Easy finger food ideas for your next shindig

When it’s time to celebrate and throw a party, one of the best parts of planning your shindig is creating the menu. If socialising and kicking up your heels is central to the festivities, then you’re going to want the right finger food to match. 

We love a good party here at iPantry which is why we’ve gone to great lengths to bring you a wide range of ready-made finger foods and ingredients to create different finger food ideas from scratch. It doesn’t matter if you’re a carnivore, gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian, check out our favourite finger food recipes below to level up your hosting game this year. 

Housewarmings

Moving into a new home is a cause for celebration, especially if it’s one you’ve saved up for and bought. But because everything is likely freshly painted and cleaned, the finger food you dish up for guests at your housewarming needs to be easy to handle. Let’s take a look at a few great options. 

Hot and cold skewers

Skewers are quick to prepare and can be customised to suit different diets, so they’re a natural choice when it comes to a tasty snack in your new pad. All you need to pick up are either metal skewers (they’re more sustainable than disposable ones) and bite-sized pieces of your favourite foods.

For inspiration, check out these skewer recipes (you can find all the ingredients on iPantry!):

• Cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella (or make it vegan with plant-based mozzarella)
• Grilled chicken and eggplant
• Capsicum, zucchini and vegan halloumi (or try Symon's traditional organic halloumi)
• Prawns and grilled pineapple
• Free-range pork belly, cucumber and long red chilli
• Jannah Foods falafel, red onion and YAY! vegan feta.

No skewer is complete without its dipping sauce, but creating a sauce on your own can take time. Here are a few ready-made options that you can customise based on your spice level and taste:

• Turban Chopsticks satay peanuts make an awesome base for your next satay sauce, just add a little oil to make it go further
• Red Clipper Red habanero cayenne & tomato sauce for when you want something spicy and a little sweet
• Fody Foods teriyaki sauce and marinade is gluten-free and FODMAP friendly, so while not technically a dipping sauce, it would make a great marinade for prawns or chicken
• Bar Lourinhã red hot sauce, for when you just want it hot!
• Dibble Vegan chipotle mayo or garlic aioli are both great creamy options.

Party pastries

When it comes to easy finger foods, you can’t go past party pastries. Halloumi pastries, Aussie Beef party pies and Yay! Foods vegan spinach feta triangles are our go-to's, but you can also make your own. Ditch the puff pastry and make some asparagus rolls with a few key ingredients.

You’ll need some asparagus (obviously), slices of Casadolce wholemeal bread and cream cheese of your choosing (we recommend The Vegan Dairy herb garlic). Steam and cool the asparagus so it’s still a little crunchy, then roll each spear up in a slice of bread and secure with a dollop of cream cheese. Voila – each finger food for the win! 

Pizza, pizza, pizza!

Always a crowd-pleaser, we’ve partnered with some of Melbourne’s best pizza joints like  A25 (who have gluten-free and vegan alternatives), Woodstock Pizzicheria and 400 Gradi.

We also have ready-made vegan pizzas from our new friends at Veganz (they’re seriously tasty!). 

Baby showers

If you’re in charge of throwing your friend’s baby shower, it’s an opportunity to not only shower them with attention but also delicious snacks, too! Take a look at these popular finger food ideas for your next baby shower. 

A giant sweet and savoury grazing board

For mass appeal and variety, you might like to set up a grazing board to feed guests. You can artfully arrange carrot cake, lemon & poppyseed and red velvet cake drops alongside some chocolate cupcakes and add in a few handfuls of Crackle Corn peanut butter caramel popcorn for good measure to cover off the sweet treats. 

Then, complement it with an assortment of savoury snacks. Start by choosing from a variety of mini pretzel flavours on iPantry such as cheese pizza, salted caramel and smoky BBQ.

And lastly, it’s time for the OG ingredients. No grazing board is complete without cheese, bread and crackers. We love the combination of Symon's organic vintage cheddar and Rocca's Deli fine wafer crackers. For fresh bread, you have to try a Noisette ciabatta dipped in a mixture of Mount Zero Olives extra virgin olive oil with Egyptian dukkah or za’atar.

Mini quiche and salad

For a high tea themed baby shower, you could serve up party-sized Mediterranian quiche or quiche lorraine with our scrumptious superfood salad. Finger food recipes don’t have to involve labouring in the kitchen for hours – they can be quick, easy and fun (and still taste good). 

Office parties

Is it Bill from Finance’s last day? Surprise the team with an assortment of finger foods from Fig. Choose from different flavoured sandwiches, wraps, cakes or pies. Or you could create your very own fruit platter with Scicluna’s fruit box or the Little Hen organic fruit box.

Alternatively, you can explore sushi platters from Big Crunch Sushi and polish it off with a few Nutella cake drops for dessert with tea or coffee.

Birthdays

Whether you’re turning 12 or 82, finger food is always a welcomed treat at a birthday party! There’s so much inspiration out there but here’s something a little different to whet your appetite.

Nachos

The best thing about nachos is that you can make it for one person or for a whole crew. Start by grabbing a baking tray and preheating your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Cook either beef or Deliciou plant-based taco mince to use as your base then prep your veggies. Chop some cos lettuce, dice some tomatoes and make some guacamole with avocados, coriander and a squeeze of lime. 

Next, put a layer of Proper Crisp salted tortilla chips down on the baking tray and cover in Fody Foods mild salsa. Top with traditional or vegan sour cream and a generous handful of shredded dairy-based or vegan mozzarella. 

Brownie with ice cream

Who doesn’t love dessert? Rather than opt for a huge birthday cake, why not go the finger food route and dish up 400 Gradi brownies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Pure bliss!

Find more finger food ideas on iPantry

As you can tell, we love finger food at iPantry. We’ve got a large range of ingredients to suit every taste, diet and preference for catering and entertaining – and if you order before 2pm Monday to Friday, you get next day delivery (you’re welcome!).