Who doesn’t love little party food? Here are some fancy canapé recipes that will definitely impress your party guests. We love a little pass around appetizer tray. These recipes feature easy to eat party food – many of them are one or two-bite nibbles.
If you’re hosting a fancy cocktail party, wedding shower, holiday party, or Oscars party – you’ll want to serve substantial food that looks good, tastes great, and is easy to eat. We’re avoiding things like dips or anything that would require using a full plate. None of these canapés are cumbersome to eat.
These hors d’oeuvres can all be plated or they can be served pass around style on trays. And, we’re only sharing the chicest of recipes – no old school shrimp cocktail here!
Delicious Canapé Recipes for Parties
These gorgonzola grapes are rich and juicy - they make a perfect appetizer!
Burrata Tarts are crazy scrumptious and are quick and easy puff pastry appetizers! Burrata cheese with four different complimentary flavors to showcase fresh seasonal produce and gooey decadent Burrata cheese.
Roasted grapes have a wonderful sweet flavor! Paired with homemade ricotta on a crostini, they a delicious little bite.
These Cheddar Cups with Avocado Feta Mousse are the best ever party appetizer. The cheese cups require one ingredient and the entire appetizer is so easy to put together!
These mini puff pastry tarts with goat's cheese, radishes, and microgreens are delicious, peppery, and delightfully rich.
These Cranberry Orange Brie Tarts are the perfect appetizer for the holidays and are kicked up a bit with a pinch of cayenne pepper. The sweet, spicy, orange filling is nestled in a crunchy phyllo shell with creamy brie cheese.
These crunchy, delicious little mushroom caps are super easy to pull off.
Whether these Dark Chocolate Figs with Gorgonzola Cheese are served as an appetizer or dessert, your guests will fall in love. The ingredients are simple, but they all work so well together.
A unique twist on the classic party favorite, these Hemp & Avocado Deviled Eggs are a high protein, Keto-friendly, mayo-free, wholesome snack.
Bacon and cheese, crispy and potato…these little appetizer bites will fly off the plate. Gruyere cheese is mild, a little salty. It’s versatile and doesn’t compete or overpower the other flavors in your dish.
Gluten-free crackers are topped with creamy brie cheese, zesty and sweet cranberry horseradish, crumbled pecans, a little thyme, and lemon zest.
Best of all, they take just a few minutes to make, so you won’t miss any time with your guests.
When done right, Bacon Wrapped Shrimp are one of the easiest, most delicious appetizers you can make.
Potato & cheese croquettes with fresh tomato sauce and basil oil. A delicious appetizer or multiply for a simple yet impressive vegetarian starter.
Light, refreshing prosciutto melon skewers are elevated in extra flavor from pesto, balsamic glaze, and mozzarella – it’s the perfect healthy appetizer!
Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms topped with an Italian seasoned bread crumb…like, come on! These are totally the perfect appetizer, game day food, barbecue food, easy snack.
Devilled eggs with caviar make a fine luxury appetizer or party nibble. This recipe is easy to make and the caviar adds a burst of visual excitement and an extra pop of texture and flavor to this classic dish.
Traditional Greek flavors of the classic phyllo, spinach, and feta pie in a portable hand-held cup. Easy Spanokopita Bites come together so quickly with the help of ready-made phyllo cups, and taste like you worked on them all day.
The perfect no-cook appetizer for your next holiday party or get-together, these healthy Whole30 Prosciutto Pears with Arugula Salad are deliciously sweet and savory – plus they’re Paleo & Gluten-Free!
Smoked Salmon Tartare: an elegant appetizer that everyone loves, in ten minutes.
What’s the difference between canapés and appetizers?
The difference between canapés (or hors d’oeuvres) is that appetizers are usually the first course of a meal and canapés are a small one or two-bite item that’s often passed around on trays or served at a standing reception.
You can think of canapés more as finger food – you don’t want to serve small bites that require large plates or is cumbersome to eat.
Canapés and hors d’oeuvres are largely the same, although you can think of an hors d’oeuvres of a slightly more substantial canapé. Hors d’oeuvres might have a dressing or an extra layer of sauce.
How many canapés should you have per person?
If you are hosting a standing cocktail party or a reception where only canapés will be served, you’ll want at least 8 to 10 savory items per person, and 2 to 3 sweet items per person. This is assuming no other food will be served.
If you’re having a cocktail hour and then a dinner party, you’ll only need 2 to 4 items per person.
How to serve canapés?
Pass around canapés served by wait staff is obviously so elegant, but if you’re just doing a smaller dinner party or hosting a shower, you can plate each item on a large serving tray.
Multi-tiered trays look great with one type of canapé per tier. We love this three-tier rectangle plate set – it looks very modern. If you want something a little more timeless, we recommend this three-tiered cake stand.
What are the best dishes for canapés?
If you want to have plates for your guests to use for their canapés, we recommend something small that can be held in one hand.
Typically someone will also be holding a drink, so it’s ideally small enough that it can be set down easily on an end table as well. You could use a tapas plate or an appetizer plate for this.
What are your favorite canapé recipes? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
Jane Saunders
Wednesday 22nd of July 2020
This is a lovely collection of recipes and so informative too on how to serve canapes. They are fun, but over or under catering is my usual mistake in the past.