Mummy food might be Halloween’s most forgiving party theme.
You don’t need complicated carving, perfect piping, or professional decorating skills. If you can wrap something in strips of dough, cheese, or frosting and leave a little space for eyes, Halloween will accept it as a mummy.
That gives us plenty of room to play with both savory and sweet recipes.
These five ideas cover appetizers, dinner, and dessert: Mummy Hot Dogs, Mummy Pizza Bites, Mummy Meatballs, Mummy Brownies, and Mummy Apple Hand Pies.
What You’ll Need
Mummy Hot Dogs
- 8 hot dogs
- 1 tube refrigerated crescent roll dough
- 16 small candy eyes or small pieces of cheese
- Mustard or ketchup for serving
- Cooking spray or parchment paper
Mummy Pizza Bites
- 8 mini naan breads or English muffin halves
- 1 cup pizza sauce
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
- 2 string cheese sticks
- Sliced black olives
- 16 pepperoni slices, optional
Mummy Meatballs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 sheet refrigerated crescent dough
- Small pieces of black olive for eyes
- 1 cup warm marinara sauce
Mummy Brownies
- 1 pan baked brownies, completely cooled
- 1 cup white chocolate chips or white candy melts
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, optional
- 24 candy eyes
Mummy Apple Hand Pies
- 2 refrigerated pie crusts
- 2 apples, peeled and finely diced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- Candy eyes or melted chocolate for decorating
Tools You’ll Need
Keep the equipment simple:
- Sheet pans
- Parchment paper
- Mixing bowls
- Sharp knife or pizza cutter
- Pastry brush
- Microwave-safe bowl
- Small skillet
- Food thermometer
A pizza cutter is particularly useful for making thin dough strips.
They don’t need to be identical.
Mummy wrapping has survived thousands of years without anyone requesting ruler-straight pastry.
Mummy Hot Dogs
We’ll start with the Halloween party classic.
Heat the oven to 375°F, or use the temperature recommended on your crescent dough package.
Unroll the dough and cut it into thin strips.
Wrap several strips around each hot dog, leaving a small opening near the top for the face.
Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake according to the dough package directions, generally until the pastry is puffed and golden and the hot dogs are thoroughly heated.
Let them cool slightly, then add two eyes to each mummy.
For a savory alternative to candy eyes, use tiny dots of mustard or small pieces of cheese and olive.
Serve with ketchup or mustard.
These are especially useful for parties because they’re handheld and recognizable enough that nobody needs an explanation before eating one.
Mummy Pizza Bites
These take the mummy idea in a completely different direction.
Heat the oven to 400°F.
Arrange mini naan or English muffin halves on a baking sheet.
Spread each with pizza sauce and add pepperoni if using.
Pull string cheese into thin strips and arrange them loosely across each pizza like mummy bandages.
Leave a small gap near the top.
Place two olive pieces in that opening for eyes.
Bake for about 8 to 12 minutes, until the base is crisp and the cheese has melted.
Don’t cover every millimeter with cheese.
You need enough red sauce showing through to create the wrapped effect.
Also, cheese spreads as it melts.
Your carefully arranged mummy may emerge from the oven looking considerably less organized than when it went in.
That’s fine.
It has been through a lot.
Three Tricks for Better Mummy Food
Keep the wrapping irregular. Perfectly parallel strips look less mummy-like than slightly overlapping ones.
Leave room for the face. Decide where the eyes will go before covering everything.
Decorate after cooking when needed. Candy eyes can melt or lose their shape in the oven, so add them once food has cooled enough.
Most importantly, don’t let the decorating become more complicated than the recipe.
Two eyes and a few pale strips can communicate “mummy” surprisingly effectively.
Halloween is very generous about visual evidence.
Mummy Meatballs
These make a fun savory appetizer when you want something more substantial than chips and dip.
Heat the oven to 400°F.
Combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, egg, Parmesan, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Form into roughly 16 small meatballs.
Bake them until the centers reach 160°F.
Let them cool enough to handle.
Cut crescent dough into thin strips and loosely wrap a few around each cooked meatball.
Return them to the oven and bake according to the dough package directions until the pastry is golden.
Add tiny olive pieces for eyes after baking.
Serve with warm marinara sauce for dipping.
Don’t make the meatballs enormous.
A meatball the size of a tennis ball wrapped in six feet of pastry has stopped being an appetizer and started becoming a personal commitment.
Smaller ones are easier to serve and considerably easier to eat at a party.
Mummy Brownies
The savory mummies have handled dinner.
Now chocolate can become involved.
Bake your favorite brownies and let them cool completely.
Cut them into rectangles.
Melt white chocolate or candy melts according to package directions. If needed, stir in a small amount of coconut oil to make the chocolate easier to drizzle.
Transfer it to a piping bag or use a spoon.
Drizzle thin, uneven lines back and forth across each brownie.
Before the coating sets, add two candy eyes.
Let the brownies sit until the chocolate firms.
That’s the entire decorating process.
Resist the temptation to keep adding things.
Mummy brownies don’t need orange sprinkles, gummy worms, six additional colors, and an edible haunted house balanced on top.
Sometimes dessert has already explained itself.
Mummy Apple Hand Pies
These bring a little fall flavor to the Halloween table and look more complicated than they are.
Heat the oven to 400°F.
Cook the diced apples with brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and cornstarch for about 5 minutes, until slightly softened.
Cool the filling.
Cut one pie crust into small rectangles.
Place a spoonful of apple filling in the center of each, keeping the edges clear.
Cut the second crust into thin strips.
Lay strips irregularly across the filling, pressing the ends onto the bottom crust.
Leave a small opening for the eyes.
Whisk the egg with water and lightly brush the pastry.
Bake for approximately 18 to 22 minutes, until golden and the filling is bubbling.
Cool before adding candy eyes or small dots of melted chocolate.
Do not overfill the pies.
Apple filling escaping through mummy bandages may be thematically appropriate, but it makes the baking sheet considerably less pleasant to clean.
Easy Variations
Once you understand the wrapping idea, you can turn plenty of familiar foods into Halloween mummies.
Use puff pastry instead of crescent dough around sausages.
Make mini mummy pizzas on baguette slices.
Wrap jalapeño poppers with thin dough strips for an appetizer aimed at adults and older kids who enjoy spicy food.
Brownies can become blondies or chocolate cookie bars.
For hand pies, swap the apple filling for pumpkin, pear, or a thick berry filling.
For a meatless savory option, use vegetarian sausages or suitable plant-based meatballs and follow their package cooking directions.
You don’t need to make every dish on the table into a mummy, either.
Two themed foods surrounded by ordinary party snacks often look better than fifteen different dishes all staring back at your guests.
Make-Ahead Party Plan
Several parts of these recipes can be handled before the party.
Bake the brownies a day ahead and decorate them once completely cool.
Prepare the apple filling ahead and refrigerate it in a covered container.
The meatballs can also be cooked ahead, cooled promptly, and refrigerated. Reheat them thoroughly before or during final preparation as appropriate.
Pizza toppings can be portioned ahead so assembly takes only a few minutes.
For dough-wrapped foods, I prefer baking closer to serving time. Refrigerated pastry tends to taste much better when freshly baked and crisp.
Set out the serving platters before you begin cooking.
This sounds insignificant until five trays finish at nearly the same time and every available counter suddenly contains parchment paper.
Food Safety for Halloween Parties
Cook ground beef meatballs to 160°F in the center.
Any recipes made with poultry sausages or ground poultry should reach 165°F.
When reheating previously cooked leftovers or make-ahead foods, heat them to 165°F.
Keep hot foods at 140°F or above if they’re being held for serving. Refrigerate perishable foods within 2 hours, or within 1 hour when temperatures are above 90°F.
For parties with very young children, choose decorations carefully. Whole olives, hard candies, gummy candies, large marshmallows, whole nuts, and similar foods can pose choking hazards depending on a child’s age and development.
Candy eyes can also be firm, so use an age-appropriate alternative when necessary.
The food can look alarming.
Its actual safety should be considerably less exciting.
Leftovers and Storage
Refrigerate leftover meatballs, hot dogs, pizza bites, and other perishable foods promptly in covered containers.
Most cooked leftovers should be used within 3 to 4 days.
Reheat savory leftovers to 165°F.
Mummy hot dogs and pizza bites are best reheated in an oven or air fryer if you want the pastry or bread to regain some crispness.
Store brownies in a covered container according to the ingredients and toppings you’ve used.
Apple hand pies are best within the first couple of days because the pastry gradually softens around the filling.
Don’t assemble enormous quantities simply because the recipe looks easy.
By November, nobody wants to discover an unidentified frozen object wrapped in pastry and have to determine whether it was a mummy or dinner.
Frequently Asked Questions
What foods can I turn into Halloween mummies?
Hot dogs, sausages, meatballs, pizzas, stuffed peppers, brownies, cookies, hand pies, and pastry appetizers can all work well.
What’s the easiest mummy food for a party?
Mummy hot dogs and mummy brownies are probably the simplest. Both need very little detailed decorating.
Can I make mummy foods the night before?
Some components can be made ahead. Brownies are particularly convenient, while pastry-wrapped savory foods are usually better baked closer to serving.
How do I keep mummy dough strips in place?
Press the ends gently against the food or underlying dough. Avoid pulling the strips too tightly because pastry expands during baking.
What can I use instead of candy eyes?
Small dots of melted chocolate, mustard, cream cheese, icing, or carefully cut pieces of suitable ingredients can work depending on the recipe.
What should I serve with mummy food?
Keep the rest of the menu simple with dips, vegetables, fruit, popcorn for age-appropriate guests, Halloween trail mix, or a few easy desserts.
Wrapping Up
Halloween mummy food works because the decorating technique is almost suspiciously simple.
Wrap crescent dough around Mummy Hot Dogs, turn string cheese into bandages for Mummy Pizza Bites, or serve pastry-wrapped Mummy Meatballs with warm marinara.
For dessert, Mummy Brownies need little more than white chocolate and eyes, while Mummy Apple Hand Pies bring cinnamon-spiced fall flavor to the party.
Choose two or three ideas rather than trying to mummify the entire buffet.
The guests will understand the theme.
The pretzels can remain pretzels.
If you try one of these Halloween mummy food ideas, leave a comment and tell me which recipe you made, or share any questions below.
