7 Celebrity Chef Halloween Recipes to Make This October
Discover seven delightful Halloween recipes from celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, perfect for both kids and adults this October. From quick snacks to warming dishes, there's something for everyone.
Halloween food usually falls into two camps: tearing open a supermarket multipack of sweets, or embarking on a baking project that swallows your entire weekend. These seven recipes from Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Great British Chefs sit happily in the middle ground. Some are quick, silly projects to keep the kids entertained, while others are proper, warming autumnal dishes for the grown-ups.
Every link goes straight to the original recipe, so you get the chef's exact method rather than a watered-down summary.
1. Jamie Oliver's Spider Pizzas
Best for: a quick party snack
Small tortilla rounds are instantly transformed into mini pizzas using just a bit of passata and melted Cheddar. Black olives do all the heavy lifting for the spooky element: use halves for the spider bodies and thin slices for the legs.
You don't need any special kit for these, and children can easily assemble their own. That takes a job off your hands when you are busy sorting out the rest of the table.
Try it: Jamie Oliver's Spider Pizzas
2. Nigella Lawson's Ghoul Graveyard Cake
Best for: the party centrepiece
This is a rich chocolate cake topped with dark icing and a miniature graveyard made from Halloween sweets. It looks brilliantly spooky but crucially doesn't require you to have any professional piping or decorating skills.
Stick it in the middle of the table to set the mood, or hide it away to surprise everyone after the savoury food is cleared.
Try it: Nigella Lawson's Ghoul Graveyard Cake
3. Squash, Stilton and Walnut Rolls
Best for: a savoury buffet
If you are suffering from sugar fatigue, these rolls from Jamie Oliver's website are the perfect antidote. Roasted butternut squash, crumbled Stilton and walnuts are wrapped in puff pastry to create something sweet, sharp and crunchy.
They are incredibly easy to hand round at a party, but they also work brilliantly alongside a bowl of hot soup for a quiet autumn supper.
Try it: Squash, Stilton and Walnut Rolls
4. Nigella Lawson's Roast Stuffed Pumpkin with Gingery Tomato Sauce
Best for: a grown-up Halloween main course
A whole roast pumpkin packed with rice, cranberries, warm spices and citrus zest, all served up with a gingery tomato sauce. Because the pumpkin goes to the table whole, the presentation does all the work for you.
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This is a slow, leisurely dish, so you will need to start early. Make sure you use a culinary pumpkin rather than an ornamental carving one, and trust Nigella's original method for the timings.
Try it: Nigella Lawson's Roast Stuffed Pumpkin with Gingery Tomato Sauce
5. Robert Thompson's Pumpkin Soup
Best for: warming up before trick-or-treating
Sometimes the best Halloween food is simply whatever will thaw you out. Robert Thompson's recipe on Great British Chefs roasts the pumpkin with thyme and butter first to build flavour, before blending it with softened onions and chicken stock.
Serve it in big bowls for dinner, or decant it into mugs at a party so your guests can eat while they mingle. A chunk of crusty bread and a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds finish it off perfectly.
Try it: Robert Thompson's Pumpkin Soup on Great British Chefs
6. Jamie Oliver's Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crumble
Best for: an autumn dessert with serious crunch
Pumpkin pie is technically an American Thanksgiving tradition, but the warm spices and creamy filling are perfectly suited to a UK October. Jamie's take on it adds a brilliant pecan crumble topping and cleverly uses butternut squash instead of pumpkin, which is much easier to get hold of.
It takes a bit longer to put together than the snacks above, so definitely make it ahead of time. Serve it with a generous pouring of cream.
Try it: Jamie Oliver's Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crumble
7. Nigella Lawson's Creepy Cookies
Best for: a rainy afternoon baking with children
Classic sugar cookies cut into Halloween shapes and finished off with icing. Ghosts, bats and pumpkins are the obvious routes to go down. The younger helpers can happily throw sprinkles at them, while older ones can tackle the finer piping details.
You can bake the biscuits a few days in advance and just save the decorating for the day itself. They are great for party bags, the buffet table, or bribing the trick-or-treaters at the front door.
Try it: Nigella Lawson's Creepy Cookies
Planning the menu
The easiest way to host is to pair one or two of the quick dishes with something you have made ahead. The spider pizzas and cookies will keep the kids busy, while the hot soup, pastry rolls or stuffed pumpkin will keep the adults happy.
A quick safety note once the carving is finished: check what kind of pumpkin you actually have. A culinary pumpkin is great for soups and bakes. An ornamental carving pumpkin will taste awful and should stay firmly on the doorstep.
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