Vegan and vegetarian Halloween-themed recipe ideas

Terrifyingly tasty snacks, treats and sweets have always been a staple part of our scariest night of the year, but for the vegans among us the options can be more limited. 

Of course, Halloween-themed cocktails will always be your friend whatever your feelings on meat products (like these deliciously dark recipes), but if you’ve been lacking inspiration in the vegan and vegetarian food department we’re here to help you out. 

Below you can find a selection of easy-to-make vegan Halloween-themed food ideas which should give you ample inspiration when it comes to transforming some of your favourite vegetables into ghosts or ghouls.

We’ve also included a little round-up of the spooky supermarket treats hitting the shelves ready for trick or treaters, so if you’re throwing a bone-chilling bash and can’t be bothered to stick the oven on, these will see you through. 

Vegan, vegetarian and healthy Halloween-themed food you can make at home 

Okay, let’s start off with something easy to master. These banana ghosts and orange pumpkins look adorable, but are also very simple to pull off. 

You’ll need:

• bananas 
• clementines
• celery 
• mini vegan chocolate chips

What to do: 
1. Cut the celery up into very small pieces
2. Peal the clementines 
3. Pop your faux stalk (aka celery) on top
4. Chop bananas in half
5. Push two small chocolate chips into each one like eyes 

There’s nothing like a baked banana mummy to give you the heebie jeebies.

You’ll need:

• 1 sheet of frozen vegan puff pastry
• 3 bananas
• 6 sultanas

What to do:
1. Get the puff pastry out of the freezer to defrost
2. Preheat the oven to 180C
3. Cut the puff pastry into 1cm wide strips
4. Peel the bananas
5. Create the mummy’s bandages by wrapping the pastry strips around the bananas, leaving room for the eyes
5. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden
6. Remove from oven and pop the sultanas on for eyes

If roasted veg is your meal time specialty, we reckon you’re going to enjoy trying out these Halloween-themed pumpkin shaped sweet potato. 

You’ll need:

• sweet potato
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• rosemary sprigs

What to do:
1. Boil a large pot of water, cut your sweet potatoes in half width wise and boil for five minutes
2. Cut the potatoes into ½ inch thick slabs and with a small paring knife or pumpkin cookie cutter, cut pumpkin shapes into the sweet potatoes
3. Pop your sweet potatoes on a baking tray and drizzle in olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle on rosemary sprigs
4. Bake for an hour, turning half way through

These ghoulish apple slices are almost too scary to eat.

You’ll need:

• apples
• strawberries
• vegan icing
• nut butter
• pumpkin seeds

What to do:
1. Slice your apple into quarters, before making a split in its back for the mouth
2. Spread a little nut butter inside the mouth
3. Slice your strawberry into very thin slices to create a tongue, and lay one inside the mouth
4. Push three or four pumpkin seeds into the nut butter to create teeth for the mouth
5. Using your white icing, squirt two blobs for eyes and leave to dry for five minutes. Then squirt two smaller blobs with your black icing for pupils and leave to dry for a further five minutes

This ‘dead man’s burger’ is so gruesome, yet so good.

You’ll need:

• burger
• tomato
• gherkin
• lettuce
• veggie patty
• gingerbread person cookie cutter

What to do:
1. Open your burger bun, and if you want to add a little extra flair, use a sharp, small knife to cut zip zags in the middle area of each half to look like teeth
2. Slice your tomato and gherkin, select the amount of lettuce you’d like and leave on a plate ready 
3. Make a veggie or vegan patty, and then cut the patty into a human shape using a gingerbread cookie cutter, before making for the allotted amount of time
4. Once done, pop all of your ingredients in your bun
5. Using tomato ketchup and mayonnaise, squirt some angry looking eyes on the top of your burger 

Vegan and vegetarian Halloween-themed foods and treats you can buy 

These apple, pear and pumpkin fruit and vegetable shapes have received a terrifying Halloween update. 

£1.75, waitrose.com

Mr Kipling’s orange flavoured sponges, topped with vanilla cream and orange icing are certainly spooky looking. They’re also suitable for vegetarians and have 100% natural flavours and no artificial colours, yay!

£1, ocado.com

You might think these Jaffa Cake bars are lemon and lime flavoured, but don’t be fooled. These Halloween-themed bars of yumminess are, in fact, lemon and slime - cue manic evil genius laughing. Not that we’re bothered, frankly we’ll try anything Jaffa Cake flavoured, like this pre-made orangey cocktail drink. 

£1, ocado.com

These Scream (read: Soreen) bars are deliciously spooky. For Halloween they’re a special apple flavour with sticky toffee pieces. Yum.

£1, waitrose.com

These pumpkin patch cakes definitely fit into the ‘treat’ part of Halloween. Get your claws on a chocolate flavoured sponge, layered with an orange coloured filling, covered in milk chocolate and finished with a pumpkin decoration before 31 October.

£1, waitrose.com

Images: Courtesy of brands / Priscilla du preez