508 appetizer recipes

Sautéed chicken breast coated in orange juice and flour, then simmered with balsamic vinegar, colorful peppers, and mushrooms over wagon wheel pasta. A 50-minute dinner for two with a tangy, rich pan sauce.

This isn't cream of garlic soup, but it has a creamy texture. As Julia says, "Because the garlic is boiled, its after-effects are at a minimum, and its flavor becomes exquisite, aromatic and almost undefinable."

Pork chops and sauerkraut with caraway seeds and tart apple slices, seared on the stovetop and finished in the microwave. A quick weeknight take on a German classic.

Crispy fried tempeh chips marinated in tamari, garlic, and coriander, served with a spicy chili-lemon dipping sauce. This crunchy vegan appetizer is addictively snackable and ready in 35 minutes.

Pate Cregyn Gleision Mucai (Menai Pride Mussel Pate) Welsh recipe

Crisp lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, bean sprouts, and tofu tossed in a rich peanut-coconut milk dressing with red curry paste. A crunchy, creamy Thai salad topped with potato chips for fun.

Rustic Italian focaccia-style flatbread made with cornmeal and studded with walnuts, dimpled and drizzled with olive oil and sea salt. Vegetarian, versatile, and endlessly snackable.

Cooked Italian antipasto with carrots, cauliflower, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, black olives, and tuna simmered in tomato sauce and ketchup. A make-ahead party appetizer.

Italian rice and endive soup with fresh tomatoes, carrots, and basil. A light vegetarian meal ready in 45 minutes, simmered in vegetable stock with curly endive for a pleasantly bitter depth.

A tangy yogurt-based onion dip brightened with lemon juice, horseradish, and a dash of hot sauce. No cooking, no sour cream, and no guilt. Mix, chill, and dip your way through snack time in a diabetic-friendly way.

Smoky roasted eggplant dip with fresh tomatoes, garlic and lemon. A simple Mediterranean appetizer ready in under an hour.

Creamy mushroom soup made with ground cashews instead of dairy, spiked with cayenne and sea kelp for a rich, vegan-friendly bowl ready in 30 minutes.

Microwave veal roast rubbed with garlic and pepper, cooked on an inverted saucer to stay out of the drippings. Simple technique with timing charts for rare, medium, and well-done.

Vietnamese vegetable spring rolls (cha gio chay) with cellophane noodles, tofu, shredded potato, tree ear mushrooms, and leeks wrapped in crisp rice paper. Fried shatter-crisp on the outside, tender and fragrant inside.

Watercress and leek soup sweats leeks and watercress in margarine for 15 minutes, simmers in stock, then blends smooth. A peppery, vibrant green soup in 30 minutes.

Marynowane Pieczarki are Polish marinated mushrooms in a peppercorn and bay leaf vinegar brine. Tangy cocktail-hour bites that hold for weeks in the fridge. Pure old-world preserving.