14 Toast Recipes to Serve at Holiday Gatherings

Nduja Toasts with Quick-Pickled Celery
Photo: Greg DuPree

Delicious, festive, and bite-sized, these crostini recipes and mini toast appetizers are ideal for sharing with a crowd. There's nothing better than supplementing good revelry with elevated snacks. Create a spread with multiple types, make the dips and ingredients ahead of time, and serve some of these great holiday toasts that are worth, well, toasting to.

01 of 14

Shrimp Toasts with Scallion-Chile Sauce

Shrimp Toasts with Scallion-Chile Sauce
Greg DuPree

The secret to this semi-traditional dim sum favorite is a butter-studded shrimp mousse that comes together quickly in a food processor with just five ingredients.

02 of 14

Tomatillo Toasts with Prosciutto and Manchego

Tomatillo Toasts with Prosciutto and Manchego
Christopher Testani

Inspired by classic pan con tomate, a Spanish dish of bread rubbed with fresh tomato, F&W culinary director at large Justin Chapple tops crunchy toasted bread with tangy grated tomatillos. To round the toast out, he also adds thin slices of prosciutto and shaved Manchego cheese.

03 of 14

Chicken Liver Pâté Toasts

Chicken-Liver-Pâté Toasts

© Michael Turek

“Nothing is better for big-party entertaining than putting toppings on bread,” says cookbook author Tamar Adler. The pâté is made by pureeing sautéed livers with onions, anchovies, and Marsala, then blending them with crème fraîche until smooth and creamy.

04 of 14

Deviled Egg Toast

Deviled Egg Toast
Abby Hocking

This twist on deviled eggs is chef Missy Robbins’ favorite way to get the salty, spicy, tangy filling all in one crunchy bite.

05 of 14

Mushroom Toasts with Délice de Bourgogne

Mushroom Toasts with Delice de Bourgogne
Eva Kolenko

Triple créme cheese, an ultra-rich version of Brie, is topped with pan-roasted mushrooms and herbs in this elevated appetizer.

06 of 14

Spiced Ham and Cheese Toasts

Spiced-Ham-and-Cheese Toasts

 © Michael Turek

The trick for keeping the toast crisp: Spread the ham topping on just before baking. This recipe makes more ham topping than you'll need for the 24 toasts.

07 of 14

Smoked Salmon Toasts with Mustard Butter

Smoked Salmon Toasts with Mustard Butter

© Fredrika Stjärne

Sour cream or cream cheese may be the usual spread with salty smoked salmon, but chef David Tanis thinks softened butter makes a tasty alternative. (Think of ham-and-butter sandwiches.) To give the butter a zippy bite, he stirs in lemon zest with both Dijon and grainy mustard.

08 of 14

Ricotta and Roasted Grape Crostini

Ricotta and Roasted Grape Crostini
© Fredrika Stjärne

Designer and blogger Athena Calderone’s signature aesthetic comes through in this striking appetizer. Roasting the grapes concentrates and deepens their sweetness.

09 of 14

’Nduja Toasts with Quick-Pickled Celery

Nduja Toasts with Quick-Pickled Celery
Greg DuPree

Store-bought ’nduja, the spicy, spreadable sausage, is transformed into a special canapé when served on toasted baguette and topped with a quick-pickled celery.

10 of 14

Calamari Toast with Hawthorn Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

Calamari Toast with Hawthorn Sweet and Sour Sauce
Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell

This crunchy party appetizer from 2021 F&W Best New Chef Lucas Sin is inspired by classic Chinese shrimp toast. Here, Sin combines calamari and shrimp for the crispy fried toast-topper. Sweet and tangy haw flakes — Chinese sweets made from the fruit of Chinese hawthorn — flavor the dipping sauce. 

11 of 14

Crostini with Roasted Butternut Squash, Ricotta, and Preserved Lemon

Crostini with Roasted Butternut Squash, Ricotta and Preserved Lemon
© Guy Ambrosino

A preserved lemon relish adds a bright, salty note to these elegant crostini, balancing the flavors of creamy ricotta and sweet squash. Both the squash and the relish can be made a day in advance.

12 of 14

Cheesy Sausage Cocktail Toasts

Cheesy-Sausage-Toasts-FT-Recipe2019211.jpg
Jennifer Causey

For these tasty toasts, cookbook author Andrea Slonecker borrows from the nostalgic flavors of her childhood and swaps creamy mascarpone and robust Taleggio for the Velveeta in her grandmother's original version. "The topping can be made a few days ahead, and it's as straightforward as browning some Italian sausage and melting in the cheeses," she writes. 

13 of 14

Chhundo and Goat Cheese Crostini

Chhundo and Goat Cheese Crostini
Andria Lo

Chhundo, a pickled marmalade-like condiment that’s tangy and sticky-sweet, with light heat and fragrance from Kashmiri chile powder, tops these goat cheese crostini from blogger and cookbook author Hetal Vasavada.

14 of 14

Herbed Chickpea Bruschetta

Herbed Chickpea Bruschetta
© John Kernick

The key to these delicious bruschetta from chef Nancy Silverton is lots of olive oil. After she bakes the chickpeas with a variety of flavorings — including onions, pancetta, and carrots — she purees them with a good amount of oil, spreads the puree on toasts, and drizzles with a little more oil.

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