41 Scary-Good Halloween Recipes To Make This Fall

This spooky spin on a red velvet cake is...wait for it... bloody delicious.

Get the Dead Velvet Cake recipe.

Don’t just make plain old cupcakes for your next Halloween bash, make zombie brain cupcakes! They’re nothing more than a moist, chocolate cupcake with rich vanilla frosting, but some neon green food coloring and clever piping turn these into a super-festive, spooky treat. (Oh, and some blood red decorating gel—we're really getting into it.)

Get the Zombie Brain Cupcakes recipe.

This soft, rich, buttermilk almond cake is infused with a tart cherry sauce (“blood”!) and topped off with a light, fluffy whipped cream for a dessert that’s equally tasty and scary. Trust us when we say this is one time you’ll be craving blood too. 😉

Get the Vampire Poke Cake recipe.

Ghouls, goblins, and witches to the front, please! Spooky season is here, and we’re celebrating in style with these scary delicious witch finger cookies. A witch finger cookie is exactly what it sounds like: a shortbread cookie shaped into a severed finger and adorned with an almond nail and a bit of blood-red jam.

Get the Witch Finger Cookies recipe.

These shooters are the PERFECT spooky Halloween cocktail. No Halloween party is complete without a little blood, right? Bonus: These go great with eyeball pasta!

Get the Bloody Mary Syringes recipe.

Looking for something delicious that's only a little bit spooky this Halloween? Try these adorable raviolis filled with ricotta, Parmesan, and finely chopped pear. We made these from wonton wrappers, rather than pasta dough, to make them scary easy on you too. You're welcOoOme.

Get the Ghost Purse Ravioli recipe.

Take your favorite risotto recipe into fall with the addition of pumpkin puree, sage, and just a pinch of nutmeg. We love the creaminess the shaved ricotta salata adds, but Parm's fine if that's all you got.

Get the Pumpkin Risotto recipe.

In the Harry Potter books, pumpkin juice is traditionally served over ice for a refreshing drink that screams fall; however, you could also warm this up in a mug for something more cozy.

Get the Pumpkin Juice recipe.

While we love classic tomato soup, we sometimes want to shake things up a bit when fall comes around. This soup gets an extra creamy dose, not only thanks to sweet pumpkin puree, but also with heavy cream and sharp Parmesan. One of the best parts? Both the soup and cheese sticks are ready in under 30 minutes, great to throw together before going out trick or treating.

Get the Pumpkin Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese Sticks recipe.

Thanks to puff pastry, your basic baked brie becomes a totally spooky Halloween appetizer. Perfect for your Halloween party spread or to snack on while you watch scary movies!

Get the Mummy Brie recipe.

Kick off your Halloween bash with this booze-spiked brain Jell-O shot! This is truly insane in the membrane.

Get the Brain Big Batch Jell-O Shot recipe.

If you love crescent rolls and are as obsessed with tacos as we are, this Halloween-inspired appetizer is calling your name. Created to playfully represent a spider with crescent roll legs and a crescent roll ring body stuffed with a beefy taco-spiced filling, it’s equal parts cute, creepy, and downright tasty.

Get the Spider Taco Ring recipe.

This creamy pumpkin & Parmesan chicken skillet is a one-pan dish that bathes chicken breasts in a garlicky pumpkin cream sauce. This recipe is super-versatile, allowing you to mix up whatever you want to pair it with (of course, you can also just enjoy it on its own!)

Get the Creamy Pumpkin & Parmesan Chicken Skillet recipe.

Dirt pudding (aka dirt cups) is a classic kids' recipe that everyone should know how to make. Using crushed Oreos to mimic dirt and garnishing with gummy worms might sound kind of silly, but the truth is this: This creamy and indulgent layered dessert tastes ridiculously good, is incredibly easy to whip together, and is equally as fun to make as it is to eat.

Get the Dirt Pudding recipe.

These scary cute no-bake monsters are essentially Oreo truffles all dressed up for Halloween. We've added our favorite candies to the mix too. As far as the coating goes, we like to dye melted white chocolate green, but candy melts would work equally well. There is, however, no substitute for the candy eyeballs.

Get the Monster Truffles recipe.

If you think every bowl of chili should be hidden under mounds of melty cheese and a big dollop of sour cream, this is the casserole for you. With roasted sweet potatoes and black bean chili layered together under a gooey blanket of cheese, this easy vegetarian weeknight dinner is both incredibly comforting and surprisingly hearty, perfect for Halloween night.

Get the Chili Cheese Sweet Potato Casserole recipe.

Hocus Pocus is a must-watch every year, and with a new one finally coming out this year, we had to celebrate. These chocolate cookies are simple, chewy, and slightly crispy. Black cocoa powder is what makes them their dark rich color, perfect for a black cat.

Get the Hocus Pocus Binx Cookies recipe.

These candied pepitas are crispy, crunchy perfection with a dash of warm spice to make them ideal for fall snacking. If you can avoid eating all of these directly off the pan with your hands, you can use them to top pretty much anything.

Get the Candied Pepitas recipe.

Channel your inner vampire with these deliciously gory cupcakes. The secret? Glass candy and red food-dyed corn syrup!

Get the Blood Drip Cupcakes recipe.

These are the spookiest treat to make with your kids at home or in the classroom for the annual Halloween party. We used store-bought ingredients just to make things a little easier for you. All the fun comes in assembling so we don’t want you to tire out baking; however, if you really want a good homemade chocolate chip cookie, we have it.

Get the Dracula Dentures recipe.

This easy ghost cake is so cute and the ghost meringues make for the sweetest topping. We opted for a chocolate cake, but a red velvet cake would really amp up the Halloween vibes. Go ahead and serve some ghost cookies along with the cake!

Get the Ghost Cake recipe.

Baked, not stirred, this recipe for pumpkin risotto takes some of the work off the chef without sacrificing that classic risotto flavor and texture. And it's not just pumpkin and butternut squash that bring the fall flavor in this dish—A sprinkle of goat cheese, parsley, and the tart-sweet touch of dried cranberries round out the earthy autumnal vibes.

Get the Baked Pumpkin Risotto recipe.

We predict this edible Ouija board will spell Y-U-M. Once you learn how easy it is to make your own edible cake toppers, you'll be almost too powerful.

Get the Ouija Board Cake recipe.

These black sugar-coated apples are the perfect way to spook out guests this Halloween. This recipe might be the fairest of them all!

Get the Poison Apples recipe.

Did you know you can turn a classic Nutter Butter into one very spooky treat? Now you do! If you love these, you'll have to try our flip-flop cookies in the summer.

Get the Mummy Pops recipe.

White chocolate casts a soft glow on its own under a black light, but we gave it some extra oomph by mixing the melted chocolate with a little tonic water. It naturally casts an eery green glow under a black light too!

Get the Glowing Black Widow Oreo Pops recipe.

Dinner on Halloween can be anything but regular—it's gotta be spooky! Our classics have been Jack-o'-Lantern stuffed peppers and ghost pizza bagels, but now we're obsessed with turning ordinary meatballs into scary works of art by making them look like monster eyeballs.

Get the Eyeball Pasta recipe.

These decadent and fudgy brownies are worth making from scratch. But, if you're in a time crunch, feel free to sub in your favorite boxed brownie mix. For more spooky inspiration, check out our best Halloween desserts.

Get the Ghost Marshmallow Brownies recipe.

You'll love these even more than the Sanderson Sisters loved their booooook!

Get the Hocus Pocus-Inspired S'mores Pops recipe.

This cake is delicious proof that nothing is going to come between us and chocolate cake. Not even spiders.

Get the Spiderweb Cake recipe.