Here Are All The Appetizers You Can Make With Little Effort

If you're having an after-New Year party, you're going to want to lessen the amount of work you're going to have to do for it. We know you were out the night before so if you're still keen on having friends and family over after the festivities that rang in the New Year, we have a few recipe ideas that can lessen the load you will have to do in the kitchen. 

These appetizer recipes are easy and require little to no effort on your part. You can let the machine do all the work for you in seconds and best of all, the resulting dish is super delicious. Make a bunch of these and you can have a finger food party that can rival any full-course meal: 

Photo by Patrick Martires

1 Hummus Recipe 

Go low-carb and make beans your new favorite ingredient. Hummus is super versatile to serve! You just need all the ingredients and a blender or food processor, and you're good to go. Blitz it all together, spoon it into bowls, and serve with the bread or crackers of your choice.

Got a little bit more time? Slice up some vegetables (carrots and cucumbers are perfect!) into sticks and serve that with the hummus, too. 

Photo by Michael Chua

2 Guava, Honey, and Cheese Bites Recipe

Did someone gift you with an amazing creamy cheese over the holidays? Got honey and perhaps, a jar of jelly or jam in the kitchen? If you have any of these ingredients plus a package of crackers, you can make this in minutes. This is super flavorful and the best news yet is that it's a no-cook recipe. You can make this in advance with the cream cheese and jelly slathered onto each cracker. When guests arrive, drizzle on the honey and crack some pepper over the entire batch and serve. Easy! 

Photo by Bianca Laxamana

3 Calamares Recipe 

We know you probably don't want to do any cooking but this is super easy to make and requires minimal cooking. What can be a hassle to prepare is the squid rings. Don't worry! We have a fantastic tip: grab frozen squid rings from the frozen food section of your supermarket and use that to make calamares even easier. Then all you have to do is bread it, fry it quickly so it won't turn rubbery, and then serve it with some prepared mayonnaise. 

Photo by Majoy Siason

4 Spicy Crab Salad with Toast Recipe 

You just need the right ingredients to make something super special. In the case of this fantastic spread, you're going to need fresh crab meat, and you can get this from the Farmer's Market in Cubao freshly picked and packed. You can even get canned crab meat from the supermarket if you're in a bind! 

Whichever variant you use, once you have the crab, it's just a matter of mixing it all together and serving it with freshly toasted bread. This is perfect for brunch! 

Photo by Michael Angelo Chua

5 Olive and Anchovy Tapenade Recipe 

Don't let the fancy name intimidate you! This is actually super easy to make! What makes this recipe super easy and super flavorful are the canned and bottled ingredients that you can get at your local major supermarket. Olives, anchovies, capers, and a few fresh ingredients to make the flavor pop and be brighter is all you need to finely chop together in a food processor. Just serve with toast or crackers.

 

6 Spinach and Artichoke Dip Recipe 

The microwave can be your best friend in times like these! That makes this recipe incredibly fast and easy to make. All that you need to do it chop up some fresh spinach (Use kangkong if desired!) and bottled artichoke hearts. Melt cream cheese in the microwave and mix it with mayonnaise, the spinach and artichokes, and season to taste. You can even make this ahead of time and just reheat when ready to serve. 

Photo by Patrick Martires

7 Mango Habañero Salsa Recipe

If you love Mexican food, then corn chips with fresh salsa will be the perfect appetizer to serve! Why not make it extra special with this recipe that marries sweet, spicy, and tangy all in one bite? To make this even easier to do, grab a bottle of prepared salsa and upgrade it with chunks of mango and habañero peppers. No habañeros? Use siling pangsigang or finger chilis as desired. 

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