The best mini appetizers should be mandatory at every party. One of my pet peeves is getting a passed app at a party that you can’t eat in one or two bites. Literally, do not even get me started on passed apps you have to eat with a spoon or fork—make them illegal! But even having to juggle both a plate and a drink is a real indignity. Basically, going to the grocery store and buying the best frozen appetizers that can be eaten in one or two bites is a great way to show your friends you care about them (especially if your friends are me).
For this taste test, we bought a variety of frozen appetizers—frozen mini quiche, little puff pastry bites, even mini tacos. Format didn’t really matter; we were just looking for apps that can be eaten in one or two bites. A lot of these are called “bites,” in fact. That’s a good start!
We fired up our trusty countertop oven, cooked them according to the package instructions, and then had ourselves a little cocktail soiree right there in the office, no tiny plates or bev naps needed. We also scoured our other frozen appetizer rankings for products that qualify as “mini apps” and added them to this list so they’re all in one place.
Here are the best mini appetizers you can find at the grocery store.
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We tried two flavors of these little filo dough pastry bites—spanakopita and chicken pesto—and while both were good, the chicken pesto is more flavorful and more unique than the spinach-based filling. The filling has such a nice, bright pesto flavor that tastes so good with a little bit of savory chicken flavor. The filo crisped up beautifully in our little countertop oven. I would absolutely destroy a platter of these at a cocktail party. Invite me to your cocktail parties! I tell stories about what I watched on TV recently—it’s riveting!
I could tell by looking at these mini appetizers that the breading was going to be too thick—and it is too thick, but the filling makes up for that shortcoming. The spinach artichoke dip is so rich and cheesy with lots of dairy flavor and actual cheese pull when you take a bite. The best part though? You can actually taste briny bits of artichoke in the mix. I honestly wasn’t expecting that. I will say that calling these mini appetizers is a stretch (they’re about the size of chicken nuggets), but two bite appetizers are cool, too.
Most frozen popcorn chicken on the market is designed to be consumed by small children and isn’t really suitable for grownup lunches, let alone cocktail parties. Laoban’s Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken, however, is popcorn chicken is soiree-appropriate. The chicken morsels are juicy and flavorful because there’s dark meat in the mix, and they come with a packet of sauce for tossing. The sauce is very, very soy sauce forward, which means it’s pretty salty, but if you’re eating these as an app (meaning you’re having a few nibbles instead of a whole box), it’s tolerable. I cooked the chicken in the airfryer and it was crispy outside and juicy inside. The breading is a little thick, but I still think you could trick people into thinking this is takeout—or even catering.
I wanted to do a full ranking of the best frozen crab rangoon, but there just isn’t a lot on the market. I even checked the Asian grocery stores in our area and came up short. But if you can find Laoban Crab Rangoon, you’re in luck. The wonton wrappers are crispy crackly. There’s a good amount of filling, but definitely not too much. To be honest, I’d probably take more filling, but other taste testers liked the ratio of wrapper to filling. I will warn readers that this is not just crab and cream cheese; there are spices in the filling I couldn’t quite put a finger on, but the best I can do is describe the flavor as vaguely mustardy. There’s a little bit of mustard-seedy tang in the mix and maybe a little bit of celery seed, too. Anyway, if you’re looking for the best frozen mini appetizer to serve with your signature Lychee Martinis, this works.
The worst thing about getting cream cheese wontons at a restaurant is that they’re practically empty half the time. These mini appetizers from Target are stuffed with cool, creamy cream cheese. It’s really fatty and rich tasting. And the jalapeno bits are a perfect complement—they contribute heat, sure, but they also add some nice peppery, vegetal flavor. The wrappers don’t have that super crackly deep-fried quality you get at a restaurant, but they crisp up nicely and taste good—not like old oil like other frozen wontons. I would 100 percent serve these at a party and I bet they would go fast. If you love crab rangoon but don’t actually care about the crab part of the equation, add these suckers to your mini appetizers shopping list.
Credit: Merc / Target
Rating:
9/10
Sporks
Best Mini Spring Rolls
Royal Asia Vegetable Spring Rolls with Soy Ginger Sauce
Throwing a bash on a budget? Okay, hot tip: These mini spring rolls from Costco cost about 11 bucks for 50—and they actually taste really good. The filling is packed with edamame (a nice touch for a veggie app), the wrapper crisps up really well in the oven, and did we mention you get sauce, too? It’s tangy, gingery, and bright. This is a really simple two-bite appetizer that will appeal to pretty much anyone.
Nancy’s makes the best frozen mini quiche (trust us, we did a whole frozen quiche taste test). You get two flavors in this variety pack—lorraine and florentine—which is nice for a little variety. The egg fillings are nice and custardy, and the crust is golden and flaky. In the realm of the best mini appetizers, mini quiche should feel fancy and these definitely do.
This is another two bite app that we decided deserves a spot among the best mini appetizers. To be perfectly honest, the veggie chicken filling is just kind of goo—I couldn’t really get a feel for the veggie chicken itself—but I don’t think it matters because the flavor of the butter chicken sauce is so lovely. It has that authentic blend of spices you find in butter chicken and tikka masala sauce. I cooked these bites in the oven rather than the air fryer so they didn’t get super crisp, but I didn’t mind at all because the doughy pocket actually kind of reminded me of naan. These are perfect to serve to a party of omnivores.
Credit: Merc / Amazon
Rating:
9.5/10
Sporks
Best Mini Dumplings
Bibigo Fully Cooked Chicken & Cilantro Mini Wontons
I know that as a society we’ve moved past this meme, but I think the best way to describe these mini wontons is “very demure, very mindful.” The filling is bright and fresh tasting and it packs a punch, even in a single bite. The wrappers are tender but hold up well enough after being stir-fried to pick up with a frilled toothpick. Okay, people who have the cilantro gene probably aren’t going to like these, but everyone else at the party is eating good.
We tried these two-bite dumplings in our recent taste test of every Bibigo product, and they blew us away. They’re absolutely PACKED with shredded chicken, cabbage, glass noodles, and green onions. The fried dumpling wrapper is so crispy-crunchy out of the air fryer it will literally catch you off guard. It would be nice if they came in a bigger bag for party purposes, but we’ll take what we can get. These little dumps rule.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Frozen Pigs in a Blanket
Hebrew National Beef Franks in a Puff Pastry Blanket
I don’t care how fancy the party is: Everyone wants to be served little hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry. It’s a fact. Also a fact: Making pigs in a blanket can be a little bit tedious, especially when you need to be doing your makeup and Swiffering the foyer floors one last time. We tried a bunch of frozen pigs in a blanket and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the brand that makes our favorite hot dogs also makes the best frozen pigs in a blanket. The franks are small, snappy, and salty, and the puff pastry is light and flaky rather than drenched with oil like other brands. You can rest assured no one will be wiping their greasy fingers on your upholstery. That’s peace of mind.
If you love little, snacky mini puff pastry appetizers, you have to get this variety pack from Costco. You get bites in four flavors: Roasted Red Pepper & Cheddar, Spinach & Parmesan, Artichoke, Monterey Jack & Jalapeno, and Caramelized Onion & Ricotta. The Spinach & Parm and Caramelized Onion & Ricotta are the two best mini puff pastry appetizers—the flavors are so creamy and rich and decadent with the buttery puff pastry. They also have a crackly topping on top that crisps up really nicely and gives them a lot of good crunch. And the filling inside the roasted red pepper bite tastes like pimento cheese. Too fun, right? In true Costco fashion, these come in a big ol’ box of 48 bites, but I think you’ll be surprised how quickly they disappear.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Some of the other frozen mini appetizers we tried
Guy Fieri Flavortown Kickin Crab Rangoon, Savory Cocktail Bites, Guy Fieri Chicken Parm Poppers, Jose Ole Mini Beef & Cheese mini tacos, Good & Gather chicken quesadilla poppers
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Justine Sterling
Ariana Losch
Vinz Karl
You KNOW Trader Joe’s Parmesan Pups are the best. You’ve said so in the past. Why weren’t they included?
No Trader Joe’s Parmesan Pastry Pups ???