The best of our canapé recipes (2024)

The best of our canapé recipes (1)The best of our canapé recipes (2)

Whatever you call them – canapés, appetisers, picky tea, or finger food – there's one thing we can all agree on: no coronation, street party, Christmas or New Year's celebration is quite complete without a selection of tasty morsels and Champagne to get the party started!

That's exactly why we've collected all of our favourite Good Housekeeping canapé recipes for every special occasion, as well as our top tips for serving, too.

How to serve canapés:

Size: Make sure your canapés are easy for your guests to eat by serving in mouth-sized portions.

Taste: Since it's only a mouthful, it needs to be full of flavour and well-seasoned. Many of our recipes are served with an accompanying dipping sauce for extra hosting points.

Base: Make sure your canapé is on a sturdy base in order to make it easy for your guests to eat (serve messier canapés with co*cktail sticks and ensure there's a good supply of napkins for your guests).

Appearance: Canapés should be visually pleasing. A herb garnish, edible flower, or even a sprinkle of cracked black pepper goes a long way!

Preparation: Aim to prepare the elements of your canapés in advance so that you can assemble them quickly and enjoy the company of your guests.

Celebrate in style with our crowd-pleasing canapé ideas. We have every occasion covered – from summer gatherings to Christmas parties – with plenty of tasty choices for vegetarians, vegans, pescatarians, and meat eaters, too.

It's time to get the champagne on ice, get a playlist sorted and plan the ultimate party menu...

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1

Pea and Mint Fritters

The best of our canapé recipes (3)

We’ve used petit* pois here as they’re smaller, more tender and have a lovely flavour. But you can use garden peas, if you prefer.

Recipe: Pea and Mint Fritters

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2

Crispy gnocchi, olive and chorizo skewers

The best of our canapé recipes (4)

We're obsessed with crispy fried gnocchi so we decided to pop them onto a skewer with salty chorizo and briny olive for an addictive snack in every bite.

Recipe: Crispy gnocchi, olive and chorizo skewers

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3

Hot honey halloumi fingers

The best of our canapé recipes (5)

These oven baked halloumi fingers are served with an addictive chilli-infused honey to drizzle on top. Perfect with a refreshing co*cktail.

Recipe: Hot honey halloumi fingers

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4

Ploughman’s Nibbles

The best of our canapé recipes (6)

An easy assembly job that can be adapted to use your favourite cheese and chutney.

Recipe: Ploughman’s Nibbles

5

Hoisin duck cucumber bites

The best of our canapé recipes (7)

These hoisin duck bites couldn't be easier to make, only needing five ingredients and 15 mins to put together but you wouldn't think it as they're incredibly delicious.

Recipe: Hoisin duck cucumber bites

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6

Venison and Black Pudding Scotch Quail Eggs

The best of our canapé recipes (8)

These take a little patience, but are well worth it. You can buy cooked and peeled quail’s eggs if you want to cut out the first step. Venison mince is becoming more widely available, with larger Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Ocado stocking it.

Recipe: Venison and Black Pudding Scotch Quail Eggs

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7

Chicken Katsu Bites with Tangy Mayo Dip

The best of our canapé recipes (9)

These chicken bites get an extra flavour dimension from a Japanese seasoning called shichimi, which contains chilli, citrus and sesame. You could also use togarashi – also sold as Japanese 7 Spice. Both are available in Waitrose, Ocado, or online. If you can’t get them, use mild chilli powder instead.

Recipe: Chicken Katsu Bites with Tangy Mayo Dip

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8

Crispy Sushi Rice ‘Cakes’ with Seared Tuna

The best of our canapé recipes (10)

When preparing sushi, you would normally wash the rice multiple times to remove starch, however for these cakes you want to retain most of it, as it’s the ‘glue’ that binds them together.

Recipe: Crispy Sushi Rice ‘Cakes’ with Seared Tuna

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9

Teriyaki Mushroom Maki Roll

The best of our canapé recipes (11)

Be sure to use teriyaki sauce (the thickened kind) here, rather than teriyaki marinade (both are sold in supermarkets). We used Blue Dragon.

Recipe: Teriyaki Mushroom Maki Roll

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10

Chicken Shawarma Pastries

The best of our canapé recipes (12)

Full of flavour and easier than they look as we’ve used ready-rolled shortcrust pastry rather than making an authentic Levantine dough.

Recipe: Chicken Shawarma Pastries

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11

Halloumi and Pistachio Baklava

The best of our canapé recipes (13)

These sweet and salty savoury baklava bites are sure to intrigue and wow.

Recipe: Halloumi and Pistachio Baklava

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12

Baba Ghanoush with Za’atar Flatbreads

The best of our canapé recipes (14)

This super easy version of baba ghanoush is sure to become a favourite, especially when served with these impressive, but easy flatbreads.

Recipe: Baba Ghanoush with Za’atar Flatbreads

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13

Hot Smoked Salmon Rye Breads

The best of our canapé recipes (15)

Use plain or honey roast hot smoked salmon, or swap for hot smoked mackerel, if you like. If rye bread isn’t your thing, slices of seeded or sourdough bread would be just as nice.

Recipe: Hot Smoked Salmon Rye Breads

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14

Rye and Danish Blue Cracker Bites

The best of our canapé recipes (16)

We’ve served our cracker bites with whipped Danish blue cheese and pear, but feel free swap out for your favourite fruit and cheese combination - apple and cream cheese, or goat’s cheese and grape would work well.

Recipe: Rye and Danish Blue Cracker Bites

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15

Pea and Ham Hock Croustades

The best of our canapé recipes (17)

If cooking for vegetarians, simply leave out the ham hock and replace with a little suitable goat’s cheese.

Recipe: Pea and Ham Hock Croustades

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16

Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry Sauce

The best of our canapé recipes (18)

If you can’t get hold of lingonberry jam (we used Felix Rarorda Lingon from Ocado), swap for cranberry sauce instead.

Recipe: Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry Sauce

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17

Pastrami Bagel Quarters

The best of our canapé recipes (19)

Quick to assemble and packed with flavour. If you don’t like Jarlsberg, you can use any sliced hard cheese.

Recipe: Pastrami Bagel Quarters

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18

Potato croquettes with ham hock

The best of our canapé recipes (20)

This croquette recipe is a fuss free canapé. Leave out the ham if you want these to be vegetarian.

Recipe: Potato croquettes with ham hock

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19

Green gazpacho

The best of our canapé recipes (21)

This zingy and refreshing chilled soup is a great entrée and can be made ahead to free up time on the day of serving.

Recipe: Green gazpacho

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20

Quails Eggs with Asparagus & Hollandaise

The best of our canapé recipes (22)

These delicious and elegant quails egg morsels will be a huge hit at your next party.

Recipe: Quails Eggs with Asparagus & Hollandaise

The best of our canapé recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the tip to making the best canapés? ›

Nine TIPS FOR CREATING THE PERFECT CANAPÉ
  • Think of a theme to inspire your canapé menu - try occasions like Thanksgiving or regional flavors such as Italian.
  • Think no bigger than bite-sized morsels for easy eating.
  • Although bites are small, pack them with flavor using spices, sauces and garnishes.

What makes a good canapés? ›

Size: Make sure your canapés are easy for your guests to eat by serving in mouth-sized portions. Taste: Since it's only a mouthful, it needs to be full of flavour and well-seasoned. Many of our recipes are served with an accompanying dipping sauce for extra hosting points.

What makes a successful canapé? ›

Balancing colour, flavour, and texture

These three elements are paramount to creating canapés that are memorable and look inviting. Texture is an important one to think about – a successful canapé is one that contrasts several different textures to create an enjoyable eating experience.

What is the best way to describe a canapé? ›

A canapé (French: [kanape]) is a type of starter, a small, prepared, and often decorative food, consisting of a small piece of bread (sometimes toasted) or cracker, wrapped or topped with some savoury food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite.

What are the 3 types of canapés? ›

Canapés consist of three parts the base, spread/toppings and garnish. The Base holds the spread and garnish. Like biscuit, bread, toast or puff pastry as the base of the canapes. The biscuit, bread or crackers are firmer and give a pleasing texture and crispness to the canapés.

What is the most common base for canapé? ›

Base - 90% of the bases are made out of bread. Bases can also be crackers, veggies or cheese. Important: The base as to be strong enough to hold the other three components.

What's the difference between canapés and hors d oeuvres? ›

Canapés are typically made with an edible base – crackers, blinis, bread or pastry, and served cold. Hors d'oeuvres are small bites of something tasty and can be both savoury or sweet, and served hot or cold. For example, if you pick up a piece of smoked salmon on a blini from a platter, you have a canapé.

What is a fun fact about canapés? ›

All about canapes (pronounced “can-a-PAY”) is word French which means “sofa” a nod to the toppings which “sit” on top of a piece of bread. Canapes were served on stale bread a few years back and now it has grown into a wider term for finger food.

What is the basic ingredient of canapé? ›

What Are the Main Ingredients of Canapés? Canapés are hors d'oeuvres featuring a base of bread, toast, pastry or crackers with various savory toppings, served either hot or cold.

What is a gourmet canapé? ›

Canapé is a bite-sized food served at parties and formal dos while the drinks are being served. The word is from the French, meaning sofa — tiny morsels had in the living room amidst co*cktail chatter before the formal lunch or dinner. Traditionally canapés are made with an edible base — crackers or breads.

How many canapés per person for 1 hour? ›

For a one-hour drinks reception, order four to six canapés per person. If it's before a grand dinner, four should be plenty. For longer events, add another two to four pieces per hour. Savoury canapés are always more popular; if you're serving savoury and sweet, aim for a ratio of around 4:1.

Why are they called canapés? ›

Canapé as a food originated in France in the mid 1800's when a chef created a new type of hors d'oeuvre by putting a savoury topping on a piece of bread or toast. The topping was thought to sit on the bread like a person sitting on a sofa - hence the snack came to be called a Canapé.

Is a canapé a main dish? ›

Canapes are a type of hors d'oeuvre with a bread, toast or pastry base that can be “finger food” and can also be served as party food, rather than as part of a meal at all.

Is canapé a appetizer? ›

A canapé is a type of hor d'oeuvre (appetizer), usually a small bite served on bread, puff pastry or a cracker. Basically canapés are a specific category of appetizer or hor d'oeuvre.

What makes an appetizer special? ›

An appetizer is meant to complement an entrée and is generally a small-portioned first course of a multi-course meal. Appetizers are meant to whet the appetite before the following courses. Appetizers connote that a dinner will follow.

What are the 7 guidelines for assembling canapés? ›

Guidelines for Assembling Canapés
  • Good mise en place is essential. ...
  • Assemble as close as possible to serving time. ...
  • Select harmonious flavor combinations in spreads and garnish. ...
  • Be sure that at least one of the ingredients is spicy or pronounced in flavor. ...
  • Use high-quality ingredients. ...
  • Keep it simple.

What are the steps in preparing canapés? ›

How to make canapes two ways
  1. Preheat oven to 180ºC. Spray mini muffin pans with olive oil spray to lightly grease. ...
  2. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until crisp and golden. Set aside in pans for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. ...
  3. Spoon homemade or bought dip among the canapé cups.

Why do you spread the best of your bread when you make canapés? ›

The spread has 3 functions: to prevent the bread from soaking up the filling; to add flavor; and to add moistness. Butter and mayonnaise are the most commonly used spreads.

How to avoid the bead to become soggy when preparing canapés? ›

Answer: Spread something on the bases to protect them from a topping if it is on the 'damp' side. A pretty obvious thing anyway - we all spread butter or marg (or cream cheese, or mayo) on our bread to prevent it getting soggy from a damp filling. So the same approach works just as well with canape-toast bases.

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