I am not a person who hosts well. I have always admired the women who can have eight people over with two days’ notice and a perfectly composed cheese board. I am not one of them. My version of hosting involves a slow cooker, paper plates, and an apology about the pile of shoes by the front door.
What I have figured out, though, is that you do not have to be a real hostess to put out a really good appetizer. You just need a handful of recipes that look like you tried much harder than you did. These are mine. Fifteen minutes or less, mostly. All of them get the kind of compliments that make me lie a little about how long they took.
1) Crack Chicken Appetizer▼
1) Crack Chicken Crescent Rollups
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Ingredients
- 1 tube crescent rolls, 8 count
- 8 frozen crispy chicken fingers
- 4 slices cooked bacon, cut in half
- 8 strips cheddar cheese, about 1 by 3 inches
- Ranch dressing, or buffalo sauce for the adults
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
Cooking Instructions
- Lay the crescent rolls out on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Starting at the wide end, top each one with an uncooked chicken finger, a piece of bacon, a strip of cheddar and a line of ranch.
- Roll each one from the wide end to the point.
- Bake at 375 for 18 minutes.
- Brush the warm tops with melted butter.
The warm dip appetizer that ruins everyone for every other dip at the party. Cream cheese, ranch, cheddar, bacon, shredded chicken, served warm in a baking dish surrounded by crackers. People hover near it. People go back four times.
People do not leave their spot near the appetizer table. This is the recipe I bring when I want to be remembered. It works. I have been the dip person at three different friend groups now.
2) Crab Rangoon▼
2) Homemade Crab Rangoon
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Ingredients
- 8 ounces imitation crab meat, chopped small
- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 3 scallions, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 package wonton wrappers
- Water for sealing
- Oil for frying
Cooking Instructions
- Stir the crab, cream cheese, scallions, Worcestershire, soy sauce and sugar together.
- Heat oil to 350. Lay out the wonton wrappers and put a little less than a tablespoon of filling in the center of each.
- Wet all four edges with a finger, then pinch the points and sides together to form a point in the middle.
- Fry 5 or 6 at a time, watching closely, until crisp and golden.
- Lift them out with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined plate.
The little crispy wonton bites filled with sweet, creamy crab and cream cheese. They look impressive on a tray, taste exactly like the takeout version, and require nothing more complicated than a stack of wonton wrappers and a hot skillet. I make these when I want to feel like I am hosting at a level above my usual game. They are the appetizer equivalent of getting dressed for dinner.
Every order of Chinese takeout at our house has to include crab rangoon. It is probably my favorite part of the meal, and that gets expensive. This version takes less time and less money than driving to my go to restaurant, and when it is 20 degrees in Iowa that matters. The filling is cream cheese and imitation crab with scallions and a little soy and sugar.
3) Sausage Cream Cheese Crescent Roll Appetizer▼
3) Sausage Cream Cheese Crescent Roll Appetizer
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Ingredients
- 2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls or dough sheets, 8 ounces each
- 1 pound bulk pork sausage, spicy or mild
- 8 ounce package cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
Cooking Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375. Unroll one can of dough and press it over the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a greased 13×9 glass dish.
- Cook the sausage in a skillet until no pink is left and drain it.
- Melt the cream cheese in the same skillet over low heat, stir the sausage back in, and spread it over the crust. Sprinkle with cheddar.
- Unroll the second can, press the perforations closed, and lay it over the top.
- Bake 21 to 26 minutes until golden. Cool 15 minutes and cut into small squares.
The crescent roll bites that always go first. Sausage and cream cheese rolled into crescent dough, baked until golden, served warm. Twenty minutes from refrigerator to platter. These are the appetizer that even the picky eaters in the family circle for.
Carol would approve of any appetizer that gets eaten without complaint by a teenager. We are loving all things sausage at our house. Move over bacon, we are onto bigger and better things. Just kidding, bacon, we still love you.
4) Keto Cajun Shrimp Appetizer▼
4) Keto Cajun Shrimp Bites
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Ingredients
- 24 large raw shrimp, thawed, peeled, tails off
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
- A dash of creole seasoning
- 2 cucumbers, sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 2 avocados, mashed
- 1/4 ounce lime juice
- Cilantro, optional
- For the remoulade: 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup deli mustard, 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish, 1 teaspoon pickle juice, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 1 large clove garlic minced
Cooking Instructions
- Stir the remoulade ingredients together and spoon it into a zip top bag. It can be made a day ahead.
- Heat the oven to 425. Toss the shrimp with the Old Bay and creole seasoning and spread them on a parchment lined sheet.
- Bake 9 to 12 minutes until pink and cooked through, then let them cool.
- Mash the avocados with the lime juice. Slice the cucumbers thick enough to hold a shrimp.
- Rub the bottom of each shrimp with avocado, set it on a cucumber slice, snip the corner of the bag, and drizzle with remoulade.
Spicy, buttery, garlicky shrimp that come together in about 12 minutes on the stove. They look like the kind of appetizer you would order at a New Orleans restaurant, but the ingredient list is short and the prep is laughably simple. Serve them with toothpicks and a stack of small plates. They will be gone in 20 minutes flat.
Going keto taught me one thing. You do not have to starve on a diet. You can have flavor packed, protein rich food that happens to be low carb. My Bunco girls went crazy over these.
5) Salmon Keto Appetizer▼
5) Salmon Keto Appetizer Bites
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Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets, thawed
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
- 2 cucumbers, sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 2 avocados, mashed
- 1/4 ounce lime juice
- Cilantro, optional
- For the remoulade: 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup deli mustard, 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish, 1 teaspoon pickle juice, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 1 large clove garlic minced
Cooking Instructions
- Stir the remoulade ingredients together and spoon it into a zip top bag. It can be made a day ahead.
- Heat the oven to 425. Pat the salmon dry, season with Old Bay, and lay the fillets on a parchment lined sheet.
- Bake 9 to 12 minutes until the fish flakes. While it is still hot, cut each fillet into quarter sized pieces and let them cool.
- Mash the avocados with the lime juice and slice the cucumbers.
- Rub the bottom of each salmon piece with avocado, set it on a cucumber slice, and drizzle with remoulade from the snipped corner of the bag.
The little salmon bites that look like they came from a catering tray. A schmear of cream cheese, a piece of smoked salmon, a few capers, a little fresh dill. They take five minutes to assemble and they look like you hired someone. This is the appetizer I make when I want to feel a little fancy without doing anything fancy.
The look on people’s faces when they think you put real effort in is its own reward. More party reads: cookout recipes | make-ahead party recipes | no-bake desserts Keto is officially on for me. One week in, down four pounds, and completely satisfied with that.