Spooky spaghetti: a Halloween pasta recipe

Spooky spaghetti: a Halloween pasta recipe

Fun and spooky spaghetti recipe! This spaghetti and eyeballs is an easy Halloween pasta recipe to make with the family. A vegetarian Halloween dinner!

Course dinner, entree, pasta

Cuisine American

Keyword easy, halloween, kid-friendly, quick, vegetarian

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Servings small servings

Calories 548kcal

Author Trish Bozeman

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