The most useful ingredient in healthy Halloween recipes is a large helping of imagination!
Over the years I’ve discovered that there’s no need to make elaborately decorated dishes for Halloween. Simply create a suitably spooky atmosphere, turn off the lights, get a candle spluttering, and serve up some ghoulish monstrosities, for a fun Halloween celebration. Kids also enjoy it if you ask them to suggest foul names for their favourite foods - the yukkier the better! It's all part of the Halloween fun.
Here are some of our favourite healthy Halloween recipes for savoury snacks and dishes.
Roast bat – plump chicken thighs, rubbed with paprika and herbs to make them look suitably scabby, and baked in the oven.
Dragon’s claws – take medium baking potatoes, cut in half lengthways, then split each half into two or three ‘claws’. Oil a baking tray, spread out the potato slices in a single layer, brush lightly with olive oil and bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes until browned and tender.
Congealed blood dip – none other than our old friend tomato ketchup
Griddled bat wings – chicken wings, grilled or broiled until blackening slightly at the edges.
Maggots’ nest – mix cooked white rice with canned white beans (maggots)
Witch’s fingers – thin chipolata sausages, baked in the oven until well-browned and suitably gnarled
Goblin’s brains – noodles, tossed in a little oil and mixed with cooked peas and sweetcorn niblets
Mummy’s guts – spaghetti bolognaise
Witch’s brew – any chunky soup will do fine for this. Add cubes of rat – aka chicken – for extra flavour
Dead man’s leg – use a vegetarian recipe for nut roast or lentil bake, shape it into a curved, thigh-like form and bake. Tomato sauce provides the blood…
Healthy Halloween recipes: desserts
Black cat’s eyeballs – canned lychees, each one filled with a candied cherry
Hell-hound’s droppings – chocolate brownies, scattered with walnuts and broken up into suitably shaped pieces
Ghoul’s face – serve rice pudding or smoothed vanilla ice cream in bowls, and trail a face across with chocolate syrup
Pumpkin balls – colour marzipan with orange food colouring, roll into small pumpkin-shaped balls and make a face on each with a skewer
