1. Stuffed jack-o'-lantern bell peppers
The fact that bell peppers are shaped like pumpkins means you are already halfway there with this healthy Halloween dinner idea from Fountain Avenue Kitchen. Carve simple jack-o’-lantern faces on them, fill them with spaghetti and marinara sauce and serve!
2. Veg puff mummies
Puff pastry mummies are filled with a savory vegetarian mixture that includes carrots, corn, bell pepper and more. This adorab — er, we mean, very, very scary — finger-food dinner from Love Is in My Tummy is sure to please your little ghouls.
3. Halloween eyeball sub
This sub sandwich recipe from Kitchen Sanctuary is a little bit scary and all kinds of filling. Meatballs make for ghoulish heads that you can sink your teeth into, while radish and olive slices make for perfect peepers. Yikes! Oops, we mean, yum!
4. Eyeball taco salad
This savory, hearty taco salad from Taste of Home is a bit of a blank canvas for your creative interpretation of a scary food face — who’s to stop you from adding five eyes to yours? (Or maybe a cheese mouth with jagged “teeth”?) This recipe serves 10, so is ideal for your little witches and their friends.
5. Healthy Halloween chicken pot pie
Lynsey from Moscato Mom promises that this recipe is so good that you will not be able to tell it’s a little on the healthy side. Bonus: Picking up a rotisserie chicken at the store makes this recipe a super easy one for your busy, spooky night — and whether you go scary or cutesy with the jack-o'-lantern face is totally up to you.
6. Eyeball pasta
Edible eyeballs made from cheese and olives will turn any spinach pasta dish into a spooky — and maybe a little bit funny — dinner experience. Check out the photo tutorial from Spend With Pennies to see how it’s done.
7.Three-cheese candy corn quesadillas
Add chopped bell peppers to up the healthy factor on these scary — okay, scary cute — candy-corn-inspired quesadillas (such a genius cheese-melting strategy!) from No Biggie. Maybe even sneak some spinach in there. It’ll be a great trick for this treat, and we certainly won’t tell!
8. Spooky shepherd's pie
Little mashed potato ghosts are pipped onto this shepherd's pie recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything, and it’ll surely make you want to say, "Boo!" This one makes several servings, so it’s perfect for the whole crew.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in October 2018, and updated in October 2020.
