What Are Appetizers? Meaning, Types & Examples Explained

Have you noticed how we never jump on to the main courses directly without ordering appetizers? Every meal begins early when appetizers come on the table. Those hot or cold, smaller, and shareable finger food become a reason of gathering guests around the table, starting heartfelt conversations, and enjoy the beginning of the meals.

So, what are appetizers in real? Why and when they should be served? And how do we decide the right kinds of appetizers for the meals?

What is an Appetizer?

According to many dictionaries, an appetizer is smaller portion of food that is served before the main course. It basically serves as an opener of the meal. Its purpose is to stimulate the appetite of guests without filling them up.

Unlike main courses, appetizers are light, small, shareable, easy to eat and enough to tease your appetite.

Whether you go to a fancy restaurant or host a party at your home, appetizers signal the guests that main meal is about to begin. But before that, these appetizers are here to bridge the waiting gap.

When Do You Serve An Appetizer?

While we know that we serve appetizers or hors d’oeuvres before the main meals, it is also important to understand the timings to serve them according to different occasions.

• At dinners: Appetizers for dinners are pre-meal food to stimulate the desire for main meals. At dinners, they serve appetizers in small plates or bowls and present on each table of the guests.
  These appetizers are larger in portion often served one per person.
  Examples of appetizers for dinner: Soups, charcuterie boards, seafood cocktail
• At parties: Although appetizers for some parties still serve the purpose of teasing the desire to have main food. However, many casual parties replace appetizers with main meals. At parties, appetizers are a great way of socializing and mingling wit each other. These bite bite-sized items can be Canapés, skewers, dips, sliders.
  The portion size varies between 1-3 bites.

Why People Serve Appetizer?

Appetizers are not just pre-meal food to fill the waiting time. They, in fact, does more than that;

1. Set the tone for meal: These small, flavorful appetizers are designed to wake up the taste buds of guests and give them hint of what to expect from the main course. The kind of appetizers they serve at events set the tone for the main meal that is served afterwards.
2. Keep Guests Busy & Comfortable: No one likes waiting hungry. So, these appetizers keep the guests occupied by munching on delicious smaller portion food while waiting for the main meal to begin.
3. Culinary Experience: Appetizers let chefs/cooks experiment with different colors, flavors, ingredients, and textures to create a variety of bite-sized foods.
   Smart hosts use appetizers strategically by serving them balanced items. They serve light appetizers before heavy meals, fresh flavors before rich dishes, and simple foods before complex dishes.
4. Encourage Socializing: Appetizers are a great way of letting the guests start casual conversations, mingle with each other, and enhance their social networks. That's why they're called starters, small plates, finger foods, because they're shareable.
5. Reason of Hospitality: Since we serve appetizers before the main meal, they become a great way of never letting anybody leave your house hungry.

Types of Appetizers

Appetizers come in a vast variety or items. These are more than what you've thought. This variety, in facts, makes them exciting. Let's look at some of the types of appetizers.

1. Hot Appetizers

Hot appetizers should be warm when you serve them. Their flavors and textures enhance when they're baked, fried, or grilled right before serving.

• Mozzarella Sticks: Coated and fried cheese sticks. Often served with marinara sauce.
• Calamari: Coated and fried, crispy squid served with different dips
• Jalapeno Poppers: Jalapeno peppers with fillings of cream cheese and seasonings. Often coated with crumbs and fried crispy.
• Stuffed Mushrooms: Mushrooms caps stuffed with flavorful filling of herbs, cheese, or seafood.
• Chicken Wings: Available in various styles like Honey mustard, buffalo, or lemon garlic.
• Mini Sliders: Smaller version of regular burger or sandwiches with the same kind of fillings.
• Spring Rolls: Crispy on the outside and filled with delicious savory mixtures. Check out this easy recipe of Shrimp Spring Roll.

Pro Tip: Hot appetizers are meant to be served fresh and warm. To keep their freshness intact, use foils, warming trays, or low heat ovens. Once they're cold their texture and flavors loose their charm, which I'm sure neither you nor your guests will like.

2. Cold Appetizers

Cold appetizers are perfect for summer gatherings and large parties. This is because they are refreshing and they are easy to plan and make-ahead of the events.

• Dips and spreads: These include hummus, salsa, guacamole etc. These are creamy or chunky dips and spreads that pair well with crackers, chips and fresh veggies.
• Cheese board: This is the customized spreads of a variety of cheese, crackers, chips, nuts, and fruits.
• Creamy fruit salad: This is a perfect start before a heavy meal. It consists of fresh, refreshing fruits mixed with cream. See this recipe of Fruits Salad for Summer.
• Seafood Salad: This includes a combination of seafood chilled and served with herbs and dressing.
• Oyster: Fresh oysters served in their shells. These are chilled and lightly dressed.

Pro Tip: If you want your appetizers to have their best flavors, cover cold appetizers tightly and refrigerate them. Take them out 10-15 minutes before serving.

3. Finger Foods

As the name suggests, finger foods are the kinds of appetizers that are easy to eat without using any cutlery. They are ideal for mess free eating. They go perfectly well at parties where guests are meant to eat while standing.

• Skewers: Small pieces of vegetables, meat, or cheese are threaded onto sticks. These can be caprese skewers, grilled vegetable skewers, or chicken skewers.
• Bite-sized rolls: Crispy on the outside and filled with delicious savory fillings, these are meant to be eaten in a bite or two.
• Mini Sliders: Smaller version of regular burger or sandwiches with the same kind of fillings.
• Stuffed pastries: Bite-sized flaky pastries filled with different fillings including mince, vegetables, or cheese.
• Wontons: Delicate wrappers filled with seasoned meat and fried till crispy.
• Pretzel bites: Pretzel dough baked into small bites, served with cheese dips.

Pro Tip: Serve these with napkins, toothpicks, and small plates to let the guests eat comfortably.

4. Dips & Spreads

Dips and spreads are one of the most commonly known appetizers for different events.

• Hummus: Popular middle Eastern dip made with blended chickpeas and olive oil.
• Salsa: Chunky dip made with chopped veggies and topped with seasonings and herbs.
• Guacamole: Mashed avocados mixed with cilantro, herbs, lime, and seasonings. Prepare this dip with our Simple Guacamole recipe.
• Creamy cheese dip: Smooth and silky rich cheesy dip.

These dips and spreads pair perfectly with crackers, chips, breadsticks, and fresh vegetables. These are affordable and perfect for people who are naive at hosting events.

5. Canapes & Small Bites

Canapes are elegantly made appetizers which are often commonly served at formal events.

These are made using simple formula:

Base+ Spread+ Topping

Some common examples of canapes and small bites include;

Crackers+ Cream cheese+ Salmon

Toast+ Hummus+ Roasted vegetables

Pro TIP: Canapes highly depend on presentation style. So, when serving canapes, ensure a balance of colors and neat plating.

6. Appetizer Platters & Boards

Appetizer platters and boards are really famous these days. That's because they're very convenient to make, they are highly customizable, they offer variety, and ideal to please the crowd.

To prepare these boards and platters you should remember the perfect board formula:

Salty+sweet+crunchy+creamy

• Cheese boards: Variety of cheeses paired with nuts, fruits, veggies, and crackers.
• Charcuteries boards: A boards full of assorted savory items like meat, cheese, bread, breadsticks etc.
• Mezze Platters: These are Mediterranean styled platters with a selection of related food like hummus, olives, dips, bread, etc.
• Snack boards: These offer a variety of sweet or savory snacks, arranged on the boards, ready to grab on the go. These can be customized according to your taste and preferences,

Appetizers vs Starters vs Snacks (Quick clarity)

These terms are often confusing. So, there is a need to quickly clear what each of these terms mean.

• Appetizers: These are the small and light food items served before the main meal in a casual event. They stimulate hunger and lead towards social conversations while sharing appetizers. Examples: Wings, dips, sliders.
• Starters: These are bite sized food items served in a plated manners to each guest's table at a formal event. These often indicate that the main meal is about to begin. Examples: Soup, salads.
• Snacks: These are consumed between meals to dull hunger. Examples: Chips, crackers.

It is also important to note that all starters can be appetizers but not all appetizers are formal starters.

Appetizer Examples (By Occasion)

Preparing appetizers is easier than choosing the right kind of appetizer for the occasions. Let me help you in deciding for your next appetizers according to the occasions.

For Parties:

Choose something that is easy to eat and shareable among the guests.

• Finger foods
• Dips with chips or crackers
• Skewers

For Dinner at Home:

Always keep it simple while hosting dinner at home. Remember, a host needs to enjoy the party and not only stay in the kitchen to prepare food.

• Light salads
• Cheese boards
• Soup

For Holidays:

For the appetizers make something that is easy to pack and carry without loosing its shape, texture or flavors.

• Baked bites
• Boards and platters

How to Choose the Right Appetizer?

Choosing the right kind of appetizer matters the most while hosting an event. Appetizers shouldn't always be fancy. They should rather fit the situation that you're in.

Always begin the planning by thinking how much time do you have. If you're short on time, then cold appetizers like salads, dips, and boards look impressive and require little efforts. However, when time and situation allows you can go for freshly cooked hot appetizers.

Consider your budget now. You can prepare a special looking platter with the most simple ingredients. By focusing on presentation, even a homemade dip can look expensive.

Always prepare food by keeping the dietary needs of your guests in mind. Offer at least one vegetarian and light appetizer to make everyone feel included.

Prefer well balanced appetizers by offering a combination of cold and hot appetizers. Serving different styles prevent repetitive flavors.

Finally, think about portion size. If a full sized, heavy main meal is about to be served then keep the appetizers small sized and light.

For more hosting tips, appetizer ideas, and inspiration, explore more helpful content on FoodvLove.

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