20 Halloween Potluck Ideas

Slow Cooker Chicken Chili Recipe

This slow-cooker chicken chili is a great addition to your cool weather weeknight meal rotation, especially when it comes to a Halloween potluck. Calling for a mixture of beans and hominy, this recipe boasts bold, rich flavor, something that can often be dulled in a slow cooker. Processing some of the beans in a food processor thickens the soup, lending a heartier texture to the dish. We suggest serving the soup with green onions, cheese, cilantro, peppers, and plain yogurt, a great substitute for sour cream. Perfect for a potluck, ideal for cool weather, and guaranteed to make your home smell amazing while you're gone, this slow cooker chili is sure to make your "must make again" list.

Chicken Curry Moon Pies Recipe

Toasting the cumin brings out its flavor, and a bit of Madras curry powder makes this a savory pie that's as appealing to grown-ups as it is to kids.

Boo-tiful Pumpkin Cake Recipe

Make two recipes of this pumpkin cake and create your own tasty pumpkin!

Graveyard Cake Recipe

Halloween desserts definitely call for having a little extra fun in the kitchen. This kinda-cute, kinda-creepy Graveyard Cake is easy to make, fun to decorate (so recruit the kids' help), and is sure to be a perfectly spooky centerpiece for any Halloween dessert table. Black icing transforms store-bought cookies into perfectly-sized miniature headstones for the chocolate-frosted graveyard cake. And once you've placed your headstones, crumble chocolate wafer cookies around each to create "dirt." Just be sure to make each "gravesite" the serving size you want to ensure easy slicing. Disperse a few candle "lanterns" throughout the chocolaty graveyard and you have the perfect cake for a Halloween birthday party. The classic chocolate cake recipe here is decadent and moist, but if you're in a pinch for time, feel free to use your favorite boxed cake mix instead. Obviously, it's all about the decorating for this Halloween-inspired treat. 

Drogon's Breath Cocktail Recipe

In Game of Thrones lore, the dragon has three heads. And each would love to sate their thirst on this libation. A hint of bright citrus perfectly balances the rich earthy element that the wine in this cocktail delivers. Refreshing, delicately sweet, and tangy, this drink is fit for a queen. A few leaves of fresh basil adds a delightful herbaceous layer to the drink, but feel free to leave it out if basil isn't your flavor of choice or you don't have it on hand. Tame the Mother of Dragons with the refreshing summer sipper, or double up on the ingredients and serve this at your next King's Moot. 

Honey Chicken Wings Recipe

You're sure to get a standing ovation when guests sample this sweet-hot salsa, honey, and ginger marinade. The wings can be baked ahead of time, then served with blue cheese or Ranch dressing.

Ghostly Pizza Recipe

Frozen pizza dough is the secret to this easy pizza which is topped with slices of mozzarella cheese shaped like ghosts.

Jack-o'-lantern Cookies Recipe

These pumpkin spice flavored cookies are simple to made and a wonderful way to get kids involved in the kitchen.  After baking a batch of cookies, let them cool, frost with our homemade cream cheese icing, and decorate as shown to turn each cookie into the jack-o'-lantern face of your choice.  

Cheddar Witch's Fingers Recipe

These ghastly little nibbles are rich with cheesy flavor, and a real snap to make.  Be sure to keep the dough cool as you work with it to prevent stickiness.

Sausage Head Charcuterie Board Recipe

Sculpting a terrifying head using the components of a classic charcuterie board may be a labor of love, but for anyone who takes their Halloween entertaining seriously…  trust us, it's so worth it. 

Frankenstein Cookies  Recipe

Starting with refrigerated, store-bought cookie dough, these kooky Frankenstein cookies are an easy Halloween baking project to whip up this year. That said, packaged cookie dough is made to spread, so if you'd rather your Frankenstein cookies have rectangular or otherwise shaped faces (as opposed to these round-faced cuties), you can use a classic cut-out cookie dough that will better hold its shape. Follow the same method for coloring the dough, and then simply cut it into the shapes you want (freehand or using rectangular cookie cutters). In the recipe below, we provided a suggested path for decorating your Frankenstein cookies, but definitely feel free to go about designing and decorating these tasty little monsters however you please. If you'd rather, you can bake the green cookies plain and decorate as you please, using only icing pens once the cookies have cooled. Keep in mind—it's OK if they're a little messy.  They are monsters after all!

Brew-Ha-Ha Punch Recipe

With lime drink and pineapple juice, this party punch isn't scary at all–for the kids or the adults. But putting the punch in a second bowl of dry ice gives it that eerie feeling that's perfect for a spooky party.

Monster Eyes Recipe

Halloween is dominated by sweets so go the savory route and make these Monster Eyes with simple sausage ball ingredients and green olives with pimentos.

Ghost Cookies Recipe

Prepare for a  sweet scare when these adorable Halloween ghost cookies are all iced, decorated, and ready to party. Super easy and kid-friendly to make, these butter cut-out cookies coated with royal icing are the perfect dessert for your Halloween spread. Candy eyeballs add a playful, whimsical touch to these spooky treats, but you could also use black icing to draw eyes on your ghost cookies. Using a classic cut-out butter cookie dough keeps the edges of your ghost cookies shape neat and clean—no worries about the cookies expanding when they bake. Whip up a batch with the kids and let them go to town with the decorating for a fun Halloween kitchen activity.