Name: Pesto Eyeball Halloween Pasta Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 pound spaghetti; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1.5 cup creamy pesto (most if needed); black olives (sliced); fresh mozzarella balls

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This Halloween pasta recipe is spooky, fun, and the perfect Halloween dinner. An easy dinner to serve before going trick or treating, you can whip it up in just a few minutes. Feel free to add some hidden veggies to your pesto! Kids will love eating the spooky Halloween pasta and mozzarella eyeballs while you’ll love knowing that they’re getting in a good meal before inhaling all of that candy!

spooky eyeball halloween pasta is pictured on a black plate - bright green spaghetti noodles covered in veggie pesto and topped with mozzarella eyeballs

Halloween pasta is a fun and spooky way to get a good meal into your kiddos before trick or treating.

I admit it: I took out my Halloween decorations, clothes, and bought my first pumpkin of the season before it was even mid September.

My name is Morgan and I freaking love Halloween.

There are people in this world who will tell you that you can’t enjoy the splendors of Halloween until it cools down and/or it hits October first.

I say I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life. (Even if that negativity is my own husband – he let’s me do my crazy Halloween thing, but not without plenty of grumbles and eye rolls. Ahh, marital compromises.)

But I don’t stop there, you guys. Ohhhh no. In fact, today’s post was shot in July. JULY. Because I was sitting around thinking about how I couldn’t wait for Halloween and the idea hit me so of course I had to go for it. So you know, I stood on my picnic table in a tank top and flip flops in 90 degree weather shooting a Halloween Pasta Recipe.

bright green spaghetti noodles covered in veggie pesto and topped with mozzarella eyeballs

Fresh mozzarella balls topped with black olive slices add simple, spooky eyes to this Halloween pasta

Did I mention I sent the leftovers to camp with the boys? Ohhh yeah. That’s peak blogger mom life, you guys.

That being said, this Halloween Pasta recipe is perfect for a super spooky dinner the night of trick or treating – not only does it look fun, but it will pack your kiddos full of real food and even, if you’re lucky, some veggies!

How to make this eyeball Halloween pasta recipe:

Use my family’s favorite creamy pesto or, even better – use my hidden veggie creamy pesto to get in a few veggies before the spooky night starts.
Toss pasta with whatever pesto you choose, and top with spooky eyeballs.
Coating the pasta in the gooey, green sauce makes it look spooky and monster like – but if you want to make the pasta extra green, add a few drops of green food dye to the pasta, just like how I did with my Christmas Tree Pasta.
To make the eyeballs, simply get some fresh mozzarella balls and plop them onto a pile of pasta. On top of your white ‘eyes’, add sliced black olives as pupils. Green stuffed Spanish olives work as well for a scarier look, but the black olives are more kid friendly

My favorite part about this Halloween Pasta recipe with spooky mozzarella eyeballs is that you’ll get the chance to get some good, wholesome food into your kiddos before they go out trick or treating and start inhaling all things sugar and chocolate.

a silver fork holding a mozzarella eyeball on a black plate filled with green halloween pasta

Hidden veggie pesto means that your kids will get a secret dose of veggies with this Halloween pasta

Tips for making eyeballs for this Halloween Pasta Recipe

There’s a bunch of fun ways to make edible eyeballs, but here are some of my favorites.

Add sliced olives to fresh mozzarella balls.
Cut slice mozzarella with a small circle cutter and top with sliced black olives.
Stuff large olives with cheese (fresh mozzarella or cream cheese work well, but this pesto would also work well!) and sit side by side to make eyes.
Slice a cheese stick into circles and use a straw tip to cut small circles from a black olive.

This Halloween pasta recipe is perfect for serving your family before heading out to go trick or treating. Use the hidden veggie pasta sauce and you’ll even get some bonus veggies in without any complaints!

A big plate of Halloween pasta is the best way to start off a spooky night.

Pesto Halloween Pasta Recipe