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If you’re in the market for Halloween dinner ideas for adults, you’ve definitely come to the right place. I’ve trawled the internet to find the spookiest, most awesome, and most delicious dishes that you could serve up to your loved ones at this scary time of year.
Are you sitting comfortably? Ready to begin?
21 Halloween Dinner Ideas for Adults
There’s a little something for everyone in this list, from meaty dishes to vegan and vegetarian ones. Feel free to use the table of contents to find the recipes that most appeal to you.
1: Bloody Red Wine Pasta with Mozzarella Bats
With five cloves of garlic, this one will definitely keep the vampires away… if you want to, of course! You can always skip the garlic if you’re hoping for Edward Cullen to walk through the door.
Cooked in red wine and finished off with double cream (that’s heavy cream, for my American readers), this is one luxurious dinner idea that is definitely perfect for spooky season.
And, with absolutely no meat, it’s even vegetarian-friendly. If you switch the heavy cream and cheese for dairy-free versions, this dish can even be made into a vegan-friendly one.
2: Roasted Carrots with Black Sesame Dressing
The best thing about this Halloween dish is that it can actually be served up at any time of the year. The colouring is what makes this one on-trend for spooky season, but there’s nothing gruesome or particularly Halloweenie about it.
Another great dish for the herbivores amongst you, the ingredient list is short, and the prep work is minimal, too.
3: Empanadas de Entrails
This recipe transforms traditional Mexican dishes into something that looks like it’s come straight out of an episode of The Walking Dead – but you won’t actually be eating body parts, I promise you!
If you like puff pastry, chorizo, pepper Jack cheese, onions, and a wonderfully tangy chipotle sauce with a little special (and fruity) ingredient, I predict you’re going to love this spooky empanadas dinner!
4: Spooky Shepherd’s Pie
This one is more cute than gruesome, and perhaps better suited to big kids (and little ones) rather than the proper grown ups.
Shepherd’s pie is a great warming dish for autumn and winter, and the recipe is simple and relatively cheap. Not only that, you can make this one in bulk and freeze the leftovers for later!
No food waste here, right, folks?
5: Vampire Steaks with Garlic and Red Wine Reduction
Another dish that’ll keep the vampires away, this spooky Halloween dinner idea is great for when you want to inject a little bit of the Halloween theme into the occasion, but not to much. It’s got a nice, subtle Halloween feel to it.
This recipe lists Cabernet Sauvignon as the red wine of choice for the reduction, but you could use whatever red wine you have in the house. Why not pour yourself a glass while you’re cooking? Go on; you deserve it!
6: Garlic Baked Brie Spider
Deliciously flaky puff pastry, creamy Brie cheese, a sprinkling of flavoursome herbs, plus a touch of prosciutto…
This might be one of the best, most perfect Halloween dinner ideas for adults ever.
Ready in just 45 minutes and requiring fewer than 12 separate ingredients, this one is a relatively easy dish that will impress the hell out of your friends, colleagues, family members and loved ones.
7: Green Goblin Halloween Spinach Soup
This soup not only looks the part, would make for a great main dish or starter, and is easy to make, it’s also super nutritious. In fact, this might be the trick to get your kids to finally eat their greens!
Two minutes of prep time plus 17 minutes of cooking time makes this a great dish to whip up at the last minute, and this recipe makes enough for four servings.
Just remember: you can always freeze the leftovers to prevent food waste. Future you will thank you for it!
8: Halloween Meatball Eyes
Need some Halloween inspiration for dinner? This one definitely ticks the super creepy Halloween snack and food ideas box! The kids will love it. The adults might not, though.
You’ll need to create this one a little bit ahead of time, especially if you want nice and tender, juicy meatballs. The recipe gives you ingredient amounts for various dish sizes.
9: Frankenguac (Frankenstein Guacamole)
If you’re in the mood to get creative with your Halloween snack and food ideas, this is definitely one you should take a peek at. Combining all things Frankenstein with all things avocado… it’s a recipe for success, if you’re asking for my personal opinion.
You don’t need much in the way of ingredients: olives, sour cream, tortilla chips (preferably blue), and avocados/guacamole. The little kids AND the big kids will love it, I’d bet money on it!
10: Savoury Fried Pumpkin Ravioli
There’s enough ravioli in this dish for 8 whole servings, so if you’re planning a dinner with a large number of people, this is definitely an easy one to turn to.
And, containing absolutely no meat, this pasta dish will also be great for the vegetarian guests.
11: Wildflower Honey BBQ Drumsticks with Jack O’Lantern Mac & Cheese
If you’d like to experience drumsticks in a floral, twangy BBQ sauce, this Halloween recipe might just tick all the right boxes for you.
Of course, without the spooky accessories, this dinner idea can be served up at any time of the year – and it gives you the perfect excuse to finally use the BBQ that’s been sitting, getting dusty for a while.
12: Shrunken Potato Heads
If you’re looking for a spooky new way to do potatoes this Halloween, may I please suggest this actually quite frightening recipe from Tesco?
It’s so simple, and very clever. And, even better than that, you can serve up these shrunken potato heads with virtually anything, including a number of main dishes in this list! There’s a little ‘slime dip’ recipe included with this one, but you could serve up the spuds with a range of sauces. Heck, you could even add food colouring to regular ol’ gravy, if you wanted to!
13: Slow Cooker Witches Brew Stew
If it’s warming and wholesome you’re in the market for, this slow cooker witches brew stew is a definite winner – and it’s one of those recipes where you can throw everything in the pot and then leave it to cook for hours, without having to worry about it.
With hot sausage and a range of other ‘extra’ ingredients, I’m actually super excited to try this stew for myself. And, if you really like it, you can take out the spook-factor and serve it up at any time of the year! You can even freeze portion-sized leftovers to reduce your food waste.
14: Pumpkin Cheese Fondue
No party would be complete without a fondue, and this one brings the cheese, which of course I love.
Serve this one up with your favourite fondue cheese, and your favourite dippable snacks, and a few Halloween-themed appetisers or sides. Throw on some fake spiders for added effect and your dinner table will literally be to die for.
15: Amputated Appetiser
This gruesome Halloween dinner idea is so gruesome because it is super realistic, but that’s what makes it perfect for your spooky-themed event.
The ingredient list is simple and short, and it’s actually relatively easy to put together, despite how difficult and complex it looks. And if there was a prize for best Halloween food, this dish would most definitely win it!
16: Pumpkin and Kale Pizza
No list of Halloween foods would be complete without something pumpkin-based, being the most traditionally thought-of food when it comes to the season of all things scary and spooky. I’ve decided to bring you this little treat, but you’ll find plenty more tasty pumpkin-based recipes in the pumpkin pages of Buzzy Kitchen. Just cut the ingredients into Halloween-themed shapes, such as bats or cats, and you’ve got a spooky-themed dish in a flash.
Tomato sauce and pumpkin go together quite fabulously, which means that they’ll make a great combination of tastes for a pizza. These crunchy pizzas will also cook in no time at all. Six minutes to be exact. And although this combo is a vegetarian one, there’s nothing to stop you from making a meaty variety for your meat-eating guests, too.
17: Jack O’Lantern Buffalo Chicken Skillet Dip
If you’ve got five minutes of prep time and 25 minutes of cooking time, you’ve got time to throw together this Jack O’Lantern buffalo chicken skillet dip.
Deliciously served up with salty French bread rolls, there’s no need to explain why this one has received 5 out of 5 star ratings. It’s perfect for sit-down dinners and buffet-style dinners alike, and even the kids can enjoy it as much as the grown-ups can!
18: Pizza Skulls
If there was ever a time to buy some scary moulds, such as skulls or other bones, right now is it! I’ve featured so many different ‘regular’ dishes that have been completely transformed into a magnificent Halloween marvel with the help of a skull shape. Just take a peek at the Halloween pages of Buzzy Kitchen if you don’t believe me.
This recipe recreates the typical pepperoni pizza, but you could go wild with your pizza toppings – which are, in this case, more like pizza fillings.
What would you have in yours?
19: Stuffed Mushroom Eyeballs
One of the greatest thing about Halloween dinner ideas for adults like this one is that it can be easily tweaked. Use smaller stuffed mushrooms as a side, or a dish on a Halloween buffet table; or use larger stuffed mushrooms as a meat substitute for vegan or vegetarian meal.
You could even use different ingredients to recreate the eyeball look, depending on your taste preferences.
20: Soup in a Pumpkin
This soup is a pumpkin idea uses actual pumpkin for the basis of the soup, but you could use any flavour of soup inside the pumpkin bowl itself. The versatility of this idea is what makes it so great.
Not only are the ingredients versatile, but you have a few different ways of serving this dish up. You could serve up a large cauldron of soup and then let people ladle their own helpings, or you could serve up individual soups for a more sit-down affair.
21: Jack O’Lantern Cheeseburgers
The spooky Jack O’Lantern shape is what takes this dish from regular cheeseburger to Halloween cheeseburger – and there are so many other ‘regular’ foods that you could easily spook-up using tricks just like this.
Although this recipe uses one type of cheese, there are so many other types you could use, including vegan or lactose-free cheese. The possibilities are, quite literally, endless.
Thank you for taking a peek at these Halloween dinner ideas for adults! If you haven’t found something you like yet, why not take a look around the other Halloween pages on Buzzy Kitchen?
I’d like to personally recommend these:
