It’s easy to pull together a bunch of the most beloved appetizers for a party, but a really awesome host will offer some tasty vegetarian appetizers, too.
If you entertain frequently, you need to have a good collection of vegan and vegetarian recipe ideas. More and more people are following a cruelty-free and plant-based diet, and your vegetarian friends and family members will greatly appreciate your efforts to make sure they have something yummy to eat.
Vegetarian party food can take a little more creativity, but the good news is that there are tons of vegetarian appetizer recipes online.
Whether you’re looking for vegetarian finger food or vegetarian party food such as veggie dips that will please a crowd, there’s something on this list for you and your guests.
Vegetarian appetizers often showcase the beauty and deliciousness of plant-based ingredients in creative and enticing ways. These delightful starters can be both satisfying and guilt-free while tantalizing the taste buds of vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. With an array of colorful vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains as the primary building blocks, a world of unique and delectable dishes awaits exploration.
From simple and minimalistic to elaborate and intricate, vegetarian appetizers cater to various culinary preferences and dietary restrictions. Nutrient-rich ingredients not only offer a myriad of health benefits, but they also foster environmentally conscious cuisine choices. Utilizing seasonal and locally sourced produce can further enhance the nutritional value and flavor profile of these appetizers.
Experimenting with different spices, cooking techniques, and presentations can elevate vegetarian appetizers to impressive levels. With endless inspiration available, these starters prove that plant-based food is anything but monotonous. Embracing vegetarian appetizers can lead to the discovery of novel, scrumptious combinations that appeal to all food enthusiasts.
In the 19th century, vegetarian appetizers became popular in Europe, with dishes such as stuffed mushrooms, eggplant caviar, and vegetable pâtés. In the 20th century, vegetarian appetizers gained popularity in the United States, with dishes such as stuffed peppers, guacamole, and spanakopita becoming popular. Nowadays, vegetarian appetizers can be found in restaurants, at potlucks, and in grocery stores, with a variety of flavors and ingredients. Vegetarian appetizers are a delicious and nutritious way to enjoy a meal.
We all love grabbing some edamame when we’re out to dinner enjoying vegetarian appetizers, but it’s easy to make this wonderful vegan appetizer at home, too.
To make this spicy and sweet edamame, you need frozen edamame, soy sauce, rice vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes (or chili oil), brown sugar, garlic, and fresh ginger.
When it’s finished cooking, sprinkle your edamame with toasted sesame seeds and enjoy!
Ever since we first had baked potato skins at a restaurant years ago, we have been in love with this delicious vegetarian appetizer that is hearty enough to be a meal.
For your vegan baked potato skins, you need vegan mayonnaise and vegan sour cream, along with almond milk.
Spices in this recipe are garlic powder, dried dill, and fresh chives.
This recipe for potato skins uses TVP, but you can skip that if you want to and just keep it with your vegan cheddar cheese, green onions, and chives.
A veggie platter is one of our favorite vegetarian snack ideas because it’s so easy and requires no cooking whatsoever.
When we make veggie platters, we like to use a lot of different colored veggies. The more variety you have, the better!
A veggie platter should have some of the basics, including cherry tomatoes, celery sticks, sliced cucumber, green beans, sweet green peas, snow peas, sliced bell pepper in different colors, cauliflower, radishes, and asparagus spears.
In addition to cauliflower, you can add broccoli, artichoke, zucchini to your fresh veggie platter. Serve your veggie tray appetizer with whatever dips you like.
Flatbreads can be excellent vegetarian appetizers, but they can also serve as a full meal when you pair them with a salad.
We love this recipe, and you can modify it by spreading your flatbread with tahini.
To make this flatbread appetizer, you can make homemade pizza dough or use a store-bought version.
If you can’t grow or find heirloom tomatoes for this flatbread, that’s no big deal. Just buy some of the different colored gourmet cherry tomatoes that you can buy at the store.
In India, you can enjoy a variety of different pakora that are made with various veggies. However, you can also gobble up this pakora appetizer that’s made with cheese and paneer.
Pakora (sometimes called pakoda) is the Hindi word for fritters that are fried.
Traditionally, Indian pakora is made with gram flour, which is flour made from small black chickpeas.
Paneer is a fresh firm Indian cottage cheese that is non-melting.
For super-crispy pakora, fry it twice as directed in this excellent and authentic Indian recipe.
When you want a fruit dip for an appetizer, you can make the popular cream cheese fruit dip as an appetizer. However, we have fallen in love with this unique apple brickle dip recipe.
This apple brickle dip is made from toffee and cream cheese and it’s positively decadent.
For sweetness, this apple brickle dip gets so much yumminess from brown sugar, white sugar, and toffee baking bits.
Vanilla adds some delightful notes, too.
For optimal results, serve this apple brickle dip with different colors of apples, including Granny Smith apples, Gala apples, and Honey Crisp apples.
Your herbs for this salad are fresh mint leaves, fresh basil leaves, dried oregano, fresh marjoram, and chopped chives.
Some feta cheese, blue cheese, gorgonzola cheese, fresh mozzarella cheese, or goat cheese is great on this salad, and it can be similar to a Caprese salad.
Eggplant caponata is loaded with veggies, including black olives, green olives, diced tomatoes, garlic, capers, bell pepper, and onion.
If you can get your hands on some Italian eggplant, that would be great. They have a thin peel and roast perfectly.
Here’s some more good news: eggplant caponata freeze wonderfully, so you can make a double batch and have some ready for another day and another party.
When it comes to vegetarian snacks or vegan snacks, there is nothing more ubiquitous, beloved, and easy than homemade potato chips.
These homemade potato chips have the signature crunch we all love in our chips, but they don’t have all of the nasty preservatives found in store-bought potato chips.
Best of all, you can make homemade potato chips in about 10 minutes.
To make these homemade potato chips, it’s nice if you have a mandolin so that your sliced potato chips are perfectly even.
Sometimes an occasion calls for a vegetarian appetizer that’s a little more sophisticated, and that’s where these Indian vegetable fritters (vegetable pakora) come into play.
Besides being a vegetarian appetizer, these veggie fritters are also gluten free and vegan.
To make this vegetable pakora, you fry your veggies until they are crispy and golden brown.
Vegetable pakora is made with cauliflower, potato, onion, red chile, butternut squash, and fresh ginger.
Bruschetta is so versatile and there are tons of ways to make it.
This simple bruschetta recipe features fresh tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and fresh basil leaves. This bruschetta is so simple but so perfect.
Bruschetta is best when it’s served on a French baguette, but any sturdy French bread will work.
For other vegetarian and vegan bruschetta toppings, consider mushrooms with thyme, olives and oregano with lemon juice and lemon zest, mashed green peas with fresh mint leaves, and sun dried tomato with olive oil.
This recipe for Indian tomato soup uses real heavy cream and zesty fresh tomatoes to make the perfect soup completely from scratch in less than half an hour.
If you don’t have fresh tomatoes, or if you want to make this recipe even easier, you can use canned tomato puree or canned tomatoes.
Don’t use milk in this recipe. It doesn’t do well with the acidity in the tomatoes.
The roasted garlic makes this tomato soup divine.
To make this soup slightly sweet, blend in some beets or carrots.
Cassie brings decades of experience to the Kitchen Community. She is a noted chef and avid gardener. Her new book "Healthy Eating Through the Garden" will be released shortly. When not writing or speaking about food and gardens Cassie can be found puttering around farmer's markets and greenhouses looking for the next great idea.
