71 Christmas Party Appetizer Recipes To Make

This stunning pull-apart spinach pastry in the form of a Christmas Tree will upgrade any Christmas Party food table.

It’s also a more efficient recipe that provides the perfect ratio of bread to spinach filling ratio.

Each branch or frond of this edible tree is the perfect bite-sized portion, leaving room for all the other Christmas goodies you load onto your plate. 

Tasty bite-sized meatballs get a dose of Christmas flavor with a chili-infused cranberry reduction.

Meatballs are an easy, budget-friendly party food that everyone loves.

I think the cranberry sauce crockpot glaze puts this recipe a cut above the rest, ensuring a sweet and spicy twist that ensures a moist, juicy meatball.

Dips are an easy and quick party food that always gets gobbled up.

This dill dip recipe is no different, combining dried dill with tangy garlic and onion powder with equal parts creamy and tart mayo and sour cream.

The versatility of dill dip makes it even more appealing, tasting delicious as a crudité centerpiece with crackers or potato chips.

A true American classic, Pigs in a Blanket are the perfect finger food for a Christmas brunch buffet.

Using a buttery store-bought pastry crescent roll to wrap around cocktail wieners, Pigs in a Blanket are the epitome of buttery, savory bliss.

I like to add different flavors to the filling or topping, like cheddar cheese, chopped jalapeno, or maple glaze.

Shrimp cocktail is a classy and elegant appetizer for an intimate Christmas dinner party.

I like to make it part of my Christmas Eve dinner tradition. Cold-boiled shrimp takes a bit of prep, and shrimp isn't the cheapest, so shrimp cocktails are best for smaller parties.

This shrimp cocktail recipe lines a cocktail glass filled with classic cocktail sauce and jumbo cold-boiled shrimp.

Toasted Ravioli is an American invention made by breading and deep-frying cheese or meat ravioli, serving them with a marinara dipping sauce.

They are a classier version of breaded mozzarella sticks, in my opinion.

I don’t think I need to convince anyone of the deliciousness of deep-fried pasta stuffed with cheese.

I can’t eat at a pizzeria without ordering garlic knots while waiting for the main event.

This Cheesy Christmas Tree Bread uses pizza dough balls brushed with olive oil, butter, herbs, and parmesan assembled into a Christmas tree shape to create a festive and decadent pull-apart appetizer.

The chewiness and density of these bread balls are irresistible. 

Maraschino cherries aren’t just for Shirley Temples and ice cream sundaes.

They’re also perfect sponges for boozy adult delicacies like these fun Boozy Christmas Cherry Bombs.

These cherry bombs involve soaking maraschino cherries in vanilla vodka before dipping them in melted vanilla almond bark. You’d never know they were alcoholic!

Christmas Charcuterie Boards deserve their own article as there are endless ideas and ingredients to create countless meat and cheese boards.

I chose this Christmas Charcuterie Board for its stunning red, white, and green color theme.

This board’s overstuffed, beautifully chaotic presentation begs you to dig in.

Check out some of our favorite cheeses for charcuterie and meats to add.

The perfect boozy dessert for your adult-only Christmas bash, these Christmas Cookie Jello Shots are dangerously good.

Featuring a luxurious, cookie-flavored mix of Bailey’s Irish Cream, Butterscotch Schnaps, and orange liqueur, you’ll want to eat these with a spoon instead of gulping them down.

They’ve got whipped cream and sprinkles on top, too!

A taste of Christmas day in sandwich form, these comforting sliders are the perfect combination of sweet and savory.

Hawaiian rolls are the fluffiest, most buttery rolls with a lovely egg-washed crust.

Stuffing them with savory, salty ham and tart cranberry sauce gives you a heavenly preview of your upcoming Christmas feast.

One of my favorite appetizers is baked brie, and this clever recipe takes the mess and difficulty out of eating and making baked brie by deconstructing it.

Using premade pastry dough cut into squares, these deliciously rich brie bites have the perfect cheese-to-sauce-to-pastry ratio.

Mushrooms are meaty, chewy, and juicy receptacles for creamy crab filling in this elegant and delectable recipe.

Quality crab is an expensive delicacy, so combining it with cream cheese and herb filling means there’s more of it to share.

These are easy to assemble, and the crunchy bread crumb topping gives it a perfect texture trifecta of crunchy, creamy, and chewy.

A classic Southern dish, deviled eggs have become a national sensation with numerous creative iterations.

This recipe gives deviled eggs green yolk filling with the addition of avocados to the typical mustard-mayo-relish recipe.

A simple garnish of red bell pepper completes the Christmas makeover!

I think the avocados add both color and richness.

A recipe that’s as addicting as its name implies, crack chicken dip is an All-American favorite for football Sundays. It will be just as crowd-pleasing as Christmas party food!

No one will be able to resist the combination of the tangy ranch, bubbly cheddar, and crispy bacon bits that surround the shredded chicken.

Spinach artichoke dip is an easy, one-bowl recipe that you throw into the oven, resulting in a bubbly, cheesy bliss.

This recipe takes it a step further by creating individual bread bowls for a bite-sized appetizer.

It’s just as simple, using premade crescent pastries that you stuff into muffin tins, fill with spinach artichoke dip, and bake.

If you’re from the Southwest, you’ve probably heard of Jalapeno poppers: bacon-wrapped, cream cheese-stuffed jalapenos grilled to perfection.

This recipe doubles the spice and cheesiness by adding smokey spices, aromatics, and cheddar cheese.

Jalapenos aren’t as spicy as they seem - there are much hotter peppers out there. Once you de-seed them, you get the chili flavor without too much heat.

Pizza is a beloved food no matter where you are in the world.

These adorable Christmas tree-shaped mini pizzas are the perfect way to sneak a slice into your Christmas party.

This recipe calls for premade pastry dough instead of pizza dough, making it easier to slice through with a Christmas tree cookie cutter.

Another universally beloved dish, tacos aren’t the easiest finger food.

However, this creative recipe uses Tostitos scoops as a hard-shell container for ground beef, sour cream, shredded cheese, lettuce, and cherry tomato filling.

It’s no coincidence that the colors of the Mexican flag correspond with the colors of Christmas!

One of the cutest Christmas party foods on my list, these cookie cups in the shape of Santa gnomes are sure to make your guests smile.

In this Christmas cookie twist on strawberry shortcake, sugar cookie dough balls are smothered in white icing, dotted with a pink skittle, and topped with a pointy strawberry, acting as Santa’s hat.

Check out other popular Christmas cookies to bake this year!

This ingenious recipe uses pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate and green and red sprinkles.

Once set, you arrange the pretzel rods into a wreath-like circle. This recipe is almost too pretty to eat!

If you don’t like white chocolate, you can use dark or milk chocolate.

Cheese balls are a classic party appetizer with endless possibilities for flavor mixtures.

Its simple ball shape is a blank slate for creativity.

This recipe uses a cream cheese and ranch-flavored cheeseball to create an adorable reindeer head, replete with pretzel twist ears, black olive eyes, and a cherry tomato nose!

These bite-sized sausage pastries pack buttery pastry rolls with a classic Italian sausage recipe.

The Italian sausage gets a mix of eggs and breadcrumbs to create a meatball-like texture.

I like to serve these with marinara dipping sauce. These also taste great with a sprinkling of Pecorino Romano to the pastry shells before baking.  

These delicious cream cheese roll-ups are a three-ingredient recipe requiring a bit of finesse.

The instructions give you a detailed, step-by-step guide to creating these delicate and tasty rolls without fail.

The red salami, white cream cheese, and green bell peppers offer a Christmas pinwheel of flavors. These are Atkins and Keto-friendly, too!

I have a savory edible wreath idea for you this time!

This beautiful pastry stuffed with spinach and cream cheese is a gorgeous addition to your Christmas buffet, and easier than it looks to make.

You use a bowl to maintain the wreath shape while you assemble pre-made crescent dough in a circular donut, lining it with spinach dip, and folding over the triangular tips of the dough before baking.

These pine-cone-shaped cheeseballs offer a beautiful presentation: they use toasted, whole almonds as the cone spikes. They also have an incredible flavor profile.

The mayonnaise and cream cheese foundation get spiced with dill, pepper, green onions, and crispy bacon.

The combination of cream cheese, bacon, and almonds is incredible!

Another ode to Rudolph, these easy and fun reindeer pretzels consist of two pretzel rods dipped halfway in dark chocolate to bind them.

When the chocolate is still sticky, they get a red candy nose and candy eyes. The exposed pretzel points at the top act as Rudolph’s reindeer antlers.

Giant cheese balls often get left half-eaten because the filling-to-crust ratio is too large, leaving you with a surplus of cream cheese.

This recipe remedies this with perfectly proportioned bite-sized balls. Plus, you can create different shells for a festive, colorful variety platter.

This recipe has everything from chopped nuts to chopped bacon to dried fruit for the outer layers.

Instead of one giant Christmas tree pastry, this lovely puff pastry recipe yields individual skewers of ribboned pesto pastry Christmas trees.

This recipe is fun to make! You cut the pesto-covered pastry sheet into strips and fold the strips over themselves like a paper craft project before skewering them.

Swapping peppermint leaves for basil, this savory candy cane will be a welcomed substitute for its sweet counterpart.

It’s a fun and easy board to make, assembling slices of Roma tomatoes and thick rounds of Buffalo mozzarella into a candy cane shape, garnishing with sprigs of basil.

I also like to add thick dollops of balsamic reduction instead of the tins of regular balsamic vinegar.  

Anything wrapped in bacon is instantly delicious. If you’re a pork lover, this brown sugar bacon-wrapped sausage is what dreams are made of.

Sprinkling the thick bacon with brown sugar makes for a crunchy coating and a sweet and savory masterpiece.

This recipe is easy and is a fantastic addition to a brunch buffet.

This adorable Christmas-themed sandwich will make you nostalgic for the school lunches of your youth.

Believe it or not, they now sell crustless bread to save you the trouble and waste of cutting them off yourself.

You can make these cookie-cutter sandwiches for adults by using fancier cheese and prosciutto with a flavored aioli or horseradish sauce.

You can never have too many artichoke and spinach pastry trees! That’s why I’ve given you every variety of pull-apart pastry imaginable.

This recipe has you make larger pinwheels from puff pastry dough rolled around a creamy, cheesy spinach and artichoke filling.

The pinwheels make for a more whimsical tree.

There’s no easier recipe than this three-ingredient dip.

In this case, “dip” refers to a softened block of cream cheese doused in a mixture of red pepper jelly and cranberry sauce.

The name may not roll off your tongue, but the dip will be rolling down your tongue quite easily. Creamy tangy cheese, tart cranberry, and spicy jelly is quite the trifecta.

This clever recipe needs no cookie-cutter. Instead, you use pre-molded Laughing Cow creamy white cheddar wedges.

It doesn’t matter that they don’t have the classic pine-tree ridges because you create more realistic foliage by coating the cheese with fresh herbs and red pepper flakes.

The pretzel stick tree trunk is a makeshift cracker for the cheese spread.

This classy and decadent appetizer is a showstopping finger food for your next Christmas party.

It’s a tedious labor of love that I recommend making for a more intimate party. That said, no matter how many you make, they’ll disappear. 

Breading and frying pimento-filled green olives to dip in garlic and lemon-infused mayo is five-star restaurant material.

The title of these adorable treats is also the ingredient list.

Square pretzels get a striped-white-and-dark chocolate Hershey’s Hug topping, then sit in a warm oven to partially melt into a round coin. Red and green M&Ms top it off to complete these bite-sized treats.

Along with being a great holiday dessert table dish, these also make great packaged party favors.

This is one of the most unique Christmas party foods I’ve come across.

At first glance, you’d think they were bite-sized cheese balls because they’re cream cheese rounds covered with chopped walnuts.

Once you bite into them, you get a wonderful umami surprise with a juicy pimento-filled olive.

The white cream cheese, green olive, and red pimento are a veritable Christmas bullseye!

If you’re looking for a fun DIY, no-bake Christmas dessert, look no further than these creative edible Christmas candles.

They may not light up a room, but they’ll certainly lighten the mood!

This recipe is a Tetris game of cookie and ingredient stacking, using a donut-shaped cookie to receive a wafer candle stick.

A skinless almond acts as the flame, and a simple powdered sugar glaze is the melted wax.

These snow-white cranberry feta pinwheels are another easy, no-bake appetizer that will impress guests.

Instead of pastry dough, this recipe uses white flour tortillas filled with cream cheese, feta, green onions, and dried cranberries.

I love the texture of these pinwheels. The chewy tortilla cedes into a creamy cheese filling punctuated by chunks of feta and cranberries.

This recipe combines my two favorite childhood snacks: rice crispy treats and butter popcorn!

Instead of rice crispies, you use popcorn to stir into melted marshmallows and butter, creating that same crunchy yet chewy texture.

The fun part comes when you dress the pan of marshmallow popcorn with Christmas-colored M&Ms, sprinkles, and more mini marshmallows!

This luxurious, high-end appetizer has every flavor and texture profile covered.

The balsamic glaze and cranberry give you a double dose of tart sweetness that melts into the oozing brie.

The prosciutto adds a silky savory layer, while the olive-oil-laden crostini provides a crunchy yet chewy foundation.

A lovely British dessert, trifle is a fun dessert with a stunning presentation.

It reminds me of the sweet version of a seven-layer dip, except you use a trifle dish instead of a baking pan.

Trifle is remarkably versatile, using flavors or colors that coordinate with the seasons. This recipe uses fresh berries, cream, vanilla pudding, yellow cake, and bright red jello.

There’s always that one pesky guest hoarding all the best meat or cheese on the charcuterie board.

This diplomatic and efficient recipe ensures everyone an equal share of the board.

This recipe intersperses cubed cheese with thinly sliced prosciutto and pepperoni, topping it all off with a round of baby bell cheese and a dill pickle. You can choose the type of cheese you like best.

While we’re on the subject of skewers, I also have an adorable and healthy sweet option.

Your heart will grow a few sizes after tasting these Grinch-inspired fruit skewers using a green grape for the face, a banana slice and strawberry for the hat, and a mini marshmallow as the pompom.

These adorable Gingerbread men-shaped quesadillas are a fun project to make as a family. You could even have a Christmas party dedicated to making them.

They’re easier and faster to make than gingerbread cookies. You decorate them with sour cream, chopped peppers, jalapenos, and carrots instead of candy and icing.

These healthy veggie skewers are a colorful addition to the Christmas party spread. You can also eat as many of them as you want, guilt-free.

They’re a simple, three-ingredient skewer with a cherry tomato trunk, ribboned cucumber tree, and cheese tree topper.

If you have extra time, you can use marinated and grilled zucchini strips instead of cucumber.

Another cheeseball bite recipe, these Cranberry Pecan Mini Goat Cheese Balls offer a more sophisticated flavor profile.

Goat cheese has a distinct gaminess and is softer and creamier than cream cheese.

This recipe condenses the classic fruit, nut, and goat cheese combo we often see on a salad into one compact, bite-sized ball.

This recipe will give your wintery Christmas table a taste of summer.

The savory bacon gets wrapped around jumbo shrimp and a juicy pineapple chunk. The skewer receives a dousing of barbecue sauce before being roasted or grilled.

The sweetness from the pineapple works so well with the briny shrimp and savory bacon.

This versatile recipe lends well to various cooking methods.

Breaded zucchini rounds crisp up into delicious golden medallions, whether you use the oven, frying pan, or air fryer. If you don’t like zucchini, you could use eggplant.

I like serving these with various dipping sauces like garlic aioli, marinara, and pesto.

If you’re a fan of sweet potato casserole topped with marshmallows, these sweet potato appetizers give you the perfect bite.

Instead of mashed sweet potatoes, this recipe has you back thick-cut sweet potato rounds, topping them with a marshmallow and pecan.

I like the firmness of baked sweet potato against the soft bubbly texture of melted marshmallows.

Wontons are crispy, bubbly fried pastry strips that often top Chinese dumpling soups and salads or act as dumpling wrappers.

This recipe has you stuff wonton wrappers with simple cream cheese, sugar, and onion powder mixture before frying them.

I like to serve these cream cheese wontons with dipping sauces like sweet and sour and miso citrus.

Crab dip is a classic favorite for fancy dinner parties and cocktail hours, combining chunks of lump crab meat with cream cheese and mayo.

This recipe offers a significant upgrade with fresh diced peppers, onions, garlic, and artichoke hearts.

I think cayenne adds a wonderfully spicy finish. You could substitute cayenne for chili powder and bell pepper for jalapeno to give it a Mexican twist. 

While we usually use a combination of cream cheese and parmesan to stuff vegetables or pastry, this recipe spares no expense.

Brie is the gold standard of soft, creamy cheeses and tastes delicious no matter what you pair it with.

This easy recipe has you stuff meaty baby bella mushrooms with brie, herbs, and garlic, adding a sprinkling of breadcrumbs for a nice crunch.

Another elegant and luxurious appetizer for an adult Christmas party, these crab cake poppers have a perfect crab-to-filler ratio.

They take a bit of preparation, requiring you to freeze the crab cake balls to set them before commencing the pan-frying process.

Luckily, you have time to prepare the simple lemony aioli sauce while you wait for the poppers to set.

If you still have leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving dinner, this recipe gives you a creative way to use it.

It’s a simple four-ingredient recipe, using pre-seasoned sausage puff pastry dough and cranberry sauce to create bite-sized rolls bursting with flavor.

The cranberry sauce keeps the sausage moist and balances its savory flavor with sweetness and tartness. 

Kale has become a fashionable leafy green over the past decade or two, its thick, fibrous texture lending well to sauteeing, baking, and raw salads alike.

This Christmas Wreath Salad recipe is a beautiful kale salad arranged in a colorful wreath around a bowl of vinaigrette.

I love the texture combination of the kale, pine nuts, dried cranberries, and crunchy bell peppers.

If you didn’t know, “smokies” are another term for cocktail wieners or mini hot dogs.

I’ve mentioned a bacon-wrapped sausage recipe earlier on my list, but this recipe takes it to an even more flavorful level.

Each smokey gets wrapped in thick bacon and then rolled in a paste of brown sugar, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. 

I love the pillowy innards of baked potato, but my favorite part is making potato skin tacos with surplus cheese, sour cream, and green onions.

This recipe is perfect for all you potato skin lovers. 

You can use the potato insides to make mashed potatoes or potato pancakes while topping the skins with cheese and bacon before baking them to a bubbly, crunchy, crisp.  

If you’re curious about bread baking, this garlic knots recipe is an easy introduction to the world of amateur baking.

It’s a lesson in patience, as you must activate the yeast and let the dough rise a few times, but it's well worth the wait.

There’s nothing more delicious than hot, chewy, yeasty rolls infused with garlic butter and herbs. 

Pesto is my favorite sauce for pasta and more, so this recipe has a special place in my heart.

The herby, nutty, and cheesiness of pesto elevates any dish, from pasta to fish. This recipe spreads it over creamy ricotta atop a crunchy crostini.

It doesn’t stop there! Each crostini gets a few chunks of sweet peach and a drizzle of balsamic reduction for a wonderfully complex flavor profile.

No matter what time of year it is, no buffet table or food gathering is complete without a veggie tray.

Perhaps by grabbing a few carrots and celery sticks, we can cancel out all the rich buttery foods we’ve squeezed onto our plates.

Raw veggies don’t have to be a penance for decadent eating with this creamy and tangy veggie dip, consisting of sour cream, dried herbs, and spicy seasonings. 

If eggnog is too rich a drink for you, you can use it in this simple yet flavorful bundt cake recipe.

Bundt cakes usually use buttermilk or sour cream to infuse a bouncy yet moist texture. This recipe replaces the dairy with eggnog. 

Not only do you use eggnog in the batter, but you also use it in conjunction with rum for a rich glaze.

If you’re a fan of New York-style cheesecake, you’ll love this creative dessert finger food.

These aren’t stuffed strawberries but are a dessert twist on deviled eggs. 

You cut a strawberry in half, scoop out a bit of the inside, then fill it with creamy cheesecake piping. I love the dainty finish with a sprinkle of crushed graham crackers. 

These deliciously moist and saucy meatballs are perfect for toothpick finger foods or a last-minute weeknight dinner.

Meatballs are a quick, one-bowl mix that you can throw in the oven if you don’t want to brown them on the stove.

These meatballs spend three to four hours in a crock pot full of BBQ sauce, Worcestershire, and hot paprika. The result is a deliciously sweet and tangy meatball.

These decadent cheese balls only take ten minutes to prepare and are enormous crowd-pleasers.

Infusing cream cheese with shredded cheddar and ranch powder is the perfect balance of savory and tangy.

The showstopper in this recipe is the inclusion of crunchy bacon bits instead of nuts or dried fruit for the cheeseball crust.

This recipe puts an adult spin on those stackable Lunchables we all loved as kids.

It is a one-pan recipe, lining the baking pan with Ritz crackers, topping each one with sliced ham and Swiss cheese, and then with another cracker.

The best part is the buttery dijon sauce with poppy seeds and onion flakes you pour over the sandwiches before baking them. 

This is a great recipe to prepare in advance and throw into the oven right before the guests arrive.

Tangy, gamey goat cheese melts into creamy goodness inside a sweet Medjool date.

Sweet and savory never tasted so good. If you’d like to make this recipe even more extravagant, you can wrap the dates in bacon before baking them. 

Kielbasa is a Polish sausage that tastes like hot dogs to me. You can choose between pork and beef kielbasa.

I think pork goes better with pineapple, reminding me of the classic Hawaiian pizza pairing of pineapple and Canadian bacon. 

This recipe uses an Asian-inspired glaze with Teriyaki and sweet chili sauce complementing the savory, salty kielbasa as much as the sweet and tangy pineapple chunk.

This handy recipe streamlines the preparation process by using premade meatballs and canned pineapple chunks.

Instead of BBQ sauce, this crockpot meat dish uses apricot preserves to create a thick, sweet glaze for the smokies and meatballs.

I like to add a bit of soy or Worcestershire sauce to cut the sweetness.

Tater tots are a taste of childhood and save a lot of preparation time because they come premade and frozen.

This recipe is perfectly timed. As you bake the tater tots, you fry and chop bacon to sprinkle over the skewers with cheddar cheese. 

The sour cream and ranch dip provides a cooling and tangy complement to the savory loaded tots.