Easy Party Snacks and Appetizers: 16 Ideas to Share
Party snacks are small savoury or sweet preparations served before a meal or as the meal itself at casual gatherings. Here you will find 16 tested ideas: 10 with a complete step-by-step recipe on this site and 6 express ideas ready in under 15 minutes, organised into cold, hot and sweet.
What makes a good snack table?
A good appetizer spread follows three rules: one-to-two-bite portions that are easy to eat standing up, textures that hold on the table without going soggy, and variety — something cold, something hot and something sweet, so the table never runs out in a single direction.
Several of the recipes below come from the South American tradition of the picoteo — the shared table of small bites — documented in depth in our guide to traditional Chilean recipes, the parent collection of this list. The rest are universal crowd-pleasers you can assemble from any pantry.
Cold and fresh snacks
Cold snacks are prepared ahead and free up your kitchen right before guests arrive. Two of them have a complete recipe on the site; four are express assembly ideas.
Shrimp ceviche in individual cups
Shrimp marinated in fresh lime juice with red onion and cilantro, served in individual cups with a spoon. Elegant, fresh and ready straight from the fridge.
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Pebre with bread or tortilla chips
Fresh salsa of tomato, onion, cilantro and green chilli for dipping with crusty bread or chips. Thirty minutes of resting and it feeds the whole table.
View recipeExpress cold ideas (no recipe needed, under 15 minutes)
- Cheese and nut board: two or three cheeses of contrasting texture (one creamy, one aged), walnuts, almonds and something sweet like grapes or quince paste. Pure assembly.
- Quick guacamole: mashed avocado with lime, salt, cilantro and finely diced onion, served with tortilla chips or toasted bread. Make it just before serving so it does not brown.
- Marinated olives: green and black olives tossed for 10 minutes with olive oil, lemon zest, sliced garlic and oregano.
- Caprese skewers: cherry tomato, a mozzarella ball and a basil leaf on a pick, finished with olive oil and flaky salt.
Hot snacks to share
Hot snacks are the first to disappear from the table. Six of the ideas in this group have full recipes with quantities and steps; the seventh is an express stovetop idea.
Garlic shrimp with crusty bread
Shrimp sautéed in olive oil with sliced garlic and chilli, served in the hot skillet with bread to mop up the oil. Ready in under 20 minutes.
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Crispy homemade French fries
Double-fried potatoes with a crackly exterior and creamy centre. Served with sauces on the side, they are the most requested snack on any table.
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Sopaipillas (fried pumpkin flatbreads)
Pumpkin-enriched dough rounds fried until golden and crisp. Topped with pebre they are a beloved shared bite, and one batch yields 25 to 30 pieces.
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Cocktail-size empanadas de pino
The same dough and filling as the classic empanada, in rounds half the size: two bites each, made for passing round on a tray.
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Mini completos italianos
The snack-size Chilean hot dog: small buns with a sausage, mashed avocado, chopped tomato and mayonnaise. A classic you can assemble in a line in minutes.
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Chilean anticuchos
Beef skewers marinated overnight: the grill starter that opens any barbecue. Straight off the fire, with pebre on the side.
View recipeExpress hot idea
- Spiced popcorn: stovetop popcorn finished with sweet paprika, cumin and salt, or with melted butter and oregano. The fastest and cheapest hot bite of the whole list.
Sweet bites to close
A complete snack table ends with something sweet that can be eaten by hand, no plate or spoon required. Two classics with a full recipe and one express idea round the list up to 16.
Calzones rotos dusted with icing sugar
Knotted fried pastries, crisp outside and soft inside, dusted with icing sugar. The Chilean sweet for an afternoon spread.
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Chilean alfajores
Thin hojarasca rounds filled with manjar and dusted with icing sugar. A sweet bite you make ahead: it keeps for days in a jar.
View recipeExpress sweet idea
- Chocolate fruit skewers: strawberry, banana and grape on a pick, dipped or drizzled with melted chocolate. Assembled in 10 minutes and served cold.
Quick comparison of the ten full recipes
| Recipe | Group | Total time | Difficulty | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shrimp ceviche | Cold · no-cook | 45 min | Easy | Individual cups, an elegant table |
| Pebre | Cold · no-cook | 45 min (incl. resting) | Very easy | Universal dip, make ahead |
| Garlic shrimp | Hot · skillet | 18 min | Easy | Last-minute cooking, serving in the pan |
| Homemade French fries | Hot · deep-fried | 40 min | Easy | Crowd-pleaser, sauces on the side |
| Sopaipillas | Hot · deep-fried | 45 min | Easy | Large groups, low budget |
| Chilean anticuchos | Hot · grill | 4 h (incl. marinating) | Intermediate | Barbecue starter, Fiestas Patrias |
| Cocktail empanadas de pino | Hot · baked | 1 h 10 min | Intermediate | Trays, freeze ahead |
| Mini completos italianos | Hot · assembly | 25 min | Very easy | Assembly line, casual gatherings |
| Calzones rotos | Sweet · fried | 40 min | Easy | Sweet afternoon snack |
| Chilean alfajores | Sweet · baked | 50 min | Intermediate | Make ahead, keeps for days in a jar |
How many snacks per person?
The most common mistake is guessing quantities. The rule depends on a single question: is a meal coming after the snacks, or are the snacks the meal?
| Situation | Bites per person | For 10 guests |
|---|---|---|
| Snacks before a meal | 6 to 8 | 60 to 80 bites (3-4 preparations) |
| Snacks are the meal | 12 to 15 | 120 to 150 bites (5-6 preparations) |
With the right mix the maths gets simple: one abundant cold preparation (pebre or a cheese board), one fried item that scales by the batch (fries or sopaipillas), some protein (garlic shrimp or ceviche) and a sweet closer cover any gathering.
For another length or with children, the appetizer calculator does the maths: savoury and sweet bites, how many different appetizers and how many drinks to buy.
Frequently asked questions about party snacks
What counts as a party snack or appetizer?
Any small savoury or sweet preparation designed to be eaten by hand, served before a meal or as the meal itself at a casual gathering. The good ones share three traits: one-to-two-bite portions, textures that hold up on the table, and flavours that pair well with drinks. In Spanish-speaking countries the concept has many names — botanas in Mexico, picoteo in Chile and Argentina, pasapalos in Venezuela — but the idea is the same everywhere.
Which snacks can I prepare ahead, and how do I store them?
Pebre keeps for 24 hours refrigerated in a sealed jar and actually improves with resting. Shrimp ceviche can be marinated a few hours ahead and held cold. Empanadas can be shaped raw and frozen for up to 3 months, then baked straight from the freezer with a few extra minutes. Sopaipilla dough keeps for 24 hours in the fridge wrapped in film. Cold boards — cheese, nuts, marinated olives — are pure assembly and can wait plated in the fridge. Only the fried items (fries, sopaipillas) and the garlic shrimp are best cooked just before serving.
How many snacks should I plan per person?
The practical rule: if a meal follows the snacks, plan 6 to 8 bites per person; if the snacks are the meal, plan 12 to 15 bites per person. Vary between cold and hot, savoury and sweet, so the table does not run out in one direction. Four or five different preparations comfortably cover a gathering of 8 to 10 people.
Which snacks can be made without an oven?
Most of this list: pebre and shrimp ceviche need no cooking at all; garlic shrimp cooks in a skillet in under 20 minutes; French fries and sopaipillas are fried in a deep pan on the stovetop; cheese boards, guacamole, marinated olives and caprese skewers are assembly only. Of the full list, only the empanadas and the hojarasca rounds of the alfajores need the oven: calzones rotos are fried.
What are the cheapest snacks for a large group?
Dough-based and pantry-based ones: sopaipillas (flour, pumpkin and oil), homemade French fries (potatoes and oil) and pebre with bread (tomato, onion, cilantro). All three have a very low cost per portion and scale by the batch — one round of sopaipilla dough yields 25 to 30 pieces. Spiced popcorn is the cheapest express option of all.
How do I keep hot snacks warm during a party?
Three techniques that work: hold finished batches in a 90 °C (195 °F) oven — fries and sopaipillas keep 30-40 minutes without drying out; fry in short batches and serve in waves instead of all at once; and always serve sauces on the side, because a crispy snack sitting in sauce goes soggy in minutes. Garlic shrimp is best brought to the table in its hot skillet or clay dish.
Where to go next?
If you want to build the whole table from tested recipes, start with the sopaipillas topped with pebre — the most beloved shared-bite pairing and the cheapest for large groups. For something with more presence, the garlic shrimp and the shrimp ceviche elevate any gathering in under an hour.
Every linked recipe includes exact quantities, numbered steps and real timings. Browse the full catalogue in the recipe index and, if you want to follow the snacks with the main dishes of the same tradition, the guide to traditional Chilean recipes — the parent collection of this list — has everything the table needs.