Want to really impress your guests? Date and bacon appetizer have some easy, yet impressive, apps that are sure to stun.
With all these appetizers working their way around the room, you’re going to need some cocktails and mocktails to go with them. Fried calamari doesn’t have to be reserved for beachfront restaurants. It’s easy to make at home and comes out extra crispy and crunchy. A squeeze of lemon juice and fresh marinara and you’re ready to go.
Get the Crispy Fried Calamari recipe. Simply toss canned black-eyed peas with raw chopped collard greens, bell pepper, scallions, and garlic, and toss with an apple cider vinaigrette. Get the Black-Eyed Pea Bruschetta recipe. Get the Baked Feta Bites recipe. Tiny hot dogs before your regular-size hot dogs? Get the Pigs In A Blanket recipe. These little guys are the perfect healthy appetizer.
As the zucchini becomes tender, the spinach and artichoke topping gets nice and melty. Get the Spinach-Artichoke Zucchini Bites recipe. These easy bites are perfect for literally any occasion. We love their little pretzel handles, but feel free to leave them out or even make one huge cheeseball! Get the Loaded Cheese Ball Bites recipe.
Get the Arancini, 3 Ways recipe. Air fryers are slowly winning us over. Get the Air-Fryer Coconut Shrimp recipe. Nothing screams summer quite like bruschetta. We know it may sound skippable, but rubbing the toasted bread with garlic will help impart TONS of flavor into your tiny toasts, so we highly recommend it. Top them with simply marinated tomatoes for the ultimate summer snack. If you’re unfamiliar with dates, it’s time to familiarize yourself!
The date’s sweetness is the perfect counterpoint to crisp, salty bacon and creamy goat cheese. The spice mix here is what sets this crispy popcorn chicken apart: five-spice heightened with some white pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, onion powder, and mildly spicy gochugaru. Get the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken recipe. Mozzarella sticks are the quintessential party appetizer. They’re hot, crunchy, and oozing with molten cheese—what’s not to love?
Get the Air-Fryer Mozzarella Sticks recipe. Get the Harissa Deviled Eggs recipe. Crunchy, peppery red radishes are so underrated. Get the Brown Butter Radish Crostini recipe. Thought to have been created in China about a century ago, shrimp toast combines traditional Chinese shrimp paste with Western white bread to create one of the earliest fusion foods. Get the Easy Shrimp Toast recipe.
We’re happy to report that esquites, the irresistible and less-messy salad version of everyone’s favorite cotija-coated snack, elote, were the perfect inspiration for these bite-sized fritters. Don’t miss the photo guide of our folding technique, though you don’t need to fuss too much over them. They’ll taste amazing no matter how they look. Get the Ginger Pork Potstickers recipe. If you want to make things easy on yourself, use store-bought guac to fill these adorable little cups, but we gotta warn you—homemade guacamole is ALWAYS better.
Get the Shrimp Tostada Bites recipe. Pupusas are an easy flatbread made from masa harina that get stuffed with cheese or refried beans—or both! Traditionally they are served with a cabbage relish that brings a bit of an acidic punch, so you don’t want to skip it. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, these falafel are baked, not fried, for less mess.