Fall Finger Food & Appetisers for Picnics

So simple to make and incredibly tasty, these gorgeous roast pumpkin and feta mini frittatas are hands down one of the simplest picnic menu ideas around but they still make a big picnic statement.

While this recipe celebrates roasted butternut pumpkin, if you are short on time, you can really add anything to a mini frittata.

Serve them hot or cold, they make a great starter or side dish or can help beef up a mezze plate or fall-inspired wine and cheese platter.

Late summer, early fall is that beautiful cusp of fig and pear season. For an elegant fall appetiser, try this easy to make grilled pear and blue cheese appetizer with fig and walnut. It's easy to put together and makes a gorgeous starter or finger food addition to a wine & cheese picnic.

Take pears, fennel, blue cheese and ricotta, and you have the makings for a gorgeously portable savoury tart. Serve it hot or cold it can be sliced up as a main dish or into smaller finger food servings as an appetizer or wine and cheese accompaniment.

I also included these delightful morsels in our fall sandwich ideas as I feel they can go either way.

A simple yet vibrant roasted delicata squash tartine with creamy goat cheese, juicy pomegranate seeds and crispy sage, you could make them as a large open sandwich tartine or use small crostini or baguette slices to make them appetiser size.

Another picnic appetiser that could earn its place at a wine and cheese picnic.

A favourite fall tailgate idea, these Savory Sausage, Apple-Sage Hand Pies also make a delightful addition to any fall picnic hamper.

So simple to make, even if you opt for homemade pastry, these little pies only take around 20 minutes to prep and 30 minutes to cook.

Much like our Squash Tartine above, you can adjust the size to make them full pie size or appetiser size depending on your picnic style.

Check our tips for keeping picnic food warm to ensure these tasty morsels stay piping hot.

Fry them or bake them, these easy Carrot Spinach Croquettes are perfectly seasoned and tender on the inside with a crunchy coating on the outside.

Prep and cook time is only around 40 minutes. What's not to love about these delicious vegetarian picnic appetisers. Serve them hot or cold, I think they make a great addition to a picnic backpack for a fall hiking picnic.

These very portable Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns make an incredibly portable picnic snack and fragrant addition to any fall picnic menu.

Taking a cue from traditional Sri Lankan stuffed buns, filled with aromatic chicken sauteed with ginger, garlic, and a plethora of spices, these little stuffed buns are perfect fall finger food for a picnic.

They're also certainly an interesting change from the traditional picnic sandwich and another great snack contender for a fall hiking picnic.

Spice up your fall picnic menu with these Bombay Lamb Rolls

Full of Indian spices, Bombay Lamb Rolls are a fun and tasty alternative to classic sausage rolls.

Much like sausage rolls, or small pies of any kind, these pastry rolls are a treat at any time of the year, but particularly enjoyable as the weather cools. The lamb and spices tend to lend themselves to the cooler autumn weather.

Serve them hot or cold.

Looking for interesting vegan picnic alternatives for your next fall alfresco soiree?

Solving the old egg conundrum in vegan cooking, these vegan savoury muffins are moist and delicious, are simple to make and a perfect addition to any fall picnic hamper.

I think you'll find even non-vegans will be hard-pressed to tell these are vegan.

My two favourite picnic dips are baba ganoush and hummus. Add roasted carrot to hummus and you have even more delicious hummus – A fun twist on its traditional counterpart.

The roasting process makes the carrots super sweet and they give the hummus a vibrant orange colour. A wonderful fall appetiser picnic dish.

Serve with crackers and crudités, as part of a fall style mezze platter, or simply with salad and flatbread.

Just when we thought hummus couldn't get any better.

Jazz up your fall picnics with this deliciously creamy, sweet and smokey smoked pumpkin hummus, a refreshing spin on traditional hummus recipe.

Use it as an accompaniment to bbq meats, mezze plates or crudités platters. It also makes a great picnic sandwich spread. We love this smokey pumpkin hummus.

I did say my other favourite picnic dip was baba ganoush. It is so easy to make and is a versatile addition to any picnic menu.

The deliciously smokey eggplant dip compliments so many picnic dishes and seems at home equally in cooler weather as warm.

Serve it with crackers or mezze style as you would with hummus. Or, serve it as a dipper to mini spiced lamb or chicken kebabs

I love the idea of a picnic soup. Served with fresh crusty bread steaming hot from a thermos. What could be better after a long walk enjoying the autumn colours?

While soup can be a stand-alone picnic meal, I also like to think of it as an appetiser. Enjoy a small cup of soup before a sandwich and salad. Or even as part of a fall finger food feast.

This vegan carrot and lentil soup lends itself to the cooler weather while the coriander keeps it fresh and lively.

It's also deeply nourishing and satisfying which makes it another lightweight, portable contender for a fall hiking picnic.

In many parts of Europe, early fall is when you will see the summer harvest of peppers hanging from balconies to dry, being loaded into small smokers in markets or on the side of the road, roasted and grilled to preserve this nutritious and delicious veg for winter.

So naturally, I always think about early autumn when I think about roasting peppers. Roasted peppers are a great addition to so many fabulous picnic recipes – salads, sandwiches, tarts and quiches, the list is endless.

But they also make a great addition to a fall appetiser platter, antipasto or cheese platter. There are so many ways you can incorporate them into a fall picnic menu as an appetiser or finger food.

I like to serve them alone for people to add to bread with cheese or top a crostini with goats cheese and slices of sweet roasted peppers.

Air fryers are all the rage at the moment and for good reason - you can do so much in them.

Apple chips are such a simple snack but so healthy and so delicious. Make them as a sweet treat as in this recipe with cinnamon, or, leave the cinnamon out and add them to a cheese plate. Either way, apples certainly make a great fall picnic snack.

This simple three-ingredient apple chips recipe includes both air fryer and dehydrator recipes