Halloween Pizza Dip (or Not)
Pizza dip is a fun and flavorful appetizer or snack. Turn it into a special Halloween Pizza Dip with fresh mozzarella ghosts!
Everyone loves pizza dip. It’s fun, tasty and a perfect start to events from a teen sleepover to game day. In fact this recipe is based partly on a pizza dip recipe I squirreled away from a work event decades ago!
Of course once a year, we can really have fun “decorating” our food for Halloween. And Halloween pizza dip is a perfect example with its cheesy saucy top just waiting for spooky toppers like ghosts, skulls or spiders.
Since I’d done a lot of skulls in the past, I decided to go with ghosts today. It was already part of my Halloween baking collection, bought in a set from Michael’s years ago.
Of course don’t skip this recipe because it isn’t Halloween. The base recipe is delicious for any occasion and you can use fresh mozzarella slices or omit it entirely.
Why You’ll Love This!
Flavorful. Pizza dip is a classic party food because everyone loves cheesy pizza flavors! Easy. Just mix, layer and bake. Then decorate with ghosts cut from fresh mozzarella with a cookie cutter. Fun. Anything pizza is fun in the first place, and spooky decorations can create even more holiday fun.
Step by Step Overview
Heat oven to 350°F. If desired, use a ghost or other spooky shaped cookie cutter to cut top designs (see detail below). Alternatively you can cut mozzarella slices or omit. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Beat cream cheese in a large bowl until fluffy. Add the 1/4 cup pizza sauce, Italian seasoning and garlic powder and beat until combined.
Spread in a pie pan or 8-inch cast iron pan, then top with an additional 6 Tablespoons of pizza sauce.
Top with pizza sauce and toppings of your choice such as pepperoni and olives.
Sprinkle with grated cheese, then bake until melted and starting to bubble, about 15 minutes.
Remove dip from the oven. (Pan will be hot!) Carefully spread on remaining pizza sauce. Arrange ghosts or mozzarella slices on top.
Bake for 1-2 minutes longer until mozzarella is just warm. You don’t want the ghosts to melt, so don’t over bake; this is less of an issue with slices
How to Make Fresh Mozzarella “Ghosts”
I imagine there are probably a number of ways to make the ghost topping but here is the method I used.
I started with a large 8-ounce ball of fresh mozzarella. If this isn’t available to you, I am thinking a large fresh mozzarella log would work too though you might (or might not) need to roll it/push it a smidge bigger to fit the cookie cutter.
Next, I sliced the ball to about ¼ inch thick then pressed in a press-style cookie cutter (bought at Michaels a few years ago). This cut the outside of the ghost and also imprinted eyes and a mouth. I got two ghosts from most of the slices.
Now originally, I had planned to use black olive slivers to make the ghost eyes and mouth. But in the end the olive bits seemed big and awkward when placed on the small-ish ghosts.
So, instead, I used my index finger to rub a little pizza sauce over the ghosts into the depressions made by the press-style cookie cutters. This made the eyes and mouths more noticeable. You might also try this with balsamic vinegar.
Or if you’re making larger fresh mozzarella ghosts, the olives might work just fine.
Variations
If you want an actual full on pizza, I have a Halloween Pizza which features fresh mozzarella skulls.
And take a look at the end of this post for all kinds of fun Halloween treats!
Tips & FAQs
If you doubled the recipe, it would probably work in a 9 x 13 pan. Just be careful if you use the automatic feature in the recipe card since it won’t adjust the sauce amounts in the instructions.
Don’t try putting pizza sauce on top of grated cheese until it’s melted. The sauce will inhibit the flow of the melting cheese and you may end up with cheese “worms.” (Ask me how I know this.)
I found that even baking just for a minute or two, the mozzarella ghosts started to leak a bit of whey around the edges. I didn’t like the look so I dipped the edge of a paper towel into it which worked very effectively to draw up the cloudy liquid.
Hallow Pizza Dip (or Not)
Equipment
- 1 Ghost Cookie Cutter
Ingredients
- 1 package 8 ounces Fresh Mozzarella cheese ball. A cheese log should work as well
- 1 package 8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup pizza sauce divided
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Extra “toppings” of your choice (I used pepperoni and green olives
- 8 ounces Mozzarella cheese shredded (2 cups)
- Dippers of your choice. We used sliced French bread and tortilla ships
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- If desired, use a ghost or other spooky shaped cookie cutter to cut top designs. Alternatively you can cut mozzarella slices or omit. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
- Beat cream cheese in a large bowl until fluffy. Add the 1/4 cup pizza sauce, Italian seasoning and garlic powder and beat until combined.
- Spread in a pie pan or 8-inch cast iron pan, then top with an additional 6 Tablespoons of pizza sauce.
- Top with the toppings of your choice such as pepperoni and olives.
- Sprinkle with grated cheese, then bake until melted and starting to bubble, about 15 minutes.
- Remove dip from the oven. (Pan will be hot!) Carefully spread on remaining pizza sauce. Arrange ghosts or mozzarella slices on top. Bake for 1-2 minutes longer until mozzarella is just warm. You don’t want the ghosts to melt, so don’t over bake; this is less of an issue with slices.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Welcome to 2026’s #HalloweenTreatsWeek event!
This is our 9th year doing #HalloweenTreatsWeek … has it really been 9 years? Wow!
#HalloweenTreatsWeek is a Halloween blogging event that is hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife every October. This event is an online, week-long event that is filled with some amazingly wicked Halloween treats and recipes from some fantastic Halloween-loving bloggers!
Make sure to check out all of the fun Halloween recipes that we’re sharing this week!
Today’s Recipes
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- Pecan-Stuffed Date Roaches from Big Bear’s Wife
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- Melting Witch Cinnamon Rolls from Shoppin’ Buggy Recipes
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- Mini Graveyard Cookie Cakes from Southern Halloween Queen
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- Halloween Pizza Dip from Art of Natural Living
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- Monster Milkshake from Jen Around the World
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- Dr. Finkelstein’s Roasted Cauliflower Brain from The Spiffy Cookie
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- Pumpkin and Pomegranate Molasses Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
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- Pizza Skull Bombs from Magical Ingredients
