10 Savory Pumpkin-Shaped Bites for a Halloween Soirée

October might as well be National Pumpkin Month. Everyone’s favorite orange squash shows up on dessert menus and bakery displays, in coffee drinks, on the end-aisle of the grocery store in bright orange cookie form — and with all the sugary attention it receives it’s easy to just think of it as a sweet treat.

But these creative bloggers have given pumpkin a savory spin, which feels so fresh and fun. Their recipes ideas are great for Halloween or Thanksgiving appetizer spreads, packed into lunches, or enjoyed as a fun afternoon snack.

1. Dinner Rolls — All gorgeous and shiny in their bread basket, these dinner rolls look like they’d be difficult to pull off. Really, they’re just your basic round rolls with one extra step — eight slices around the edges give them a perfect pumpkin shape, and an indent in the center provides a place to poke in a piece of pecan for a pumpkin stem. A cup of pumpkin puree gives the dough its beautiful orange color.

→ Get the recipe: Pumpkin Dinner Rolls at Beyond Kimchee

2. Deviled Eggs — Who doesn’t love deviled eggs, really? Ruchira Ramanujam’s twist features Thai curry paste and sriracha sauce, which gives the cute pumpkin-shaped centers a beautiful orange hue and lots of spicy flavor.

→ Get the recipe: Deviled Eggs at Tadka Pasta

3. Leaf and Pumpkin Biscuits — Shredded cheese is sprinkled into baking molds before the biscuit dough is dolloped on top, creating a crunchy, crusty topping as they bake. Genius.

→ Get the recipe: Leaf and Pumpkin Biscuits from Hungry Happenings

4. Cheese Ball — There are lots of pumpkin-shaped cheese balls on the internets, and this is one of the prettier ones. Ali cut slices of cheddar into thin strips to highlight the ribbed shape, and she went an extra mile with the pumpkin leaves, baking them out of a basic pie crust dough.

→ Get the recipe: Pumpkin Cheese Ball from Jam Hands

5. Pita Chips — Step 1: Use cookie cutter to cut pitas into pumpkin shapes. Step 2: Fry or toast pita chips. Step 3: Sprinkle generously with cheesy popcorn seasoning.

→ Get the recipe: Pita Chips from Hungry Happenings

6. Rice Balls — An autumnal take on basic onigiri — these are a shoo-in for a bento box lunch. Amy used orange icing coloring for these, but if you want to go a natural route, you could steam your rice with pumpkin puree subbed in for part of the water.

→ Get the recipe: Rice Balls from Super Healthy Kids

7. Cheese and Crackers — What a cute fake-out! These mini pumpkin pie slices are actually wedges of cheddar cheese, sitting on a triangular Triscuit cracker and topped with a swirl of cream cheese. A pretzel stick completes the look, standing in for a golden brown crust.

→ Get the recipe: Pumpkin Pie Cheese and Crackers

8. Sandwich Bites — Store-bought, refrigerated pie crust acts as the base of these bite-sized pies in Jack O’Lantern form, filled with ham and cheese. Eat them while they’re warm from the oven to get the full gooey, cheesy effect.

→ Get the recipe: Pumpkin Sandwich Bites from Delish

9. Tortilla Dippers — Here’s another easy one. Really, what flat food can’t you cut into pumpkin form? Go with red pepper and spinach tortillas for a colorful plate of dippers.

→ Get the recipe: Tortilla Dippers from Woman’s Day

10. Kabocha Gnocchi — Blogger Shin uses Japanese pumpkin, a.k.a. Kabocha squash combined with rice flour for the base of these drop-dead gorgeous, pumpkin-shaped gnocchi. They even have a green tea-dyed pumpkin stem! Napped in a Korean-inspired chestnut sauce, they look like a serious labor of love.

→ Get the recipe: Pumpkin Gnocchi from Shinshine