Add some spooky fun to your Halloween dinner table with these spaghetti and meatball eyeballs. Kid friendly and easy to make, this creepy pasta is an effortless way to fill bellies before an evening of trick or treating!
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Add some fun to your dinner table this Halloween with this easy spaghetti and meatball eyeballs recipe.
Use your favorite meatballs, toss in marinara sauce and serve over pasta before making the meatballs into eyeballs with mozzarella and sliced black olives.
This simple Halloween dinner idea is an easy way to enjoy spooky season, and it's so fun to serve to the table!
Be sure to try my Green Halloween Sangria and Halloween Chocolate Bark for more spooky recipes!
Why you will love this recipe!
- Quick and easy: This recipe takes just a minute or too longer than your average spaghetti and meatballs recipe. Celebrating Halloween doesn't mean you have to spend hours crafting and baking to make it fun!
- Easy to adapt: This simple recipe is easy to make your own, choose your favorite meatballs and pasta sauce.
- Simple ingredients: This is such a straight forward recipe that only requires a five every day ingredients, most of which you'll have to hand already, or are easy to grab from the store.
Ingredients
- Pasta: Long pastas like spaghetti or linguini work great in this creepy pasta recipe. If you only have penne or fusilli to hand, that will work just fine!
- Pasta sauce: Marinara, with it's deep red color works great for this Halloween recipe.
- Meatballs: You can use your favorite meatball recipe, or buy frozen from the store.
- Bocconcini: Slice the mini mozzarella balls to create the whites for the eyes. Cheese is always a welcome addition to any pasta dish!
- Sliced black olives: Finish the meatball eyeballs with sliced olives.
How to make Halloween spaghetti and meatballs
Be sure to scroll down for the full recipe!
- Cook the meatballs in the marinara pasta sauce (photo 1).
- Toss the cooked pasta in the sauce (photo 2).
- Place the pasta on a plate, add the meatballs and top with the mozzarella and black olives to make your eyeballs (photo 3).
Recipe Variations
This Halloween spaghetti and meatballs is easy to adapt to your tastes, so it's a great option if you have picky eaters in your house! You can use any pasta sauce you like, though a red tomato based one will look better with this dish. You could also use pesto for green eyeballs!
You can also use any meatballs you like in this recipe, store bought frozen ones work great, but buy biggish ones so that you can turn them into eyeballs. Any of these homemade meatball recipes will work well:
Frequently Asked Questions
This creepy pasta dish is best served as soon as it's made, though if you are making your meatballs from scratch, you can easily make and cook those ahead of time and just toss them in the sauce. If you do have leftovers, they will keep for 4 days and can be reheated in a skillet or in the oven.
I actually served these meatballs with linguini, as that's what I had to hand. Long pasta works great for this dish, I think it looks a bit more gruesome, but you can use short pastas if that's what you have to hand.
Yes! If you have frozen meatballs, just toss them in the hot marinara sauce until they are warmed through.
If you have made your own meatballs, brown them quickly in the skillet to seal them, then add the sauce and continue to cook them through.
Cooking the meatballs in the sauce helps to keep them nice and juicy and they are less likely to dry out.
Serving Suggestions
These Halloween spaghetti and meatball eyeballs are a filling meal all by themselves, but you can serve them up with a side of veggies, salad or bread. Try them with:
Recipe Notes and Tips
- Cook the pasta in salted water to start adding flavor to the dish straight away.
- Cook the pasta al dente. It will continue to cook once drained, and again when it is tossed in the sauce.
- If making your own meatballs, don't overwork the mixture or they can become tough.
- Raw meatballs should be browned before tossing with the sauce. Frozen meatballs can be added directly to the sauce and will take a little longer to cook through.
More Pasta Recipes
- Garlic Parmesan Pasta
- Blue Cheese Pasta with Walnuts
- Beef and Goats Cheese Pasta
- Creamy Chicken Mushroom Pasta
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Creepy Pasta Recipe (Halloween Spaghetti and Meatball Eyeballs)
Ingredients
- 10 ounces spaghetti or linguini (285g)
- 3 cups marinara sauce (1 jar / 23oz / 700ml)
- 6 large meatballs homemade or store bought
- 6 bocconcini (small mozzarella balls) (sliced)
- sliced black olives
- optional parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water til al dente. Drain and set to one side.
- While the pasta is cooking, place the marinara in a skillet and heat on a medium high heat.
- Add the meatballs and toss in the sauce. Cook until cooked through (10 to 15 minutes depending if frozen).
- Remove the meatballs from the sauce and set to one side, cover them with foil to keep them warm.
- Toss the pasta in the sauce and serve on a plate.
- Place the meatballs on top of the pasta, and top each meatballs with a piece of sliced bocconcini and a sliced olive to make an eyeball.
- Fill in the gaps between the meatballs with more 'eyeballs'.
- Garnish with fresh parsley, if using and serve.
Notes
- Cook the pasta in salted water to start adding flavor to the dish straight away.
- Cook the pasta al dente. It will continue to cook once drained, and again when it is tossed in the sauce.
- If making your own meatballs, don't overwork the mixture or they can become tough.
- Raw meatballs should be browned before tossing with the sauce. Frozen meatballs can be added directly to the sauce and will take a little longer to cook through.
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