. For the design, you simply glaze plain cupcakes with melted dark and white chocolate. You can use the cake recipe here, or try the technique on your favorite red velvet, peanut butter or chocolate cupcakes instead.

Get the Recipe: Ghostly Cupcakes

Haunted Gingerbread House

Start gingerbread season a little early this year with a haunted display for Halloween. Make gumball pumpkins, chocolate tombstones and a scary (but candy-sweet!) monster hiding inside the house.

Get the Recipe: Haunted Gingerbread House

This no-bake pumpkin cheesecake has a jack-o’-lantern brownie grin.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Cheesecake

Vampire Blood Tomato Soup With Muenster Sammies

Pair homemade tomato soup with cheesy sandwiches cut out to look like pumpkins, ghosts, black cats, bats and witches.

Get the Recipe: Vampire Blood Tomato Soup with Muenster Sammies

The perfect dessert for Halloween: a layer cake that’s black as night.

Get the Recipe: Black Chocolate Cake

Sushi Brain

This frighteningly real-looking smoked salmon appetizer is perfect for your Halloween spread.

See More Photos: How to Make a Sushi Brain for Halloween

This easy, Halloween-inspired recipe can be made ahead and served later as a scary-good party dessert.

Get the Recipe: Mummy Hand Pies

Stuffed Candy Corn Cake

Not only does this festive bull’s-eye cake slice up into pieces that look like giant candy corns, the inside holds a secret cache of the treats themselves that spill forth when you open it up.

Get the Recipe: Stuffed Candy Corn Cake

Break out your gingerbread man cookie cutter early this year; it’s just the tool you need to make these easy cookies. With a little icing, you can pipe your way to haunted Halloween treats.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate-Cinnamon Skeleton Cookies

Halloween Crispy Rice Treats

These colorful treats will be a hit at your Halloween party and they’re so easy to put together. The spider web decoration is made with melted marshmallows. Using gloves and working on foil to stretch the web makes cleanup a easy.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Crispy Rice Treats

This eyeball cake is the stuff of Halloween nightmares: When you slice into it, a gush of raspberry jam flows out.

Get the Recipe: Eyeball Lava Cake

Halloween Strawberry Shortcake Skull Cake

We topped elegant strawberry shortcake with a ghoulish white chocolate skull in this spectacular Halloween dessert. Pour over the hot strawberry sauce to reveal the surprise inside!

Get the Recipe: Halloween Strawberry Shortcake Skull Cake

This giant crispy rice cereal treat is filled with silky chocolate mousse and covered in a pink buttercream frosting.

Get the Recipe: Stuffed Crispy Rice Cereal Brain

Eyeball Cheesecake

Set your sights on this creepy no-bake cheesecake for your next Halloween party. We used canned lychees and blueberries to create bloodshot eyes that are set in a boozy cranberry gelatin.

Get the Recipe: Eyeball Cheesecake

Trisha keeps the cheesecake bars and raspberry sauce simple in this recipe (relying on store-bought sugar cookie mix and a jar of raspberry preserves) so that you have time to make the broken glass caramel for decoration.

Get the Recipe: Bloody Cheesecake Bars with Broken Glass Caramel

Halloween Sugar Cookies

Spook yourself sweet this Halloween season with festive sugar cookies that are no trick, all treat.

Get the Recipe: Halloween Sugar Cookies

You’re only four ingredients away from an adults-only punch that’s sure to wow guests. Ginger beer will get the cauldron bubbling, and rum or vodka will give the limey drink quite a kick. To make a kid-friendly punch, simply leave out the alcohol — you’ll still get the fizzy, fun effects.

Get the Recipe: Bubbling Cauldron Punch

Deviled Ham Eyeball Sandwich

Turn a traditional ham salad on white bread into a bloodshot eyeball sandwich.

Get the Recipe: Deviled Ham Eyeball Sandwich