When anyone thinks of Halloween, the first food that comes to mind is probably candy. Children and adults alike look forward to dressing up in costumes, going door to door, or having parties, and filling their “trick or treat” bags with lots of yummy candy. There is candy corn, lollipops, and of course, chocolate, but what about people (like me) who prefer savory to sweet food? I would trade a whole bag of candy for one indulgent, savory dish. Even if you do love sweets, it is also fun to put a Halloween spin on other dishes, such as appetizers, sandwiches, and entrees. Here are some ideas and recipes for spookalicious, savory Halloween dishes that will delight all the boys and ghouls.

1. Put a Scary Spin on Recipes

To make savory Halloween dishes, all you have to do is use your imagination to take foods you already cook and give them a spooky look. Here are some ideas featuring some awesome One Green Planet recipes.

• Get into a creepy state of mind and think of body parts with BBQ Balsamic Seitan and Tempeh Ribs served with extra bloody-looking barbeque sauce.
• Make Mashed Potatoes and Celery Root, put them into a pastry bag, and squeeze them out in spirals similar to soft-serve ice cream to make savory ghosts that can sit atop a bloody-looking bowl of chili.
• Use cookie cutters to turn Vegan Tofu Scallops or Crispy Tofu Nuggets into pumpkins, black cats, and witches.
• Shape the dough of this Puttanesca Panzarotti into triangles to make mini-calzones that look like witches’ hats.
• Roast an entire head of cauliflower and top it with any red sauce or glaze. It will look like you are serving brains.
• Make these Healthy Vegan Cheez-It Crackers, but shape them into fingers or toes that can be dipped into ghouly-green guacamole or bloody-red salsa dips.
• Serve foods that are orange and black like this Low-Fat Yammus and this Forbidden Black Rice with Ginger and Coconut.
• Whip up some hummus and scoop it out into a ball onto a plate. Cover it with shredded carrots so it looks like a pumpkin and add a piece of scallion for the stem. Make it with this Pumpkincredible Hummus so not only will it look like a pumpkin but it will taste like one.
• Make a Healthy Superfood Trail Mix and add Vegan Candy Corn for a savory snack mix with a bit of Halloween sweetness.

2. Vegan Mozzarella Eyeballs With Bloody Salsa

This recipe was one that I first made when I participated in a challenge from a television cooking show. The challenge was to remake a recipe of theirs each week and post a photo of it online. I not only made the recipes, but I veganized them. When I posted them online, I got to show thousands of people that it was possible to make the same dishes without any animal products. This recipe makes four big eyeballs, so you would want to make as many eyeballs as necessary for your number of guests.

To make Vegan Mozzarella Eyeballs in Bloody Salsa: Slice 4 large green pimento-stuffed olives into disks about ¼-inch thick. With a cookie cutter, cut 4 rounds out of 2 blocks of vegan mozzarella cheese. Place an olive disk in the center of each cheese round and with a paring knife, trace around the olive. Cut out a chunk of the mozzarella from the outline so that the olive can fit inside the hole. Wrap 2 vegan deli slices around each of the cheese eyeballs. You may need to hold them in place with toothpicks. Fill 2 bowls with 1 cup of store-bought or homemade salsa each and carefully place your eyeballs…well, 2 of the eyeballs you made…into each bowl. Alternatively, you can fill a large bowl with salsa and have lots of eyeballs staring at your guests.

Get the FALL Cookbook!

3. Cheesy Witch Fingers

These Cheesy Witch Fingers may look scary but don’t worry, they are also really yummy. They are just cheese crackers with a chilling “handmade” touch. Combine 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. paprika, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. cayenne pepper in a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix everything. Add 1 cup room-temperature vegan butter and 1 cup vegan cheddar cheese shreds and process until everything is well combined. Sprinkle some flour on a work surface. Remove the mixture from the food processor and shape it into a tube. Divide the tube into 2-inch pieces. If you want to make witch toes, make 1-inch pieces. Roll each piece into a thin tube, pinching the tube slightly in the middle to make it look like a finger. Look at your fingers for a guide but pretend you are a hundred years old – no smooth skin here. Using a toothpick or a fork tine, draw on knuckle lines. On the end of each tube, add a raw, skinless almond slice, pointy side up so that it looks like a fingernail. Arrange the fingers on a baking sheet, sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper, and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool. Be careful when you’re eating these – keep track of whose fingers you’re chewing on.

4. Impaled Italian Mummies

Turn a dish of spaghetti and meatballs or sausages into mysterious mummified munchies. Cook fettuccine or other wide noodles in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside. Cut bamboo skewers in half so they are about 6 inches long. Spear a vegan Italian sausage or a few Lentil Meatballs onto the skewer, leaving at least 2 inches for a handle. Cover the sausage or meatballs with a thick layer of green pesto, and then wrap the fettuccine noodles around on a diagonal to make mummies. Let some of the green pesto show through for a decomposing effect. It will also act as glue so you can stick capers on for eyes. Have some blood-red marinara sauce handy for dipping and dripping.

5. Spider Web Soup

Serve your victims…I mean, guests…orange and red soups with spider webs made out of vegan sour cream. For the soups, choose from orange Curried Pumpkin Soup or red Borscht. To make the spider web, mix 3 Tbs. vegan sour cream and 1 Tbs. non-dairy milk. Fill a plastic condiment bottle with the sour cream mixture and carefully squeeze an open circle onto the soup. Squeeze out another circle around the first circle and then another around the second circle. Continue until you have 4 circles. Use a toothpick to drag lines from the center out toward the edges to create a web design. Place a raisin or two on top of the web to look like spiders and flies. It will be the first time you will enjoy having a fly in your soup.

6. More Halloween-themed dishes

The people who contribute recipes to One Green Planet are a talented and enchanting group of cooks. Check out some of the wicked concoctions they brewed up in their vegan cauldrons.

• Start the day with this Purple Monster Vegan Oatmeal.
• Buttercup squash, tofu, and kidney beans come together to make these Spooky Buttercup Dippers in an Indian-Spiced Stew.
• Another creatively creepy idea is this Super-Scary Spicy Vegan Chili – carve faces into bell peppers like you would a jack o’ lantern and then stuff them with red chili that spills out of the eyes and mouth holes.
• Spooky Zucchini Noodles covered with pesto and vegan mozzarella balls create a scary green monster face that kids and adults will love.
• No party should be without this Trio of Spooky Vegan Halloween Spreads: Boo-tiful Butternut Squash White Bean Spread, Ghostly Cashew Cream White Bean Spread, and Scary Slime Green Bean White Bean Spread.
• Cast some spells with this potion called Witches Brew Smoothie which can be made with beet juice for an extra-ghastly effect.

Serve up these devilish and spine-chilling savory dishes at your next Halloween gathering and have a scary good time. Your guests will devour everything. Beware….I mean, enjoy and Happy Halloween.

Related Content:

• Halloween-Inspired Cocktails and Mocktails
• 7 Fun Halloween Activities for Homebound Trick-or-Treaters
• Ghoulishly Good Halloween Dishes – From Breakfast to Dessert!
• Tips for Keeping Pets Safe on Halloween
• Trick-or-Treat Yo’self This Halloween With 25 Vegan Candy Recipes!

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!