Last Minute Easy Halloween Dinner Ideas

I've been making fun food for my kids for Halloween ever since they were born! I'm a sucker for a theme and Halloween is a big one. With so much candy at the heart of the season I've done my best to collect great {mostly healthy} and for sure easy Halloween dinner ideas that I want to share with you.

There are a few easy ways to get you there:

1. Dress up regular food and serve it in a fun spooky way
2. Use Orange, Black, or Purple foods
3. Create a fun shape
4. Make it scary with creepy molds

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Dress up Regular Food

Witch Finger Breadsticks

Witch finger breadsticks are a CLASSIC. I usually pair them with my butternut squash and apple soup. In a hurry? Buy ready made breadstick dough. Use kitchen shears to snip 2 cuts at each knuckle then pinch in between to get a finger shape. After baking baste with melted butter tinted green. Add the sliced almond fingernail using cream cheese or cheese spread.

Goblin Spaghetti with Blood Bag Sauce

This is an easy Halloween dinner sure to impress! Simple spaghetti with meatball eyes, bone breadsticks, and blood bag spaghetti sauce! You can get these labels free in the Parties With A Cause Resource Library.

After many requests I also designed a set of, more realistic looking, editable blood bag labels available in the shop. {Shown above} 

Hot Dog Entrails

A “bowl of intestines” is so easy to whip up! My kids were a little put off by the idea of entrails so my daughter dubbed them “eyeball spaghetti”. ??‍ Whatever works. They may have thought it looked gross but they sure gobbled it up.

Slice the hot dogs then thread onto uncooked pasta. I used two pieces of hot dog for each bundle of 3 noodles. Boil as usual but increase cook time to make sure the noodles are soft are the way through the hot dog. If this isn't an easy Halloween dinner idea I don't know what is!

Eye Ball Caprese

A caprese is a favorite Italian dish of my family. The simple fresh ingredients are a wonderful alternative to a salad and something my kids will actually eat! Start with a large basil leaf, add a slice of fresh tomato, top with a slice of mozzarella, then add two olive slices with tomato or pimento pupils to finish it off. We usually add a drizzle of balsamic right before serving.

Use Specific Colors

Orange & Black

Fun foods like these orange and black chips spring up in the fall. Serve them with salsa, queso, or guacamole and you're done. I added a mini Halloween fan to a BBQ skewer to make it even more festive.

Can't find Halloween chips? Blue corn chips are purple and make a great substitute. You can even mix them with Dorito's if you're looking for the color combo.

Purple Foods

There are lots of naturally occurring purple vegetables that typically make an appearance this time of year. Purple potatoes are my favorite. You can find them at most large grocery stores and specialty shops like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Cook according to your family preference {baked, fried, roasted, mashed, etc}. We prefer mashed around here.

Peel, boil, and mash with butter and salt to taste. Some of the color is lost in the boiling process but the remaining purple grey mash is even more spooky looking!

Create a Fun Shape

Now you can just drop a scoop of potato on each plate or you can take a minute to spoon it into a ziploc bag, snip the corner and pipe it onto the plates to create these goblins for your easy Halloween dinner side dish.

Have you tried a Baggy Rack? It's totally changed my life! {ok, that's a bit dramatic} but it has come in really handy to fill bags. You can check out the Baggy Racks out here.

*If using white potatoes they would be ghosts. Add eyes using pieces of nut, olives, or even a few sprinkles. I had pine nuts on hand to pop in for the eyes.

Breakfast Boo

How about breakfast for an easy Halloween dinner? These are another favorite of mine. Using a condiment squeeze bottle for the batter gives you control to write words, draw shaped and make pictures on your pan! Kids LOVE this. Pick up a condiment bottle here.

What will you create with it for your pancake art?  Serve sausage and pancakes then top with clementines, mangoes, melon, bananas and whipped cream for a fun meal.

Then how about a snack for after dinner? Or at school? Filling plastic gloves up with popcorn is a super fun presentation. These Wilton hand shaped treat bags are available at craft & party stores but you can also use clear food handler gloves like these.

Just be warned that getting the popcorn into each finger is a bit tedious! Serve these up after trick or treating while settling down to watch Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, or maybe your kids are braver than mine and you can venture out into something a little more spooky on this list of awesome Halloween movies for family night!

Make it Scary

If your kids are brave enough you can try making a red velvet brain cake

…Or jello earth worms for a dessert. If they haven't already O.D.'d on candy! These are great for a party!

All set to Trick or Treat

Now that we've got full tummies we're all set to trick or treat! I hope that you'll try some of these Easy Halloween Dinner ideas. If you do, I'd love to hear how it went and even more to see photos of YOUR Halloween dinner plate! Stay safe and have SO MUCH FUN!

Until next time my friend,