Canapés and cocktails
Our nifty nibbles and classy cocktails will get any party started in no time. Whether you’re handing out pigs in blankets, a crab toastie or some retro devilled eggs, everyone will feel thoroughly indulged by our best party food ideas. Take your pick of the drinks – how about a spicy martini or espresso martini for a crowd or your Galentine’s bash?
Discover more canapé recipes for any occasion.
Showing 1-16 of 88 recipes
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Trout recipes
Smoked trout with potato rösti and beetroot cream
Crunchy-yet-soft rösti are great for parties.. Top with smoked trout and crème fraîche swirled with beetroot, for a Scandi-style canapé.
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Easy
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Halloween drinks
Corpse Reviver No.2 cocktail
This corpse reviver cocktail is a hangover cure from pre-Prohibition times. Try it as a Halloween cocktail or pleasing aperitif before dinner.
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Easy
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Cocktail recipes
Bicicletta cocktail
Perfect for aperitivo hour in the garden, a bicicletta cocktail is easy to make. The bitter bite from the Campari is delightfully refreshing.
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Easy
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Meatball recipes
Mondeghili (fried breaded beef and pork meatballs)
These crunchy meatballs – a Milanese mainstay – may have begun as a way to use up leftover meat, but they’re now a popular aperitivo snack.
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Easy
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Christmas cocktail recipes
Santa’s spritz punch
Cranberry spritz makes for a crowdpleasing Christmas punch. The ice ring is studded with garnishes, which gently release into the punch.
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Easy
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Budget Christmas party food recipes
Gochujang devilled eggs
Is it really a party without devilled eggs? This timeless canapé gets an on-trend glow-up by way of the savoury warmth of Korean gochujang.
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Easy
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Nut recipes
Chilli, honey and soy roast nuts and seeds
These easy salty, sweet and spicy roast nuts and seeds from River Cottage's Gelf Alderson are everything you could want in a snack.
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Easy
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Trout recipes
Trout cocktail boats
Impress your guests with these retro trout cocktail boats. The lettuce boats are loaded with homemade triple-citrus cured trout.
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Medium
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Blue cheese recipes
Blue cheese gougères
Bake a batch of these blue cheese gougères and watch them get hoovered up in seconds. Pillowy, cheesy, crisp and creamy all at the same time.
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Easy
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Spicy recipes
Jalapeño mezcal margarita
Are you partial to a margarita? This is the best version of the cocktail we’ve come across. Wait until you try it!
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Easy
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Canapés and cocktails
Gochujang bloody mary with a soy-pickled quail egg
This fun Bloody Mary cocktail recipe swaps Worcestershire sauce and tabasco for gochujang, a fermented Korean chilli paste.
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Easy
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Canapés and cocktails
Spicy martini
Fans of the dirty martini, listen up! Swap the olive for a pickled green chilli to make a spicy martini. It's the perfect summer sundowner.
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Easy
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Cocktail recipes
New old fashioned
The new old fashioned is the whisky cocktail for people who don't like whisky! Light and refreshing, this cocktail recipe shows how with just a few ingredients you can make whisky into a summery drink.
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Easy
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Cherry recipes
Cherry bakewell brandy
This infused brandy with cherries, almonds and vanilla has got all the delicious flavours of a cherry bakewell tart – in booze form.
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Easy
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Canapé recipes
Yorkshire pudding canapés
This canapé takes mini Yorkshire puddings and brings them into street party territory with a filling of the classic ham, cheese and chutney.
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Easy
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Christmas canapés
Crispy roast chicken vol-au-vents
Ditch the boring combos and bring in our crispy roast chicken vol-au-vents with hot and herby harissa at your next party!
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Easy
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