What To Cook On Halloween

Because candy corn is not a meal

Before you paint the town red with all that fake blood this Halloween, you're going to need something to eat.

But since planning your Halloween menu can be a scary endeavor, we've put together (lucky) 12 of our best Halloween recipes. Kick back on the couch and wait for trick-or-treaters with a homemade Snickers and a fall-spiced cider slushie, or prep a punch bowl for your Halloween rager—then recover the next day with fluffy pumpkin pancakes.

① Candy-Filled Rice Krispies Treat

Trick your guests into thinking you don't have any candy on hand, then smash this giant Rice Krispie to reveal the untold sweets within.

② Kimchi Deviled Eggs

Don't limit yourself to just sweets this Halloween, but keep up the orange-and-black theme with this snack. Kimchi boosts the color (and funkiness) of the yolks to an orange that would make a pumpkin, er, green with envy, and a sprinkling of black sesame completes the color scheme.

③ Smashed Potatoes

While everyone else is doing the monster mash, you know that it's important to have some skin in the game.

④ Candy Corn and Peanut Popcorn Balls

Even your popcorn balls deserve to dress up for the holiday. These ones are going as New York chic in their all-black costumes.

⑤ Fish Bone and Seaweed Broth

We'll take a hard pass on strawberry jelly-filled fake eyeballs. This dish is actually made with real bones. That's too good to pass up.

⑥ Pumpkin and Pecan Pancakes

Whether it's from emptying the candy bowl or too much pumpkin-spiced rum, some type of hangover is guaranteed. Make November 1 more enjoyable by starting the day with a pillowy short stack.

⑦ Candy Corn Bark

Don't let Thanksgiving get all the credit for being the leftovers holiday. When the night is wrapping up, gather the sweet remnants and make this snack, because "just add more chocolate" should always be the solution to an abundance of sweets.

⑧ The Headless Horseman

Pumpkin butter takes the place of simple syrup in this bourbon cocktail and helps make it sweetly creamy.

⑨ Applejack-o'-Lantern

When you're the fifth Harley Quinn to show up at your friend's Halloween party, camp out near the punch bowl and pretend to be really interested in this pumpkin ale, apple brandy and dark rum punch.

⑩ The Big Red

This homemade version of a burning Fireball shot is even spicier than the one you remember from college. Take a shot of this citrusy mixed drink, then scream it out—this is the one night no one will notice.

Boozy Cider Slushie

Freeze the cider in an ice cube tray before going to work, then when you get home, you're a one-minute blend away from a pitcher of spiced-up frozen joy. Drink it while huddling under a blanket.

⑫ Hurricane Jell-O Shot

You're never too old. Promise.