40 Party-Perfect Appetizer Recipes (2024)

This roundup will give you all the inspiration you need to keep your guests coming back for more. After all, a party is only as good as its food (in our opinion).

We’ve covered all our bases, from dips to bacon-wrapped things to seafood, there’s so much to choose from. Curate your own hors d'oeuvres bar or make one dish to let it shine alone. Either way, we guarantee you won’t have leftovers.

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Acadian Salt Cod Cakes

Salt cod is mashed with fluffy potatoes to make these bite-size pan-fried cakes from Prince Edward Island. Get the recipe for Acadian Salt Cod Cakes »

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Tuna Melt Canapes

Curry powder, raisins, and chutney pair nicely with cheddar cheese in this dressed-up tuna melt. Get the recipe for Tuna Melt Canapes »

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Creamy Watercress Dip

Creamy cottage cheese combines with watercress, lemon, chive, and parsley to make a bright dip for raw vegetables or chips. Get the recipe for Creamy Watercress Dip »

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Pan-Fried Salt Cod Chips (Fritas de Bacalhau)

A thin batter of salt cod, garlic, and onions is shallow-fried to make fine, crisp chips.

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Angeli Caffe's Focaccia

Evan Kleiman, the chef and owner of Angeli Caffe (see Family Style) in Los Angeles, gave us this recipe for Italian flat bread, which she tops with ‘nduja, a spreadable Italian cured meat. You can buy ‘nduja from the San Francisco-based pork store, Boccalone.

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Roasted Carrot and White Bean Dip

Carrots are roasted with rosemary and garlic until tender and slightly caramelized before being puréed with cannelini beans and coriander to make a vibrant, sweet, and earthy dip for raw veggies or pita chips.

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Empanadas de Carne (Beef Empanadas)

The classic Argentine empanada is shaped like a half-moon, but the pattern of its seal differs to indicate the unique flavors inside. This recipe, with a braided crimp and a spicy beef filling, is baked rather than fried in Argentine style.

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Ricotta and Roasted Pepper Frittata (Frittata con Ricotta e Peperoni)

Calabrians in Italy sometimes add sliced cured sausage to this popular frittata on Easter, to celebrate the end of Lent.

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Champiñones Rellenos de Chorizo (Chorizo-Stuffed Mushrooms)

Roasted mushrooms are stuffed with a chorizo, onion, and cheese filling in a popular snack enjoyed at asados in Buenos Aires.

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Marinated Sardine Crostini with Salsa Verde and Fennel

These little sandwiches have a big range of flavors, from the salty sardines to to the tangy flavors of tarragon and chive salsa verde.

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Beet and Goat Cheese Napoleons

These elegant appetizers come from Wolfgang Puck’s Los Angeles restaurant Spago. Laurie Ochoa wrote about the groundbreaking chef in “The King of LA,” part of our special Los Angeles issue (March 2010).

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Fried Chicken Livers

Fried Chicken Livers

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Feta Tart (Alevropita)

Made with a simple egg batter, this feta-studded tart hails from the region of Epirus. Get the recipe for Feta Tart (Alevropita) »

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Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmades)

A meze of stuffed grape leaves is served with a cucumber-yogurt sauce. Get the recipe for Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmades) »

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Tarta de Jamón, Huevo y Tomate (Ham, Egg, and Tomato Pie)

A semolina crust encases a savory filling of ham, cheese, tomato, and eggs, perfect for a quick filling lunch.

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Fried Cucumbers with Sour Cream Dipping Sauce

Sour cream and fines herbes make a great sauce for cooling down a spicy snack like our fried cucumbers. Get the recipe for Fried Cucumbers with Sour Cream Dipping Sauce »

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Zucchini Fritters (Kolokitho Keftedes)

Based on a recipe from author Nancy Harmon Jenkins, this Cretan meze dish can be served hot or at room temperature.

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Flatbreads with Two Toppings (Laganes)

In Greece, these flatbreads are traditionally cooked on a hearthstone set over hot coals (a cast-iron skillet on the stove works well, too) and served with tomato sauce or sautéed zucchini and feta.

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Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta (Garides Saganaki)

The term saganaki refers to the skillet in which Greeks cook ingredients with cheese. In this appetizer, shrimp is topped with crumbled feta and broiled. Get the recipe for Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta (Garides Saganaki) »

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Fennel and Herb Phyllo Pastries (Hortopita)

Get the recipe for Hortopita »

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Yankee Fish Cakes

These lemon-and-dill-flavored fish cakes are a favorite of northeastern Massachusetts.

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Prosciutto, Chile, and Onion Pizza

Spicy and salty, with just the right amount of earthy sweetness, this homemade pizza makes a perfect appetizer or main course.

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Grilled Green Onions with Romesco

Traditionally, this recipe calls for Spanish calçots and ñora peppers. Scallions and ancho chiles are good substitutes. Get the recipe for Grilled Green Onions with Romesco »

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Fried Onion Rings

These are the perfect accompaniment to any burger.

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Montasio Cheese Crisps

Lidia Bastianich, who owns New York’s Felidia and operates a restaurant, called Frico, with her son, grew up eating this irresistible fried-cheese snack in her hometown of Pula, Croatia (once part of Italy). Frico may be stuffed with a variety of fillings. When making this simple version, we added a little flour to help the frico to hold its shape. Get the recipe for Montasio Cheese Crisps »

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Crab-Stuffed Jalapeños

This dish is based on the crab-stuffed jalapeños found on menus throughout southeast Texas. We found that chilling the chiles after stuffing them makes them easier to coat with bread crumbs and fry.

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Bacon Wrapped Dates with Almonds

At the Red Cat in New York City, these are a popular choice on the bar menu.

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Stuffed Celery

Hot sauce and worcestershire sauce season the cheesy filling for this dish.

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Caramelized Green Beans

This recipe is borrowed from cookbook author Anne Willan, who developed it at her cooking school, La Varenne, in Burgundy, France. Willan calls them “burnt beans” in her book From My Chateau Kitchen (Clarkson Potter, 2000), noting that they are “a revelation to those familiar only with crisp beans”.

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Italian Stuffed Clams

Foriana sauce makes a great alternative for the bread crumb stuffing often used on baked or broiled clams.

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Duck Pate

Patience is the key to making this flavorful pate. Before it is assembled, the ingredients should marinate overnight, and the finished pate should set for at least a day after it’s cooked so that the flavors meld.

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Salmon Croquettes

It’s important to chill the patties for these sumptuous croquettes (from Atlanta’s Watershed) before frying them so that they hold together in the hot skillet. Get the recipe for Salmon Croquettes »

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Guatemalan Tamales with Ancho Chile Sauce

These banana leaf-wrapped tamales are covered with an outer layer of foil, which ensures that they stay closed when steamed. Alternatively, the foil may be omitted and the tamales tied with kitchen twine. (Parchment paper may be substituted for the banana leaves, as well.) Get the recipe for Guatemalan Tamales with Ancho Chile Sauce »

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Mexican Seafood co*cktail

This dish is a favorite at Goode Company Seafood in Houston. It goes perfectly with fried tortilla chips and cold beer.

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Peppers Stuffed with Feta (Piperies Gemistes me Feta)

This meze is made in Macedonia with sweet Florina peppers, though Fresno or Anaheim chiles (the former being hotter than the latter) can be substituted. Get the recipe for Peppers Stuffed with Feta (Piperies Gemistes me Feta) »

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40 Party-Perfect Appetizer Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How many appetizers should I have for a party of 40? ›

If you are serving just appetizers and not a main course, you need a selection for your guests to choose from which if it's 40, best to go with 6–8 different items. Having said that, the selection would also be from cold, room temperature to hot food items.

How much finger food for a party of 40? ›

Appetizers - For parties where you're only serving appetizers and finger foods, base your estimate on five to eight appetizer bites per person, per hour. If there's a meal included, cut back to four or five per person per hour before the meal.

How much food to prepare for 40 guests? ›

Aim to provide around 6-8 courses of small bite size food per person. Each course should have enough for 1-1.5 pieces of food per person.

How to cater for 40 guests? ›

To avoid waste and expense work to feeding about 34 people if 40 attending." Remember if you're doing a number of dishes, you don't need to provide enough for people to have a full portion of each. If you're worried about running out, bulk up on cheaper items like potatoes, bread and salad.

How many appetizers to feed 50 people? ›

Quantity. A good rule of thumb when working with your caterer on just how many hors d'oeuvres to choose is as follows: for 10 – 12 guests a minimum of 5 selections, 25 guests a minimum of 9 selections and for 50 guests, a minimum of 13 selections.

How many half trays of food do I need for 40 guests? ›

(Half trays serve 20 people. Full trays serve 35-40 people.)

How much will it cost to feed 40 guests? ›

That means if you needed enough food to feed 40 people, drop-off catering would cost an average of $800. Meanwhile, a traditional sit-down meal could cost up to $5,000, depending on the complexity of the menu and the other factors we've touched on.

What is the easiest food to serve at a party? ›

When you're looking for a quick and easy party food that can also stand in for dinner, sliders are just the ticket! Round out the menu with a generous vegetable tray and dips, cheeses, and crackers.

How to calculate appetizers for a party? ›

More than 6 appetizers per person are too many. You don't want to fill your guests' bellies before dinner. Generally, you will need enough for each guest to eat 2 of each type of appetizer you serve. For very large parties, you can lower this to 1.5 servings per person per appetizer.

How many canapés do I need for 40 people? ›

We would normally recommend around 4-5 canapés per person for the first hour followed by 2-3 canapés per person for each subsequent hour. Therefore a private party at home where no other food is being served we would suggest a minimum 10 canapés per person for a standard 4 hour party.

How much food do you need for an appetizer party? ›

Professionals typically recommend breaking it down further from there: Aim for 2 to 4 ounces of appetizers per person—think 5 to 6 bites. Depending on what you're serving, you might do two pieces of shrimp co*cktail per person, a few slices of cheese, plus a handful of nuts, or a few pieces of crudité.

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