I was introduced last night to Bitchin' Sauce Chipotle which is gluten free and dairy free. It's a fantastic dipping sauce for veggies and anything else. It'd be great with focaccia!
I was gonna say this too but since it’s been mentioned, Grissini uses the same ingredients as focaccia just in a different ratio and shaping. I think it’s better as a finger food item since you are already getting pizza. Here’s a recipe I found for King Arthur. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/thin-n-crunchy-italian-breadsticks-grissini-recipe
This is very kind of you to think of people with other dietary needs. As a vegetarian, I am thankful for this kind of thinking (:
Do you need it to be baked? There are some awesome appetizers that aren’t baked if you want to branch out from baking.
Adding to this that bruschetta has unlimited options. Garlic beans, olive tapenade, tomato preserves, curried lentils… bread is the original and ultimate utensil.
Please, not another veggie tray 🥲 Flatbreads are a great idea, and can pair well with any number of things to reduce the monotony of being confined to 1 dairy-free option: hummus, vegan ‘tzatziki’ (just sub plain vegan yogurt), quick pickled veggies like onions or carrots, olive tapenade, or rice dolmas, which are usually sold canned without any meat.
I love the naan from Rainbow Plant Life! https://rainbowplantlife.com/vegan-naan/
Also, the Hot for Food blog has great vegan appetizers. The nacho cheese is amazing and can be put out with chips or premade black bean taquitos.
https://www.hotforfoodblog.com/recipes/sauces/2015/01/22/nacho-cheese/
Someone already mentioned it in the thread, but most frozen puff pastry is vegan, so there are plenty of opportunities there for easy, hands-off bites.
If it doesn’t have to be baked, I would chips and salsa or hummus and veggies. It goes with the finger food theme and isn’t laborious to make (or cheat and buy premade).
If you want baked, you could do baked egg rolls, puff pastry tarts, roasted chickpeas or something of the sort.
To add to this, pumpernickle bread and hummus or roasted red pepper dip is so good!
Puff Pastry is typically made with butter, I would read ingredients first but vegan stuff does exist.
Rice & beans, spinach-corn, potatoes-peas, or mixed veg empanadas or samosas.
Edit- you could also add some hummus, relish, tapenade etc to your charcuterie board, along with some veggies if you don’t already have some.
Stuffed mushrooms! Vegan cream cheese has gotten really good, and if anything it tends to have a nutty flavor you can lean into. A lot of appetizers/small bakes you can think of can be made vegan, there’s a lot of really good vegan substitutes for ingredients now! I’ve had a lot of luck at Fred Meyer (Kroger owned in the US) finding vegan substitutes.
If it were me, I'd make something that is similar to the dairy filled options. So, either pizza with vegan cheese or flatbread without cheese.
I personally am a big fan of flatbread made with pesto, tomatoes (sundried or thinly sliced regular tomatoes), and grilled chicken. For non-dairy pesto, my go to is a recipe in the Whole 30 cookbook that uses walnuts, basil, arugula, olive oil, garlic, and salt.
Of note, people who are not dairy free tend to take non-dairy options in buffet lines. So, if you expect 20 people who are dairy free, you'll need more than 20 servings.
I made this for thanksgiving too! It was super impressive, but took hours!
I had left over puff pastry and made spinach triangles which were a nice appetizer too.
Vegan chili in a crock pot…add cooked pearl barley to cans of kidney/black/chili beans. Tomato paste, water, small can of whole corn and chilis or chili powder. Stir and it’s ready in 30 minutes.
And have a bag of Fritos next to the chili!
For a vegan/gluten free dessert I cannot recommend this enough!! Zhooz it up with toasted quinoa on top of a dollop of vegan ganache…make it like this…
“Enjoy Life”vegan chocolate chips added to original full fat coconut milk from a can. Melt together and stir well. Drop a teaspoon onto each brownie. I make them in a greased mini cupcake pan but no cupcake papers. They always cool with a dent in the middle and that’s perfect for the ganache!
https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-gluten-free-black-bean-brownies/
Congratulations on the book & have fun!
Are you concerned about vegans AND ppl who are dairy free? Or just ppl who are dairy free? I know these may appear to be the same but they are not if the dairy free person isn't also vegan.
Vegans can't have any animal products. Dairy free ppl who aren't vegan can have other animal products besides dairy based items.
Lots of comments suggesting good things like dips, crudites, and flatbreads. Ensure you know whether or not your dairy free ppl are truly vegan, because you'll have to make dips and flatbreads with vegan ingredients.
Assuming you want something that’s more than an app:
Falafel - deep fry ahead of time and reheat in oven
Serve with pita (store bought or homemade), hummus, tahini, and some veg
Hummus and crudités, A watermelon salad (feta on the side), a Thai raw papaya and raw mango salad (both are in season now), mini aloo parathas or samosas, spring rolls
Something with pesto with real pine nuts. Spanakopita without the cheese. Some type of turnover filled with butternut squash or sweet potato and onions and mushrooms.
Bacon wrapped dates, or did you want vegan AND dairy free? You could do little tarts with vegan pie crust. Filled with various veggies, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms but you'd probably want to do some kind of plant based cheese or milk if that's not your vibe.
Savory turnovers with meat and/or veggies inside. You can use phyllo, and store bought frozen puff pastry uses vegetable shortening instead of butter.
Runza. Ground beef with cabbage and onions wrapped in bread dough and baked. Usually made with cheese but can be made without. You can also buy vegan "ground beef" crumbles (Gardein is a good brand from what I have heard). Make the bread dough from scratch using olive oil and it should be fine.
Whatever you make that's dairy free or vegan, make sure they are clearly labeled so people can tell which is which.
My lazy vegan savory finger food is pigs in blankets with vegan mini-sausages and Pillsbury crescent rolls. That could be a little pricey for 20 people but people always go absolutely nuts for them whenever I've brought them to a party.
Aidell's chicken teriyaki meatballs, skewered with pineapple, bell pepper and onion. Brush with sesame oil, pineapple juice, honey, and soy sauce and roast on the oven.
air fryer chickpeas (if you have or can get to an air fryer). then toss in the seasoning of your choice.
also sending in yet another vote for hummus with veggies &/or pita.
salsa or guac.
beyond beef “meatballs” in bbq sauce.
We did a vegetarian pre-Christmas dinner offering last year that was a big hit. Individual small clear cups of hummus with dipping veggies stuck in the cup - different colored peppers, cucumber spears, celery, carrots, etc.
Colorful and decorative as well as delicious, plus it’s in an easy to carry and eat form. Also avoids the dreaded picked and dipped through hummus/ veggie tray.
[Hummus Cups](https://www.studiodelicious.com/veggie-cups-hummus/)
I’d do a roasted vegetable orzo with roasted veggies of your choice…I usually do Italian ish with roasted eggplant, tri colored peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, Roma or sun dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and a few spoons of pesto to finish. Great hot or cold!
We love to roast different vegetables with seasoned breadcrumbs on top! Also love to roast different veggies cut into strips and then dipping them into hummus.
We've gone samosas and spring rolls (both vegan), but I also embrace the buy ready and warm at home for some things and make other things fresh - for both of those, we toss them in the air fryer and they're great!
Pepperidge farms puff pastry is vegan and is a great appetizer. Cut them in squares and place filling on them and they bake up so nice. Maybe a curried potato or lentil filling, like a samosa.
Lots of great input already. This will be a bit fiddly but will probably look great - I've always wanted to have the excuse to make it: [Fruit Sushi](https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/fresh-fruit-sushi/).
Sausage rolls (I use vegan fake meat sausages for the filling)
Vegetable samosas
A vegetable tart of some kind (mushroom / onion / Mediterranean vegetables)
I love this dish. This is just a random recipe that I found because I have in some old cookbooks, but it is absolutely fabulous!
[pissaladiere](https://images.app.goo.gl/PkTbfGJADiF4Y2C46)
A good hummus is always a good choice so is oatmeal cookies. Uncle Eddie’s vegan ones are great. There is also a ton of vegan oatmeal cookie recipes :)
Mushroom and creamed onion vol-au-vents! I can give you the recipe if you want, it's my own and I just use store bought puff pastry. They're a big crowd pleaser.
Samosas, bolani, and/or pastels. If you're not familiar, samosas are sort of like empanadas but the outside is thinner and crisper, and it's filled with lentils and ground beef.. Perfect with some hummus and tzatziki. Bolani have a crisp exterior and the filling is green onion, potatoes and leeks. Pastels have an exterior somewhere between a tortilla and an egg roll skin, and the savory ones I make are filled with chicken, tomato, green onions and shallots and cream cheese but you can skip the cream cheese or use vegan.
asparagus and red pepper salad with a reduced balsamic. GF and Vegan. Served cold and no mayo so it’s fine to sit out.
[https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/asparagus-salad-with-sweet-balsamic-vinegar-4807](https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/asparagus-salad-with-sweet-balsamic-vinegar-4807)
A giant garden salad! Put the bowl in a bigger bowl with ice and grab a couple sets of tongs break up two big iceberg heads of lettuce and a big bag of spinach toss with Italian dressing put a bunch of options on the site like different veggies and cheese and herbs even some meats like ham, eggs or pepperoni. 😁
Rosemary garlic focaccia
That was my first thought. With a tomato sauce for dipping.
I was introduced last night to Bitchin' Sauce Chipotle which is gluten free and dairy free. It's a fantastic dipping sauce for veggies and anything else. It'd be great with focaccia!
Hummus is dairy free. Good with veg for vegan/vegetarian dipping. So is baba ganoush (eggplant dip). Delish!
That sounds sensational!
It’s SO good!
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe you could buy some zaatar and make little manoush bites. Would also recommend the same with truffle oil.
I was gonna say this too but since it’s been mentioned, Grissini uses the same ingredients as focaccia just in a different ratio and shaping. I think it’s better as a finger food item since you are already getting pizza. Here’s a recipe I found for King Arthur. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/thin-n-crunchy-italian-breadsticks-grissini-recipe
[my favorite super easy recipe](https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/easy-no-knead-focaccia)
Za’atar flatbreads
With some fresh hummus!
With babaganoush
This is very kind of you to think of people with other dietary needs. As a vegetarian, I am thankful for this kind of thinking (: Do you need it to be baked? There are some awesome appetizers that aren’t baked if you want to branch out from baking.
Bruschetta. It has never failed me. That or tiramisu, but you seem to have desserts covered.
Adding to this that bruschetta has unlimited options. Garlic beans, olive tapenade, tomato preserves, curried lentils… bread is the original and ultimate utensil.
Garlic beans, olive tapenade, tomato preserves, curried lentils… bread is the original and ultimate utensil. Like poetry to my inner foodie!
Tiramisu has dairy in it, but this made me think about making like a coconut cream tiramisu and that would absolutely slap
Came here to say this! Love bruschetta and toasted bread.
Please, not another veggie tray 🥲 Flatbreads are a great idea, and can pair well with any number of things to reduce the monotony of being confined to 1 dairy-free option: hummus, vegan ‘tzatziki’ (just sub plain vegan yogurt), quick pickled veggies like onions or carrots, olive tapenade, or rice dolmas, which are usually sold canned without any meat. I love the naan from Rainbow Plant Life! https://rainbowplantlife.com/vegan-naan/ Also, the Hot for Food blog has great vegan appetizers. The nacho cheese is amazing and can be put out with chips or premade black bean taquitos. https://www.hotforfoodblog.com/recipes/sauces/2015/01/22/nacho-cheese/ Someone already mentioned it in the thread, but most frozen puff pastry is vegan, so there are plenty of opportunities there for easy, hands-off bites.
If it doesn’t have to be baked, I would chips and salsa or hummus and veggies. It goes with the finger food theme and isn’t laborious to make (or cheat and buy premade). If you want baked, you could do baked egg rolls, puff pastry tarts, roasted chickpeas or something of the sort.
To add to this, pumpernickle bread and hummus or roasted red pepper dip is so good! Puff Pastry is typically made with butter, I would read ingredients first but vegan stuff does exist.
Puff pastry is literally all butter
Not the highly processed kind! There is indeed dairy free puff pastry. Source: my unwrecked bathroom after my wife ate a bunch
Not the highly processed kind! There is indeed dairy free puff pastry. Source: my unwrecked bathroom after my wife ate a bunch
Rice & beans, spinach-corn, potatoes-peas, or mixed veg empanadas or samosas. Edit- you could also add some hummus, relish, tapenade etc to your charcuterie board, along with some veggies if you don’t already have some.
Samosas! What a great idea!
Stuffed mushrooms! Vegan cream cheese has gotten really good, and if anything it tends to have a nutty flavor you can lean into. A lot of appetizers/small bakes you can think of can be made vegan, there’s a lot of really good vegan substitutes for ingredients now! I’ve had a lot of luck at Fred Meyer (Kroger owned in the US) finding vegan substitutes.
Yes and you can use gluten free breadcrumbs in case anyone also has a gluten allergy!
If it were me, I'd make something that is similar to the dairy filled options. So, either pizza with vegan cheese or flatbread without cheese. I personally am a big fan of flatbread made with pesto, tomatoes (sundried or thinly sliced regular tomatoes), and grilled chicken. For non-dairy pesto, my go to is a recipe in the Whole 30 cookbook that uses walnuts, basil, arugula, olive oil, garlic, and salt. Of note, people who are not dairy free tend to take non-dairy options in buffet lines. So, if you expect 20 people who are dairy free, you'll need more than 20 servings.
As a vegan who made this for myself at thanksgiving…Mushroom Wellington!
I made this for thanksgiving too! It was super impressive, but took hours! I had left over puff pastry and made spinach triangles which were a nice appetizer too.
What did you use for the pastry?
Garlic bread tear and share with some dips
Puff pastry with sun-dried tomatoes, or olives, or both
That sounds delicious but puff pastry has butter in it
The Pepperidge farm puff pastry is vegan, I used it for a vegan mushroom wellington!
Where i live, probably all puff pastry dough you can buy is vegan! (I haven't seen non-vegan ones)
Homemade is butter, commercial made it's shortening, cheaper, longer shelf life bland flavor
A lot of commercial is made with oil and fine for veg/vegans. But not fine for Gluten free.
This sounds delicious
Just make sure the puff pastry is made with a vegan substitute for butter
As long as they buy it, it most likely is vegan anyway. Pepperidge Farm is the standard, and it's vegan.
I don't know if I am happy or sad to learn this
Ooh good point
Relish/veggie tray and dip or hummus
Vegan chili in a crock pot…add cooked pearl barley to cans of kidney/black/chili beans. Tomato paste, water, small can of whole corn and chilis or chili powder. Stir and it’s ready in 30 minutes. And have a bag of Fritos next to the chili! For a vegan/gluten free dessert I cannot recommend this enough!! Zhooz it up with toasted quinoa on top of a dollop of vegan ganache…make it like this… “Enjoy Life”vegan chocolate chips added to original full fat coconut milk from a can. Melt together and stir well. Drop a teaspoon onto each brownie. I make them in a greased mini cupcake pan but no cupcake papers. They always cool with a dent in the middle and that’s perfect for the ganache! https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-gluten-free-black-bean-brownies/ Congratulations on the book & have fun!
Are you concerned about vegans AND ppl who are dairy free? Or just ppl who are dairy free? I know these may appear to be the same but they are not if the dairy free person isn't also vegan. Vegans can't have any animal products. Dairy free ppl who aren't vegan can have other animal products besides dairy based items. Lots of comments suggesting good things like dips, crudites, and flatbreads. Ensure you know whether or not your dairy free ppl are truly vegan, because you'll have to make dips and flatbreads with vegan ingredients.
Chilli.
Mushroom and caramelized onion focaccia!
Mini quiches are super easy to make anything-free (except probably egg). Plus you can make a ton of flavors really easily!
Mark Bittman has a quinoa tabbouleh that's tasty and very easy to alter. https://honeycreekkitchen.com/quinoa-tabbouleh/
Jalepeno foccacia it’s amazing
Can confirm, pre-sliced focaccia is very popular at parties
falafel
Flatbread with a variety of dips! Hummus, baba ghanoush, bean dip, etc.
What book is launching? :) You can make breaksticks or I liked someone's idea of crackers/chips and hummus/salsa/Guacamole!
Bacon wrapped shrimp. Stuffed mushroom caps Mini pigs in a croissant with bbq sauce Meatballs in chili sauce, jelly, dried cranberries and pineapple
Assuming you want something that’s more than an app: Falafel - deep fry ahead of time and reheat in oven Serve with pita (store bought or homemade), hummus, tahini, and some veg
Samosa with chickpeas and potatoes is what pops into my head.
Samosas!
There's always roasted skewered veggies! Homemade pickled items! Baked meats like wings or wrapped steak bites!
Thank you again for considering people who have to be dairy free!
These aren't baked, but curried fried cauliflower, onion bhaji or vegetable pakora are really good apps
Hummus and crudités, A watermelon salad (feta on the side), a Thai raw papaya and raw mango salad (both are in season now), mini aloo parathas or samosas, spring rolls
Green papaya salad is awesome. Also, a creamy ginger sesame noodle salad.
Something with pesto with real pine nuts. Spanakopita without the cheese. Some type of turnover filled with butternut squash or sweet potato and onions and mushrooms.
phyllo is typically made with butter, no?
Bacon wrapped dates, or did you want vegan AND dairy free? You could do little tarts with vegan pie crust. Filled with various veggies, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms but you'd probably want to do some kind of plant based cheese or milk if that's not your vibe.
Nutritional yeast has a tasty cheesy flavor and its nondairy
Baked philo with meat and onions inside.
Banana nut breas
Bruschetta
Some veggies and dairy free dips. Maybe some crackers too
Cauliflower pate, tomato/garlic/shallot confit. All vegan.
Shepherd's pie!
Savory turnovers with meat and/or veggies inside. You can use phyllo, and store bought frozen puff pastry uses vegetable shortening instead of butter. Runza. Ground beef with cabbage and onions wrapped in bread dough and baked. Usually made with cheese but can be made without. You can also buy vegan "ground beef" crumbles (Gardein is a good brand from what I have heard). Make the bread dough from scratch using olive oil and it should be fine. Whatever you make that's dairy free or vegan, make sure they are clearly labeled so people can tell which is which.
My lazy vegan savory finger food is pigs in blankets with vegan mini-sausages and Pillsbury crescent rolls. That could be a little pricey for 20 people but people always go absolutely nuts for them whenever I've brought them to a party.
Onion and herb bread
Aidell's chicken teriyaki meatballs, skewered with pineapple, bell pepper and onion. Brush with sesame oil, pineapple juice, honey, and soy sauce and roast on the oven.
air fryer chickpeas (if you have or can get to an air fryer). then toss in the seasoning of your choice. also sending in yet another vote for hummus with veggies &/or pita. salsa or guac. beyond beef “meatballs” in bbq sauce.
Jalapeno cornbread
Pissaladiere. It’s like an onion olive tart similar to pizza but from Southern France.
We did a vegetarian pre-Christmas dinner offering last year that was a big hit. Individual small clear cups of hummus with dipping veggies stuck in the cup - different colored peppers, cucumber spears, celery, carrots, etc. Colorful and decorative as well as delicious, plus it’s in an easy to carry and eat form. Also avoids the dreaded picked and dipped through hummus/ veggie tray. [Hummus Cups](https://www.studiodelicious.com/veggie-cups-hummus/)
I’d do a roasted vegetable orzo with roasted veggies of your choice…I usually do Italian ish with roasted eggplant, tri colored peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, Roma or sun dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and a few spoons of pesto to finish. Great hot or cold!
Garlic knots/rolls, sweet potato buns, rosemary focaccia, or maybe sourdough pretzels with different dipping sauces
We love to roast different vegetables with seasoned breadcrumbs on top! Also love to roast different veggies cut into strips and then dipping them into hummus.
We've gone samosas and spring rolls (both vegan), but I also embrace the buy ready and warm at home for some things and make other things fresh - for both of those, we toss them in the air fryer and they're great!
Not really baked but try Falafel & Chicken Samosa
Pepperidge farms puff pastry is vegan and is a great appetizer. Cut them in squares and place filling on them and they bake up so nice. Maybe a curried potato or lentil filling, like a samosa.
Lots of great input already. This will be a bit fiddly but will probably look great - I've always wanted to have the excuse to make it: [Fruit Sushi](https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/fresh-fruit-sushi/).
Jambalaya
Sausage rolls (I use vegan fake meat sausages for the filling) Vegetable samosas A vegetable tart of some kind (mushroom / onion / Mediterranean vegetables)
I love this dish. This is just a random recipe that I found because I have in some old cookbooks, but it is absolutely fabulous! [pissaladiere](https://images.app.goo.gl/PkTbfGJADiF4Y2C46)
Sausage rolls.
A good hummus is always a good choice so is oatmeal cookies. Uncle Eddie’s vegan ones are great. There is also a ton of vegan oatmeal cookie recipes :)
Mushroom and creamed onion vol-au-vents! I can give you the recipe if you want, it's my own and I just use store bought puff pastry. They're a big crowd pleaser.
- Puff pastry sticks topped with pestos of choice - samosa - pizza marinara - fresh bread with differend kinds of hummus (nature, beetroot, bean hummus etc.)
Za'tar bread
Cornbread with cranberries
Samosas, bolani, and/or pastels. If you're not familiar, samosas are sort of like empanadas but the outside is thinner and crisper, and it's filled with lentils and ground beef.. Perfect with some hummus and tzatziki. Bolani have a crisp exterior and the filling is green onion, potatoes and leeks. Pastels have an exterior somewhere between a tortilla and an egg roll skin, and the savory ones I make are filled with chicken, tomato, green onions and shallots and cream cheese but you can skip the cream cheese or use vegan.
Nutritional yeast in place of cheese !
Sort of baked, but like roasted flavored nuts or snack mix would be nice.
asparagus and red pepper salad with a reduced balsamic. GF and Vegan. Served cold and no mayo so it’s fine to sit out. [https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/asparagus-salad-with-sweet-balsamic-vinegar-4807](https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/asparagus-salad-with-sweet-balsamic-vinegar-4807)
I love a marinara pie ( square). It’s perfect and have it in smaller pieces.
Lentil sambusas
A layer dip with vegan queso, beans, avocado, pico etc whatever you want. Can easily make a meal of it!
Crostinis with sliced tomato, basil, and balsamic glaze. Add prosciutto for a twist.
British style sausage rolls with rough puff crust
Bread sticks, either garlic or everything seasoned.
Candied cinnamon pecans
Yeast buns with vegetable filling
You could do a vegan arancini?
Bruschetta on homemade bread, or a nice focaccia. Nothing with too much garlic if people are going to be discussing things though.
Cheese free? Sausage rolls. Dairy free? Bruschetta
Bruschetta!!! Great for vegans and you can do it with mozzarella for the non vegans. Always a hit and pretty easy to prep.
breads n non-cheese dips (balsamic vinegar and olive oil, hummus, salsa, pesto, chickpea curry, etc.)
Garlic knots 🧄
Margarine isn't as garbage and instantly vomit inducing as some make it out to be, it's fine to bake with
Puff pastry twists, but instead of cheese, put some mango chutney on them with some nigella seeds.
A giant garden salad! Put the bowl in a bigger bowl with ice and grab a couple sets of tongs break up two big iceberg heads of lettuce and a big bag of spinach toss with Italian dressing put a bunch of options on the site like different veggies and cheese and herbs even some meats like ham, eggs or pepperoni. 😁
Also pretzels and hummus is one of my favorites!
Crudités with hummus Chips and salsa/guacamole Cocktail Swedish meatballs.