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Add a creepy twist to your Halloween party tray with these eye-catching snacks. This Halloween antipasto eyeballs appetizer uses mozzarella, basil oil and olives to create ghoulish little bites wrapped in ham and nestled on a bed of sun dried tomatoes. It’s savory, spooky and completely edible, with bold flavor and a fun presentation that’s sure to get guests talking. Serve it as a Halloween starter or centerpiece and watch these eerie “eyeballs” steal the show.
This Halloween antipasto eyeballs appetizer offers mozzarella balls, basil oil and olives, wrapped in ham for a spooky, tasty Halloween snack that looks right at you!
More Halloween favorites include these Halloween pot de creme desserts, eyeball punch, Nutter Butter ghost cookies, and Halloween bruschetta.
Why You’ll Love These Halloween Appetizers
Simple to prepare: You can make these in just half an hour, freeing up more of your time to get the puff pastry mummy hot dogs, spinach dip and tortilla chips, and other Halloween appetizer done too. As well as treats for any trick or treaters!
Ideal for a charcuterie board: Charcuterie boards boast various deli meats and perhaps some cheese and other snacks too. These cute mozzarella Halloween appetizers are definitely in keeping with the theme.
A spooky look: If you’ve never made Halloween eyeballs, you’ll love few ingredients you need to make truly spooky looking appetizers, and you can get creative, adding all kinds of Halloween garnishes to the platter as well.
Antipasto Eyeballs Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Olive oil: Blended with basil and salt to create a flavorful green oil.
Basil leaves: Add bold herby flavor and bright color to the basil oil.
Fresh mozzarella balls: Also known as ciliegine, these form the “eyeballs” and provide creamy texture.
Black olives: Cut into small circles to create spooky pupils.
Ham slices: Wrapped around the mozzarella to form eye shapes.
Balsamic glaze: Adds sweet, tangy depth to the base.
Sun dried tomatoes: Bring richness and color to the serving platter.
How to Make Eyeballs with Antipasto
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Make the basil oil: Blend the basil, oil and a pinch of salt to make the basil oil for these Halloween appetizers.
Prepare the cheese: Trim off the bottom of each piece of mozzarella and cut a little circle in each cheese ball.
Prepare the olives: Cut the olives in half and push through a hole using a straw.
Assemble the eyeball antipasto bites: Fill the spooky eyeball holes with basil oil and then add a piece of olive to be the pupil.
Add the deli ham: Wrap the ham around the mozzarella eyeballs in as close to an eye shape as possible.
The finishing touches: Arrange the antipasto eyeballs on sun dried tomatoes on crumpled brown wax paper, then smear some balsamic glaze on the paper, add a little salt, and serve.
Substitutions and Variations
Make it vegetarian: Skip the ham and wrap with thin slices of roasted red pepper.
Switch the cheese: Use marinated mozzarella or provolone balls if preferred.
Add spice: Use chili flakes in the basil oil or hot capicola instead of ham.
Swap the ham: Prosciutto works in place of deli ham if you prefer that. About 25 prosciutto slices for every 10 mozzarella pearls will work.
Other olives: Green olives can be used rather than black, if that’s your preference.
Serving Suggestions
With savory Halloween snacks: Enjoy mini charcuterie boards, Bloody Mary deviled eggs and skull potatoes.
With sweet treats: Pair your eyeballs with candy apples, candy corn peanut butter cookies and Halloween bark.
With drinks or shots: Sip a black magic cocktail or whip up these fun glow in the dark coconut rum shots.
How to Store Antipasti Eyeballs
Store: Keep any Halloween charcuterie board leftovers covered and refrigerated and eat within 3 days at most. For some doughy deliciousness, you can pop the leftovers in bread and make toasties or panini, or else serve on pumpernickel bread or your favourite kind.
Freeze: These aren’t really good for freezing.
Top Tips
Use a wide straw: A thick straw makes perfect olive pupils for the eyeballs.
Chill before serving: Cold antipasto bites hold their shape better and taste fresh.
Shape the ham carefully: Take time to wrap it into an oval eye shape for best effect.
Drain ingredients well: Pat mozzarella and tomatoes dry to avoid soggy presentation.
Antipasto Eyeballs FAQs
Even though these ingredients are similar, they aren’t the same. Balsamic vinegar is the consistency of water while balsamic glaze is thick and sweet, and the correct option for this Halloween appetizer recipe.
Arranged on crumpled brown paper and sun dried tomatoes, these look gruesome and great. But you can add anything else you want to the platter, such as plastic spiders, gummy bats or worms, or even a couple of pairs of broken eyeglasses!
Mozzarella Eyeballs Recipe
Halloween Antipasto Eyeballs Appetizer
Ingredients
- ¼ Cup olive oil
- 8 basil leaves, fresh
- kosher or table salt, as needed
- 10 Balls fresh mozzarella, bocconcini, ciliegine, “cherry sized”
- 5 black olives, whole pitted, medium or large
- ½ Pound ham, sliced thinly
- 1 ½ Ounces balsamic glaze
- 8 ½ Ounces sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil, julienne cut
- flake salt, as needed
Instructions
Make the Pesto
- Place the olive oil in a blender with the fresh basil and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth, then pour into a small container and set aside.
Prepare the Mozzarella Balls
- Place the ciliegine “cherry sized” mozzarella balls on a cutting board. Look at each one and determine the best side to be the “top”, the top should be slightly rounded and wide. Slice small amounts of the “bottom” to make sure it sits flat on the table if needed.
- Use a sharp paring knife to cut a small circle in the top of the mozzarella balls, but do not cut all the way through to the bottom, only cut about ¼-inch or less deep. This circle will be the “iris” of the eyeball, it should be larger than the opening of a wide mouthed straw, but small enough that you can see plenty of the white of the mozzarella around it. Set aside.
Make the Pupils
- Slice each of the black olives in half, lengthwise. With the inside of the halved olive facing up, use a wide mouth straw to punch a hole in the middle of the olive, just like a cookie cutter. Save the small circle of olive and discard the rest, this will become the “pupil” of the eyeball.
Assemble the Antipasto Eyeballs
- Use a small spoon to stir the basil oil, then fill each of the holes in the mozzarella balls with the basil oil, filling them almost to the top.
- Place one of the olive “pupils” smooth side up in the center of the basil oil in the mozzarella balls. Add additional basil oil if needed to fill the cavity in the mozzarella ball to the top.
- Take one of the thin slices of deli ham and fold in half lengthwise. Wrap the outside of the mozzarella ball with the ham, add additional pieces as needed. Form the ham so that it is in an eye shape.
- Crumple up a sheet of brown parchment paper, the size of your serving platter, then uncrumple it and place it onto your serving platter.
- Drizzle the balsamic glaze in a few lines on the wrinkled parchment, then smear around with a spoon. Place sundried tomatoes all around on top of the glaze and sprinkle with flake salt.
- Arrange the eyeballs on top of the sun dried tomatoes.
Notes
Chill before serving: Cold antipasto bites hold their shape better and taste fresh.
Shape the ham carefully: Take time to wrap it into an oval eye shape for best effect.
Drain ingredients well: Pat mozzarella and tomatoes dry to avoid soggy presentation.
Nutrition
This Halloween antipasto eyeballs appetizer is spooky, creative and full of flavor. With mozzarella balls standing in for eyeballs and olives as creepy pupils, it’s a Halloween hit every time. The basil oil adds brightness while the ham wraps everything together in a savory bite. Set them on a tray of sun dried tomatoes and balsamic glaze for a dramatic, easy-to-make party showstopper. They’re one of the best Halloween appetizer ideas that don’t take long to prepare.
Other Recipes to Try
- This Spider Pizza is a spooky twist featuring a fun charcoal crust.
- These jiggly Panna Cotta Eyeballs make for an eerie Halloween dessert.
- These cute and crunchy Candy Apples are a nostalgic must for fall festivities!
- Buffalo Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Peppers are a great Halloween dinner idea!
- And playful Monster Eye Pretzels will add charm to your Halloween menu.
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
So easy to make and it tastes exceptionally good!
I am not creative at all but you don’t need to be with recipes like this one anyway I made these and my daughter and all her friends loved them so thanks for the great recipe