Spooky season has arrived! While candy gets all the attention, why not let some other foods in on the Halloween action?
Check out these spooky, silly and hearty Halloween dinner ideas that will delight (and maybe slightly disturb) all your hungry little ghosts and goblins. These fun and creative Halloween meals are sure to please everyone when they hit the table.
1. Mummy calzones
Calzones are basically easy-to-carry pizza, so this Halloween meal is already a win. Wrap up your kid’s favorite pizza ingredients, add some olive eyes and you’ve got one portable spooky meal. Bonus: This can be easily tossed into lunch for an unexpected mid-day Halloween surprise. Curious Cuisiniere has all the details you need, plus helpful instructions and photos.
2. Eyeball taco salad
This savory, hearty taco salad from Taste of Home is a bit of a blank canvas. It calls for your imagination to create a scary food face — who’s to stop you from adding five eyes to yours? Or maybe a cheese mouth with jagged “teeth"? This recipe serves 10, so is ideal for your little witches and their friends.
3. Graveyard pasta
This one looks almost too creepy to eat. Black food coloring is what transforms an innocent bowl of pasta into an intimidating pile of Halloween eeriness. Katie-Rose Watson at The Rose Table will give you all the information you need to prepare this simple, yet incredibly on-brand, Halloween dinner idea kids find irresistible. Yikes!
4. Mummy hot dogs
If you find yourself strapped for time, these mummy hot dogs will save the day. They are quick to put together and are likely to be well received, given their kid-friendly components. Just don’t forget the candy eyes; they really raise the spooky factor and almost bring these Halloween treats to life. Lil’ Luna provides the easy to follow directions for this crowd pleaser.
5. Healthy Halloween chicken pot pie
Lynsey from Moscato Mom promises that this easy Halloween meal is so good that you will not be able to tell it’s a little on the healthy side. Bonus: Picking up a rotisserie chicken at the store makes this recipe a super easy one for your busy, spooky night — and whether you go scary or cutesy with the jack-o’-lantern face is totally up to you.
6. Stuffed jack-o’-lantern bell peppers
The fact that bell peppers are shaped like pumpkins means you are already halfway there with this healthy Halloween dinner idea from Fountain Avenue Kitchen. Carve simple jack-o’-lantern faces on them, fill them with spaghetti and marinara sauce and serve.
7. Halloween eyeball sub
This sub sandwich recipe from Kitchen Sanctuary is a little bit scary and all kinds of filling. Meatballs make for ghoulish heads that you can sink your teeth into, while radish and olive slices make for perfect peepers. Yikes! Oops! Make that — yum!
8. Eyeball pasta
Edible eyeballs made from cheese and olives will turn any spinach pasta dish into a spooky — and maybe a little bit funny — Halloween meal you've got to experience. Check out the photo tutorial from Spend With Pennies to see how it’s done.
9. Three-cheese candy corn quesadillas
Add chopped bell peppers to up the healthy factor on these scary — okay, scary cute — candy-corn-inspired quesadillas (such a genius cheese-melting strategy) from No Biggie. Maybe even sneak some spinach in there. It’ll be a great trick for this treat, and we certainly won’t tell.
10. Veg puff mummies
Puff pastry mummies are filled with a savory vegetarian mixture that includes carrots, corn, bell pepper and more. This adorab — er, we mean, very, very scary — finger-food dinner from Love Is in My Tummy is sure to please your little ghouls.
11. Spooky shepherd’s pie
Little mashed potato ghosts are pipped onto this shepherd’s pie recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything, and it’ll surely make you want to say, "Boo!" This one makes several servings, so it’s perfect for the whole crew.
We hope you enjoy these spooky delights and have a fun and safe Halloween!
Editor’s note: This article was originally published several years ago, and updated most recently in October 2023.
