Don't wait until the last minute to create a menu for your Halloween celebration. For those feeling overwhelmed, starting out with delicious appetizers featuring a spooky twist is an easy way to jumpstart plans for a gathering.

Whether you are hosting a group of candy-obsessed kids or an adults-only costume party, there are several spooky appetizers that will frighten your guests and satisfy their stomachs.

Below are 10 Halloween appetizer recipes that will bring a creepy vibe to any menu during the ghoulish season.

1. Halloween Veggie Platter - Cauliflower Skull

Trick your children into eating healthy this Halloween by daring them to take a bite out of this creepy cauliflower skull. Fitted with yummy cherry red tomato eyes and surrounded by other fresh veggies, like carrots, peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, and more, this platter will surely bring a little fright to your celebration.

2. Vomiting Watermelon Fruit Tray

The name may be a little gross, but the dish is not. Put your carving skills to the test by turning a typical watermelon into a jack-o-lantern. The spin on the popular summer treat will allow guests to nosh on watermelon, bananas, cantaloupe, and more.

Halloween 2020
The CDC has released official guidelines about Halloween. Pexels/Pixabay

3. Sausage Head Charcuterie Board

This will definitely be the angriest appetizer you'll ever serve. This Halloween twist on a classic charcuterie board uses beef sticks and toothpicks to create an edible pinhead. Use the head as a centerpiece to surround it with assorted cheeses, crackers, and course-grained mustard as a dip for a memorable appetizer.

4. Halloween Jack Skellington Ricotta Olive Tarts

While the kids may want to eat these tarts based on appearance, this satisfying appetizer may better serve more mature pallets. Filled with sundried tomatoes, black olives, and thyme leaves, the app is then topped with a ricotta, greek yogurt filling. Before being placed in the oven for a final time, the tart is decorated to resemble the face of Tim Burton's Jack Skellington.

5. Halloween Bloody Baked Rats

No matter how tasty it may be, the mere appearance of the dish may leave this appetizer untouched during any Halloween celebration. The recipe from Food features mini meatloaves stuffed with cheese that have been baked in tomato sauce and shaped like rats. Once you cut up carrots for the ears, and use noodles as tails, your guests may completely avoid the appetizer table.

6. Bloodshot Deviled Eyeballs

This creamy batch of deviled eggs features a twisted platter of eyeballs with black olive slices as pupils and thinly sliced pimiento for veins. The edible organs can be placed on a bed of black beans to further add an unsettling twist to this Halloween-themed appetizer.

7. Spooky Snake Breadsticks

Allow guests to slither these tasty green breadsticks into decadent marinara sauce during your Halloween celebration. To achieve the perfect color of green for your edible reptiles, bake the snake breadsticks until it's almost done, for about 15 minutes. Then paint on a mix of food coloring and water before baking for a final five minutes.

8. Mummy Meat Loaves

Allow the cupcake wrapper to fool your kids into thinking they're getting dessert. Instead, they'll bite into a mini mummy meatloaf topped with mashed potatoes and peas for eyes.

9. Mexican Cheese Ball

Your guest will never be able to look at cheese the same way after consuming this recipe from Boulder Locavore. After combining ingredients like cream cheese, pickled jalapeno peppers, Mexican cheese blend, Worcestershire sauce, and other kitchen staples, gently roll the cheese ball in a plate of black sesame seeds for a creepy Halloween appetizer.

10. Spooky Spider Fondue

This is one spider you won't want to hide from. The edible spider dish from Chefclub Network features breadstick legs stuffed with mozzarella and a baked-in bowl, which can be filled with your favorite pizza sauce.

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