5 Appetizers Perfect for Your Holiday Party

The holidays are an ideal time to plan get-togethers with friends and family members. If it’s your turn to host the next holiday party, you’ll want to focus on planning as early as possible. If you try to throw everything together at the last minute, critical things may get overlooked. For example, you should take into consideration what you’ll have available for your guests to snack on before the main meal is served. These 5 appetizers are perfect for a holiday party.

Cheese Balls

Cheese balls are a great thing to have when you have a get together because there are many ways you can make them. One popular type to make is the bacon, cheddar, ranch cheese ball. This recipe calls for ingredients such as bacon, green onions, ranch, shredded cheese, cream cheese, and pecans. Other popular ways of making cheese balls include:

• Sweet and savory pineapple cheese balls

• Ham and cheddar

• Chocolate chip

• Ginger and lemon

• Vegan pimento cheese ball

• Sweet chili and cream cheese

• Pepper jack almond mini cheese balls

Cheese balls are pretty popular at parties, so you can add variety to your appetizer table by making various types.

Holiday Sliders

Sliders are very easy to make and contain whatever ingredients you want. Whatever types of sliders you decide to serve, remember how long you’ve had them out for, and discard them after 2 hours to make sure the food is safe to eat. Some sliders you can try at your next holiday party are:

• Sliders with deli turkey meat, horseradish, and cranberry sauce

• Pot roast

• Honey and ale pulled chicken

• Chicken parmesan

• Cheeseburger omelet

• BBQ chicken

• Bacon cheeseburger

• Sausage and peppers

• BLT waffles

• Sausage with cran-apple slaw

• Honey buffalo

• Stuffed meatballs with sauce

• Blackberry sriracha

As you can see, there are many ways you can make sliders. You can make simple mini cheeseburger sliders, or try to make them extra flavorful by being creative and mixing it up some.

Different Types of Dips

Dips can also come in many forms, making it easy for you to add variety to your appetizer table. Dips can be served with chips, crackers, or different breads. Dips that are typically popular at holiday parties include:

• Caramelized onion

• White bean with herbs

• Corn queso

• Classic hummus

• Creamy spinach

• White bean dip

One of the best things about dip is you can make a big batch of it and it generally won’t cost you a lot to prepare it.

Various Breads

There are different breads that work well for just about all of the holiday appetizers. Some of the most popular breads for Christmas include cinnamon tea rings, Czech braided Christmas bread, mini cranberry fruit bread, and powdered sugar monkey bread. One of the most important things about making bread is following the recipe exactly unless you’re an expert. You also want to make sure you have all the correct ingredients on hand, such as guar gum or xanthan gum, especially if you are considering some gluten-free baking. The better quality ingredients make the best tasting recipes.

Meatballs

Cocktail meatballs are delicious and they are very easy to make. Just make sure to follow proper ground beef safety when preparing and serving these so no one ends up getting sick.  As with all the other appetizers mentioned, cocktail meatballs can all be made in various ways. You can choose to make the meatballs by hand, or you can buy a couple of bags of the frozen ones to help save time.

Holidays are a fun time to be around people you normally do not see every day. If you get to host the next holiday party, or if you’re asked to bring something, try some of these fun appetizers ideas to help hold your family over before the main dish is served.