3 Easy Appetizers For A Party

I honestly don’t know what it is about appetizers, but they typically are the most intimidating part of a dinner party for me. Maybe it’s because it’s the first thing guests eat, or because it has to be prepared and ready to go before everything else? Or maybe it’s just that the word itself sounds fancy ha! But at the same time, appetizers are some of my favorite things to eat! I live for a good pre-meal snack and often times put appetizers on my plate to even eat alongside my main meal. So over time I have found a few easy apps I both love to serve and eat! 

My number 1 go-to appetizer is olive tapenade! Now obviously, if you’re not a fan of olives this may not be your thing… but I LOVE olives. Plus to me, there is just something about serving olives that automatically makes any gathering feel a little bit fancier. There are many recipes online for making olive tapenade, but I’ve found many pre-made olive tapenades from grocery stores to be just as good (if not better). Plus it’s one less thing you have to prep/worry about. Trader Joe’s has my favorite refrigerated olive tapenade (and it’s less than $5) but they also have a $2 jar that’s great to keep on hand as it lasts longer! You can serve it with crackers, sliced baguette or crostini. You also don’t have to stay in the olive family for tapenade, roasted tomato tapenade and fig/apricot tapenade are also delicious and crowd pleasing!

Another favorite appetizer of mine is bruschetta. Similar to olive tapenade, this is best served on crackers, baguettes and crostini, but I’ve found that guests tend to gravitate more towards bruschetta than tapenade. Maybe because it’s light taste/color, or maybe because of its simplicity. Either way, it’s always been a crowd favorite. Personally, I like to keep it simple and just dice some Roma tomatoes, mix with salt + olive oil, and top with some basil and parmesan cheese! Sometimes if I’m feeling fancy, I’ll chop the basil into ribbons and top with one large shaved slice of parmesan. My favorite secret to adding an extra extra fancy touch is balsamic glaze! Drizzle a little bit on top of each slice and the presentation alone will blow your guests away. At the end of the day, it’s just a few ingredients and is a simple dish to throw together that will make a big (and delicious) impact.

My 3rd easy app is not actually one particular food, but instead it’s just anything that can be served in a small bowl. No need to go all out making a fancy charcuterie board (though I do LOVE a good charcuterie board and have several blog posts in the work about them), but instead just break out 3 or more small bowls and fill with the food of your choosing! This could be fruit (dried or fresh), nuts, pretzels, sesame sticks, trail mix, cherry tomatoes, olives, popcorn, edamame, etc! The food itself is not what matters, it’s the small bowls that are the magic ingredient. Because of the size it automatically sets it apart from a side dish, but put in groups the bowls make enough to feel like an appropriate sized appetizer! You can get sets of small bowls practically anywhere and you can mix and match different styles or use all the same ones. And the best part is that all you have to do prep this appetizer is pour the food in a bowl… I mean it honestly can’t get any easier!