Fun and spooky spaghetti recipe! This spaghetti and eyeballs is an easy Halloween pasta recipe to make with the family. A vegetarian Halloween dinner!
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Happy Halloween, Rhubarbarians! We are having lots of fun over here with this spooky spaghetti recipe!
Our family loves getting into the Halloween spirit by making fun and spooky recipes. This easy spaghetti and eyeballs is the perfect kid-friendly dinner recipe for Halloween! Psssst. Here are all of our Halloween recipes.
You only need five ingredients and 20 minutes to make this Halloween pasta. Let's get to it!
Have you tried these vegetarian mummy meatballs? Your kids will love them!
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Why you'll love this
Let's be real: no family has time for long and involved dinners on Halloween night (or any weeknight in October). We want to be out trick or treating, celebrating, and eating candy!
You'll love this recipe because it's quick, easy, made with pantry staples you already have, and kids love it.
We make a quick pesto pasta by tossing store bought pesto with cooked spaghetti noodles. Make some easy eyeballs with small mozzarella balls and olive slices. Then make some easy spiders with just black olives. Garnish with some baby basil leaves and 20 minutes later you've made spooky spaghetti!
Your kids don't like pesto? We get it! Swap the pesto for spaghetti sauce and you will still have spooky, fun Halloween spaghetti.
Ingredients and equipment
Full ingredients and instructions are listed in the recipe card at the bottom of this article.
Ingredients:
- Water
- Dry spaghetti noodles
- Pesto
- Pitted black olives
- Small mozzarella balls
- Baby basil leaves
Equipment:
- Stove top or cook top
- Large pot
- Colander. I love the OXO Good Grips colander!
- Cutting board
- Sharp paring knife
- Measuring cup
- Tongs or stirring utensil. I like to use tongs to toss pasta in sauce. These tongs are my favorite!
- Plates. These Halloween plates are really cool!
- Forks
Step by step instructions
You'll love how simple this is! Here's how to make it, step by step.
Full instructions are listed in the recipe card at the bottom of this article.
- Gather your ingredients (water, dry spaghetti, pesto, olives, mozzarella balls, and baby basil leaves)
How to make the spaghetti
- Cook the spaghetti according to your package directions. (You'll be making your eyeballs and spiders while the pasta cooks.)
- When the pasta is cooked, strain through a colander and rinse with water.
- Toss the pasta with the pesto until well combined.
How to make the eyeballs
- Start with 4 firm pitted black olives.
- Slice each olive into 4 slices, width wise.
- Choose 12 slices that have the largest holes and use those to make the eyeballs.
- Gently, but firmly press one of the slices into one of the mozzarella balls.
- Repeat with remaining olive slices and mozzarella balls until you have 12 eyeballs.
How to make the spiders
- Start with 12 firm pitted black olives.
- Cut each olive in half length wise so that you have 24 halves.
- Set 8 of the halves aside to use as the spider bodies.
- Slice each remaining olive half into 4 slices, width wise. These will make the legs. (8 legs per spider).
- We recommend building the spiders on top of your spaghetti before serving, as they can can't be transferred easily.
- Build the spider by placing one of the olive halves pitted side down on the pasta. This will be the body of a spider.
- Carefully place 4 olive slices along one side of the spider body, curve upwards, to make the spider legs.
- Repeat with 4 more slices on the other side of the spider body.
- Repeat the steps until you have 8 spiders, 2 for each serving.
How to make the spooky spaghetti
- After tossing the spaghetti with the pesto, you're ready to make your spooky spaghetti.
- Place some pesto spaghetti on a plate.
- Add 3 mozzarella eyeballs per serving, olive slice face up, spaced out evenly.
- Build 2 olive spiders per serving wherever you'd like on top of the pasta.
- Add a few baby basil leaves (the tiny ones on the sprigs) to create some "leaves" in the pasta.
- Serve and enjoy your fun Halloween dinner!
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How to store
Any leftover spaghetti can be stored in the refrigerator in an air tight container for up to 4 days.
We recommend storing the pesto spaghetti separately and making the eyeballs and spiders right before serving.
If your spooky spaghetti has already been made, the olive spiders will disperse into small olive pieces, which is okay! Just make some extra olive spiders when serving again.
Reheat the spaghetti in the microwave. If the spaghetti is dry, add a little bit of olive oil to moisten it. Your mozzarella eyeballs will melt if you microwave them, so we recommend adding them after reheating.
Can I freeze it? We don't recommend it. Pesto spaghetti and mozzarella don't freeze well.
Make ahead instructions
You can definitely prep a lot of things ahead and make this spooky spaghetti even quicker and easier for Halloween night!
- The spaghetti can be cooked a day or two ahead and tossed in the pesto. Store it in the refrigerator until ready to serve and just reheat in the microwave.
- The eyeballs can be prepped a day ahead, but wait until right before serving to add them to the spooky spaghetti.
- The olives for the spiders can be sliced ahead of time, but will need to be built onto the spooky spaghetti when serving.
Serving suggestions
We love serving this as an easy dinner in October. It's fun and easy enough to serve on Halloween night before trick or treating too!
We find it easiest to serve individual portions, as the eyeballs and spiders will fall apart if they are moved.
Spaghetti and eyeballs are great when served with meatballs! Cook some vegetarian frozen meatballs and add them to your pasta or try our vegetarian mummy meatballs.
Side dishes to try with spooky spaghetti:
Don't forget to crank the Halloween tunes!
Recipe tips and substitutions
- Don't build your olive spiders until serving. They don't transfer well so we recommend building them directly on top of the spaghetti.
- Rinse the pasta with water after straining to keep the noodles from sticking together.
- If your family doesn't like pesto, go ahead and swap the pesto for spaghetti sauce!
- Cook some vegetarian frozen meatballs and add those to the pasta for some added protein.
- Green olives can be swapped for the black olives, although we think black olives look the spookiest for the spiders.
- If you love green olives, try tossing this in our green olive pasta sauce.
- If you can't find bocconcini (mozzarella balls), buy fresh sliced mozzarella. Cut the slices into circles using a knife and then press in the olives slices. They won't be spherical, but they will work!
- Make this recipe vegan by using your favorite vegan pesto recipe and making vegan mozzarella cheese balls.
- Make this recipe gluten free by using your favorite gluten free spaghetti.
FAQs
Unfortunately, no. You will need a half of an olive to build the spiders and pre sliced olives are too thin to stand up as legs.
Look in the cheese section at your grocery store where the fresh mozzarella is! Sometimes, we find the mozzarella in the deli section with the fancy cheeses.
Just swap the pesto for spaghetti sauce!
That's okay! Just buy fresh sliced mozzarella. Cut the slices into circles using a knife and then press in the olives slices. They won't be spherical, but they will work!
More fun Halloween recipes:
- Easy vegetarian mummy meatballs
- Creamy cauliflower pumpkin fettuccine alfredo
- Roasted sweet potato Halloween bites
Did you make this recipe? Leave us a review and star rating in the comments below! We read every single review and appreciate your feedback.
Recipe
Spooky spaghetti: a Halloween pasta recipe
Ingredients
- 4 quarts water
- 8 ounces dry spaghetti
- ½ cup pesto
- 16 whole firm pitted black olives
- 12 small mozzarella cheese balls (bocconcini)
- 12 baby basil leaves
Instructions
Cook the spaghetti
- Bring the water to a rapid boil in a large pot and cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Salt the water before cooking if desired (optional). When cooked to your liking, strain the noodles and rinse with water.
- While the pasta is cooking, make your eyeballs and spiders.
Make the eyeballs
- To make the eyeballs, slice 4 firm black olives into 4 slices width wise. Choose 12 slices with the largest holes and use those to make the eyeballs. Gently but firmly press one of the slices into one of the mozzarella balls. Repeat with remaining mozzarella balls. You should have 12 eyeballs total.
Make the spiders
- To make the spiders, start by cutting 12 firm black olives in half length wise so that you have 24 halves. Set aside 8 halves to be the body of the spiders.
- Slice the remaining 16 olive halves into 4 slices width wise to make 64 "legs."
- To build an olive spider (we recommend doing this on top of the pasta before serving, see below), place one of the olive halves pitted side down on the pasta. This will be the body of the spider. Carefully place 4 olive slices along one side of the spider body, curve upwards, to make the spider legs and repeat with 4 more slices on the other side of the spider body. Repeat until you have 8 spiders, 2 for each serving. (See photos above in this post for reference)
Make the spooky spaghetti
- To put the spooky spaghetti together, start by tossing the cooked spaghetti with the pesto until well combined. Divide the spaghetti among 4 plates to serve.
- Top each spaghetti plate with 3 mozzarella eyeballs and 2 olive spiders, placed anywhere you would like.
- Garnish each plate with 3 baby basil leaves. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Don't build your olive spiders until serving. They don't transfer well so we recommend building them directly on top of the spaghetti.
- Rinse the pasta with water after straining to prevent the noodles sticking together.
- If your family doesn't like pesto, go ahead and swap the pesto for spaghetti sauce!
- Cook some vegetarian frozen meatballs and add those to the pasta for some added protein.
- Green olives can be swapped for the black olives, although we think black olives look the spookiest for the spiders.
- If you can't find bocconcini (mozzarella balls), buy fresh sliced mozzarella. Cut the slices into circles using a knife and then press in the olives slices. They won't be spherical, but they will work!
- Make this recipe vegan by using your favorite vegan pesto recipe and making your own vegan mozzarella cheese balls!
- Make this recipe gluten free by using your favorite gluten free spaghetti.
Nutrition
If you make this recipe, please let us know on social media or in the comments below! Leave a star rating in your comment or tag us on Instagram with #Rhubarbarians
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