While I do love classic disgusting Halloween recipes (and have written tons of pages on all kinds of gross recipes right here), what I love best are recipes and ideas that my guests haven't seen before. And the recipes on this page definitely qualify!

That said, I've also got a ton more disgusting Halloween food all over the site, including gross Halloween foods, nasty Halloween party punch, and other great Halloween food ideas.

This creepy Halloween dip is bound to make an impression. Made with beets, it's a deep, dark red in color, it's thick and strange-looking... and it tastes really good. If you're health-conscious, it's also pretty darned healthy. Maybe not a dip that kids will go nuts over, but the adults I serve it to always love this dip with toasted pita wedges and crudites. It always surprises everybody --including people who think they don't like beets-- with how great it tastes.

This disgusting Halloween recipe is also an easy one. I simply buy pre-roasted, peeled beets and use those. The hard (and messy) part is done.

To make this dip look even more gory, garnish it with plastic eyeballs or severed fingers and serve it in a creepy dish.

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Ingredients:
6-8 medium beets, cooked, peeled, and coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 C. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. tahini
3 tbsp. fresh mint leaves, minced (or to taste)
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 medium lemon, juice of
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions: 1. In a large food processor, combine the chopped beets, garlic, olive oil, and tahini. Process until mostly smooth.

2. Transfer to a serving bowl.

3. Stir in the chopped mint, vinegar, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

4. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour before serving, and up to 24 hours.

If you can actually get your guests to eat this disgusting Halloween food --a tall order much of the time-- they'll rant and rave over how delicious it is. A tasty hummus made from black beans and chickpeas, it's actually pretty awesome! But this is one of those disgusting Halloween recipes that's all about presentation. And if you present this Diaper Dip right, only the bravest of your guests will be willing to try it.

Some of my favorite presentation ideas for this dip are placed in a clear bowl (or scooped out onto a cut-out piece of plastic plate) and served on a clean opened diaper, or on a tray with a baby doll, as pictured (the photo was created with chocolate pudding, but the concept is the same!). REALLY gross, really funny, and really, really easy.

Recipe serves 6-8 people, and tastes great with veggies or pita chips.

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Ingredients:
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained
1 C. cooked, drained chickpeas (garbanzos)
2 tbsp. tahini
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. paprika
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Greek yogurt or olive oil, if needed to thin

Instructions: 1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine all of the ingredients.

2. Process until smooth. If mixture is too thick, thin out with a bit of Greek yogurt or some more olive oil.

3. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate, covered, at least an hour before serving and up to 48 hours.

This fun but disgusting Halloween food looks totally realistic, tastes great, and cooks up in about 5 minutes. It amazes me that something this easy can make such a gross Halloween food! Really fun.

You can also try a small piece of onion for the nail, if you like, but I think the yellow bell pepper gives the best impression of thick, gross-looking yellow nails. Recipe below is for one serving-- just multiply to make as many as you need. Add a plastic eyeball for effect, if you like.

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Ingredients:
3 cocktail sausages
3 triangles of yellow bell pepper
Ketchup or BBQ sauce, as needed

Ingredients: 1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.

2. To make each serving of three fingers, create 3 shallow horizontal slices about halfway up each cocktail sausage for "knuckles."

3. Boil sausages until cooked, about 2-3 minutes. Let cool slightly.

4. With a sharp knife, cut a small flat space at the tip of the sausage for a "nail." Using a bit of ketchup, mayonnaise, or bbq sauce, press a nail into each finger.

5. Fill a cup (in the photo it's a plastic muffin cup, but you can use a ramekin, a little clear glass, or whatever) with a couple tablespoons of ketchup, bbq sauce (these recipes are great!), or any other red-colored sauce. Place assembled fingers in the cup, burying the ends slightly in the sauce. Serve hot.

Tip: Heating the sauce helps keep this digusting Halloween food from cooling down too fast.

Now, this recipe is disgusting Halloween food at its most basic. It only has two ingredients (if you don't include the string), comes together in about 5 minutes, and has maximum "gross out" potential. Really.

Place this nasty-looking (but yummy tasting) gross Halloween food on a platter and decorate with tampon wrappers if desired. Then watch your guests --especially sqeamish male guests-- get totally grossed out. Recipe make 5 large tampons.

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Ingredients:
20 large marshmallows
1 can sour cherries in juice (not cherry pie filling!)
5 8-9" lenghts of food-safe string

Instructions: 1. String four marshmallows on each of your five strings. I find the easiest way to do this is wrap the string around a wooden skewer, skewer the marshmallows, and pull the skewer out. You can also tie one end of the string around a toothpick.

2. Line the marshmallows up on one end of the string. Knot the bottom of the string.

3. Place marshmallow "tampons" on a serving tray.

5. Pour an undrained can of dark, sour cherries (it's best if you cut up the cherries a bit) over. Or use cranberry juice and dried cranberries.

6. Enjoy!