Kids Love Monster Face Pizza
Whether it's for your Halloween party or a pre-trick-or-treating meal, adding a fun and spooky twist to certain dishes can inject some fun into the evening. Your guests will love a batch of witch's brew popcorn or a bowl of "bloody" risotto. Here are 20 dishes begging for a Halloween twist.
1. Mac and Cheese
Transform traditional mac and cheese into a pumpkin cauldron mac by adding pureed pumpkin and topping it with black sesame seeds and a few green pasta noodles to resemble a witch's hair. You can take it to the next level by serving it in a hollowed mini pumpkin.
2. Deviled Eggs
You might think that deviled eggs already sound spooky, but you can amp up the terror by turning them into eyeball eggs. Use olive slices for pupils, and beet juice can give the impression of veins. These details add some gross factor without sacrificing taste.
3. Pizza
Your kids will love this one. Make a monster pizza face with olives for eyes, a pepperoni mouth, and cheese fangs. Cut into uneven slices to make it look like a mad scientist did it.
4. Popcorn
Pop a batch of witch's brew popcorn by mixing popcorn with orange candy melts and black sprinkles. Serve in a cauldron-style bowl or paper cone for added fun.
Christopher Luther on Unsplash
5. Chili
Add pumpkin puree to your favorite chili recipe to get it ready for Halloween. This will also add a subtle sweetness, a textural contrast, and a deeper flavor profile. Garnish with sour cream ghosts and shredded cheddar cheese for cobwebs. The orange hue of the chili screams Halloween and autumn.
6. Risotto
The guests at your Halloween party with love a bowl of bloody beet risotto. Create this gothic masterpiece by blending roasted beets into the broth, creating an eerie crimson color, and then adding it to the risotto as it cooks. The beet flavor complements the parmesan and white wine, and the final product is scarily elegant.
7. Hot Dogs
Kids and adults alike will enjoy a mummified hot dog. Wrap hot dogs in crescent roll dough, leaving tiny gaps for eyes made of mustard or ketchup. Bake until they reach golden perfection and serve with ketchup or spicy ketchup. This dish is easy to make, so it's ideal for a quick dinner on Halloween night.
8. Stew
Witch's brew stew can help make Halloween even more memorable. Take your favorite vegetable or beef stew and add dark leafy greens, black beans, and purple potatoes to create a witchy color palette. Serve in a cast-iron pot with a smoky paprika swirl for added effect.
9. Garlic Bread
Vampires and garlic? That can't be right, but hear us out. Give garlic bread a vampiric twist with black garlic butter and a drizzle of marinara "blood". Not only will it look like vampire garlic bread, but it also has a deeper flavor than traditional garlic bread.
10. Carbonara
Turn creamy and delicious carbonara into a Halloween hit by replacing the pasta with black squid-ink pasta. The inky noodles are instantly creepy and present a nice contrast to the yolk sauce.
11. Burgers
Forget about boring burgers on Halloween, and instead make some Frankenstein burgers. This dish requires towering monster burgers with bright green guacamole and topped with cheddar strips for "stitches" and olives for "bolts".
amirali mirhashemian on Unsplash
12. Jack-O'-Lantern Stuffed Peppers
Carve orange bell peppers into a jack-o'-lantern as you would a pumpkin. Then, stuff them with spiced rice, beans, and cheese. They should take on a wrinkled look as they bake, which is super eerie and off-putting.
13. Shepherd's Pie
Top your shepherd's pie with piped mashed potatoes in the form of ghosts with black pepper eyes. Underneath the spooky top layer is a hearty comfort food.
Oxfordian Kissuth on Wikimedia
14. Pesto Pasta
Turn a plate of pesto pasta into green toxic waste. All you need is neon-green basil pesto pasta, black olives for contrast, and cherry tomatoes, which you can turn into roasted "eyeballs".
15. Tomato Soup
Swirl a web of sour cream on top of the tomato soup with a toothpick to make a cobweb. You can also add a small olive to act as the "spider".
16. Tacos
Build traditional tacos but with crushed blue corn chips on top for a layer of "graveyard dirt". Add mini baked tortilla tombstones with sour cream crosses and shredded lettuce gives the impression of grass.
17. Candy Apples
Make poison candy apples by baking and glazing the apples with dark caramel or blackberry syrup. This will give it a poison apple effect, and you can garnish it with edible glitter to deliver a magical sheen.
18. Meatloaf
Some kids are already scared of meatloaf, but this will truly terrify them. Shape your raw meatloaf into a zombie head using ketchup for "blood" and onion slices for "eyes". This Halloween twist is one of the gorier ones, but it's a lot of fun, and your kids will enjoy making it with you.
19. Chicken Drumsticks
Chicken drumsticks are an ordinary meal, but bat wing chicken drumsticks are a Halloween delight that your guests will love. Coat the chicken drumsticks in a black garlic soy glaze, which will give it the appearance of a glossy and dark bat wing. Bake or grill until they are nice and caramelized. They'll look weird in a Halloween way, and the flavor is next level.
20. Harvest Salad
A delicious harvest salad has been begging for a Halloween spin for years. To make a haunted harvest salad, mix roasted pumpkin, black rice, and candied pecans. Top with ghost-shaped goat cheese cutouts.. This salad also embodies the best of fall flavors.
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