Halloween is so much more than all that candy! When it comes to feeding your little ghosts and goblins before heading out to trick-or-treat this October, fill their tummies with good food before they start in on sugar. Of course, you can always go with the classics, like hot dogs or pizzas, but if you want to make supper a little more special for your little ghouls, we have all sorts of delicious Halloween dinner recipe ideas to choose from.You can make a tasty, wholesome, yet spooky Halloween supper that your children and guests will gobble up (even the picky eaters)! This post includes all the Halloween recipes you need, plus a sample meal plan and shopping list so all your work is done for you!

Halloween Dinner Ideas

You can never go wrong with chili on Halloween night. It was always a tradition in our family to have a big bowl of chili before going trick-or-treating! When we are feeling extra festive, we will serve our soup, chili, casserole in a pumpkin, or our mom’s spooky shepherd’s pie. Here are some super easy Halloween dinner ideas to try this year:

Soup In a PumpkinSpaghetti with Eyeballs (see recipe below)Dinner In a PumpkinEasy Shepherd’s PieMom’s Cheater Chili

Halloween Drinks

Just like Halloween dinner ideas, the possibilities for Halloween drinks are endless.

Soup in a Pumpkin

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Easy Shepherd’s Pie

Easy Chili Recipe

You can pretty much do any kind of punch and throw in some gummy worms or plastic eyeballs and you have a spooky punch. For Harry Potter themed Halloween parties, you can also try one of our specialty Harry Potter drinks (the perfect companion to any of our Halloween dinner ideas!). Any of these drink ideas are sure to be a hit at your next Halloween party:

Harry Potter Butterbeer Frozen ButterbeerPumpkin JuicePumpkin Spice SteamerShrunken Apple Head Punch (see recipe below)

Halloween Dessert Ideas

Oh how we LOVE our Halloween desserts! Any fall-inspired dessert with pumpkin is a great choice for Halloween. Make them extra “Halloween-y” by adding black frosting spiders or garnish with candy corn pumpkins.

Harry Potter Butterbeer

Frozen Butterbeer

Pumpkin Juice

Pumpkin Spice Steamer

Here are some great Halloween desserts to accompany any of our Halloween dinner ideas:

Pumpkin PastiesPumpkin Bundt Cake (What we used to make the Spider Bundt Cake below)Easy Pumpkin TriflePumpkin Sheet CakePumpkin Cobbler Cake

Halloween Treats

Just in case you aren’t getting enough sugar this Halloween while trick-or-treating, here are some ideas for some kid-friendly Halloween treats. These are perfect for class parties, potlucks, a witch’s night out, or trunk-or-treats!

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Pumpkin Pasties

Easy Pumpkin Trifle

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Halloween Charcuterie BoardCandy ApplesHalloween Candy BarkHalloween Rice Krispie Treats

Sample Halloween Dinner Menu Plan

Bread/Appetizer: Mummy Cheesy Garlic BreadMain Dish: Spaghetti with EyeballsSide Dish: Caesar “Spider” SaladDrink: Shrunken Apple Head PunchDessert: Giant Spider Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

Halloween Bread/Appetizer: Mummy Cheesy Garlic Bread

To make this monster bread, cut up some strips of mozzarella cheese (strips of string cheese work well too). Place them on a bakery garlic bread. Heat the bread in the oven at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes.Finally, add a couple olive slices for “eyes”.

Main Halloween Dinner Dish: Spaghetti with Eyeballs

Use your favorite canned spaghetti sauce, spaghetti pasta, store bought meatballs, cheese and olives. See the recipe below for more details.To give the spaghetti the twirled “nest” look, just twist big scoops spaghetti with a fork in a ladle (my niece Kelsey taught me how to do this and I LOVE how it looks)!Serve with a side of parmesan cheese for sprinkling.

Halloween Side Dish: Caesar Spider Salad

For this simple side, just use a bagged Caesar salad kit and place plastic spiders over the top.If you want to add eyeballs to this, slice grape tomatoes in half, slice off a circle of string cheese, and add an olive (much like the meatballs in the spaghetti). You can also add grilled chicken and serve this salad as more of a main course.

Halloween Drink: Shrunken (Apple) Head Punch

This is a fun way to get your kids involved in dinner preparation. Let them “carve” their own jack-o lanterns out of apples. They’ll get a kick out of seeing their apple “heads” floating in the punch!Slice each apple in half and let the kids carve out faces. Bake the apple halves in the oven at 200-degrees for about 10 minutes and then put them in the fridge to cool. You can also use a cookie cutter to create fun shapes in the apples.For the punch, use 2 liters of water, 2 liters ginger ale (chilled), 46 oz pineapple juice (chilled), and 4 Jolly Rancher Green Apple “On-The-Go” packets. Instead of putting ice in the punch bowl, you can put the ice in the individual glasses to prevent the juice from being watered down.

Halloween Dessert: Giant Spider Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

This might be my favorite thing on the whole menu (and my favorite Halloween dinner idea overall!). This was so fun to make and the finished product looked SO COOL. 

Halloween Charcuterie Board: The BEST Halloween Party Centerpiece

Candy Apples

Halloween Candy Bark

Halloween Rice Krispie Treats

For this cake make our Pumpkin Bundt Cake and divide the frosting in half.Use half of the frosting to lightly frost the whole cake.To the other half, add ⅓ cup dark cocoa powder and black food coloring and mix until the frosting turns black.Then, put the black frosting and in a gallon Ziplock bag, snip off the end and pipe 8 spider “legs” going from the center to the edges.Fill in the middle to make the spider “body” and a little dollop for the head.Finally, use a little extra of the white frosting to pipe little fangs and then use 2 Red Hots for the eyes.

Halloween Dinner Grocery List

To make things nice and easy for you, we have put together a shopping list for this particular meal plan. Here’s what you need for this easy Halloween dinner meal plan (FYI – The dinner feeds 4-6, the dessert feeds 12-15). You can download this list to your phone or to print below.

Dairy

Sour cream – 8 ounce carton4 large eggsSliced mozzarella cheese (low-moisture, part skim)Cream cheese – 16 ouncesButter – ½ cup

Produce

1 Family-size Caesar salad kitGranny Smith apples – 4 to 6 small apples

Bakery

Garlic bread – 1 loaf

Frozen

Pre-cooked frozen meatballs – 24 ounce bag

Baking

Vegetable or canola oil – ½ cupSpice cake mix – 15 ounce boxInstant pumpkin spice pudding mix – 3.4 ounce box (vanilla works great too if you can’t find pumpkin spice)Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips – 10 ouncesPowdered sugar – 32 ouncesCocoa powderVanilla extractBlack food coloringRed Hots (or any other tiny, round red candies)

General Grocery

Spaghetti noodles – 16 ouncesSpaghetti sauce – 24 ounce jarSliced olives – 2.5 ounce canPimento-stuffed green olives – 1 small jarGinger ale – 2 litersJolly Rancher Green Apple “On-The-Go” packets (6 pack)Pineapple juice – 46 ounces

Printable Shopping List

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