80 Snack Ideas For Your Next Movie Night

Do your weekend plans involve watching the premiere of an anticipated film? Perhaps the latest season of your favorite show needs to be binge-watched? Or maybe, you're looking forward to a Sunday filled with reruns of a movie franchise you love and a themed party to go with it? Whatever the situation may be, a movie night is in the works and that means one thing: You're going to need snacks!

A movie night is incomplete without a table full of snacks to accompany it, and for most of us, that means having a mix of spicy, salty, and sugary snacks for the taking. A Mashed survey has shown that for most, the snack of choice is good ol' popcorn, followed by nachos and pizza. As iconic as these snacks may be, if you're looking for movie night munchies beyond the usual, we've got you covered. 

From movie night classics like popcorn and ice creams to more sophisticated alternatives, healthier options, and even a spiked dessert or two for the adults, there's something in here for all kinds of movie night snack requirements. Besides, who knows, the snacks may even end up being the best part about your movie night.

Is it even a movie night if it doesn't involve a slice of piping hot pizza? Recipe developer Michelle McGlinn makes her French bread pizza using a baguette, canned tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, garlic, olive oil, and herbs but leaves the toppings up to you to decide. You can even swap the mozzarella for shredded cheese because the trick here is not in the ingredients. McGlinn bakes the pizza in an oven for 12 minutes but for those who love their pizzas with a crispy top, she recommends popping the pizza bread in the broiler for an extra two minutes.

Recipe: Pizza Bread

Everyone knows that the best food at an Italian restaurant is not that saucy pasta or a warming soup, it's the breadsticks. Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Olive Garden, Papa John's — any of 'em ring a bell? Now imagine snacking on a breadstick hot out of the oven as you cozy up on the couch in front of the TV. This recipe recreates Papa John's breadsticks at home — which ranks a solid third amongst all restaurant chain breadsticks after all — using ingredients that are probably already sitting in your pantry.

Recipe: Copycat Papa John's Breadsticks

S'mores may be synonymous with bonfires and late summer evenings but the gooey marshmallow, melted chocolate, and graham cracker sandwich would make for a pretty irresistible movie night snack too. Plus, you don't even have to get a fire going in your backyard for these s'mores. That nifty little air fryer, a pack of crescent roll dough, chocolate bars, marshmallows, and graham cracker crumbs is all you need to enjoy s'mores at any time of the day and on any day of the year. You can even level up the classic s'more with a generous dollop of Nutella or a drizzle of caramel sauce on top.

Recipe: Air Fryer S'mores

No vegetable lends itself to a tasty snack quite as a potato does — you could bake it, fry it, steam it, mash it ... the possibilities are endless. If you'd like to make a potato-ey snack that's a little more creative than the usual fries and tater tots, these crispy smashed potatoes may be just the thing to try next. The smashed potato bites have a crisp texture seasoned with garlic powder on the outside which gives way to pillowy softness on the inside. This recipe even cuts out the most arduous part of working with potatoes: peeling the root vegetable. Because you're using the potatoes with the skin intact, you only need to set aside about five minutes of prep.

Recipe: Crispy Smashed Potatoes

Chocolate-dipped strawberries are already a hit when it comes to movie night snacks but if you'd like to make the sweet treat a touch healthier, you can dip them in Greek yogurt instead. If you're worried about missing out on the chocolate however, fret not for a thin chocolate drizzle goes on top of the yogurt-dipped strawberries. For added chocolatey goodness, you can even serve the berries with a pot of warm melted chocolate on the side to dip the yogurt-covered fruits in.

Recipe: Yogurt-Dipped Strawberries

Ice pops are a welcome relief on hot movie nights during the summer months. But the great bit about these homemade ice pops is that you're using a ton of fruits in here too. In fact, the recipe calls for an entire pineapple, a whole mango, two pieces of passion fruit as well as a can of coconut milk. Because you're only using these few ingredients with the exception of honey, these refreshing ice pops can be a very healthy alternative to store-bought ice lollies.

Recipe: Ice Pops

Movie night snacks — or any snacks in general — don't always have to count as junk food. These holiday roasted nuts for one, are an incredibly nutritious and flavourful snack to have on the table as a healthier alternative to the snack usual offerings. The nutrient-packed recipe calls for two cups of roasted almonds and a cup of roasted cashews and roasted peanuts each, and seasons the nuts with flavors reminiscent of the holiday season, that is, sugar and cinnamon. As a bonus, you'll also have a house smelling like cinnamon, sugar, and all-things-Christmas as you make your holiday roasted nuts.

Recipe: Holiday Roasted Nuts

A movie night snack ensemble is incomplete without something sweet to be a part of it and that something sweet is almost always a box of store-bought brownies. As convenient as store-bought brownies may be, they're incomparable to brownies that are eaten whilst they're just out of the oven and still warm. It only gets better when the brownies are thick, fudgy, gooey, and have the texture of a rich chocolate cake. If that's not reason enough to bake your own brownies at home ahead of a movie night, these gooey brownies only require all but eight ingredients, most of which are probably already in your pantry!

Recipe: Gooey Brownie

Here's a snack for coconut lovers: coconut macaroons with just under three cups of desiccated coconut! Made using all but six ingredients including the coconut, these little treats are a snap to make on movie nights. While this recipe pairs the sweet coconut macaroons with the slight bitterness of a dark chocolate drizzle, you also have the option of folding in chocolate chips and dried fruits or even adding all sorts of spices to it.

Recipe: Coconut Macaroons

No, you do not need one of those plasticky little gadgets off Amazon that are designed specifically to slice blooming onions at home. Recipe developer Lindsay Mattison walks you through the precise steps to chop an onion with a regular knife so that you can replicate your favorite steakhouse, aka Outback's, Bloomin' Onion in your own kitchen. The key here is to choose the right type of onion that will mimic the flavor of Outback's Bloomin' Onion the best, and to choose the right size of it. Although it may take a few tries for your version to look like the Outback's one, it most certainly will taste like one in the first go!

Recipe: Outback's Bloomin' Onion

Tasty movie night snacks that are nutritious too? Yes please! According to Healthline, pumpkin seeds may look small but they pack tons of nutrients that are good for you. Besides being a good source of fiber, antioxidants, and magnesium, pumpkin seeds have certain nutrients that can help promote sleep which means that while you're snacking and watching movies, you're also helping yourself sleep better after. If you're still skeptical about the suitability of pumpkin seeds as a movie snack, the sugar, cinnamon, butter, and vanilla mixture in which the seeds are coated might just sweeten the deal for you.

Recipe: Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds

There are two kinds of people in the world of snacking: Those who swear by popcorn, brownies, and anything that is fried, and those who couldn't fathom a snack platter without cheese, crackers, fruits, and nuts. For those that belong to the latter category, this feta and olive bake will be a wonderful centerpiece on the table. Sweet honey is poured onto the tangy feta, salty olives go on top, and the baked cheese is finished off with the bright acidity of lemon juice. All you really need are some crackers that will work as vessels for this feta bursting with flavor.

Recipe: Baked Feta With Olives

It doesn't matter whether it's taco Tuesday or not, a taco dip deserves a spot on the snack table on any day of the week. This layered taco dip has all the usual suspects — refried beans, guacamole, cheese, and sour cream — but also a couple more ingredients to give it a kick. The refried beans here are seasoned with taco seasoning and green chilies get mixed in for a bit of heat. Though they don't alter the appearance of the dip, you'll be able to taste all the flavor that they bring to the table.

Recipe: Layered Taco Dip

Ready to upgrade your regular chocolate cupcakes? Recipe developer Jennine Bryant's cupcakes are a lighter, softer, fudgier, and a more moist take on the classic chocolate cupcakes, and are nowhere close to the dense and heavy texture that you're used to in your typical muffins. Complete with a rich and creamy frosting to go on top of your moist chocolate cupcakes, Bryant recommends serving them with a coffee as it enhances the flavor of the chocolate in the cupcakes. You can even deck the little bakes with colorful sprinkles, whipped cream, or a salty caramel drizzle.

Recipe: Moist Chocolate Cupcake

Whether you think of these air fryer bananas as a sweet snack in themselves or as a topping that will take plain vanilla ice creams or waffles up a notch, this movie night nibble is a breeze to whip up. All you need are ripe bananas, rapeseed, canola or vegetable oil, and coconut sugar to sprinkle onto the fruit slices. Pop them into the air fryer and you'll have bite-sized sweet bananas with a lovely caramelized finish. If that sounds too simple, you can always add a pinch of spice through nutmeg, cloves, or cinnamon for more flavor.

Recipe: Air Fryer Bananas

Recipe developer Michelle McGlinn calls this goat's cheese crostini "an excellent cocktail hour snack," so if your movie night involves a glass of wine or an icy cocktail or two, the crisp crostini might be just the nibble to pair with it. A whipped goat cheese spread gives the crostini a smooth and creamy texture and the grilled juicy tomatoes seasoned with garlic and rosemary add a punch of flavor to the dish. You can even make the goat cheese spread and the grilled tomatoes in advance, so that all that you need to do is assemble the crostini before you turn on the TV.

Recipe: Goat Cheese Crostini

Looking for a cheeky snack for the adults in the room? Recipe developer Hayley MacLean promises that this vodka-spiked watermelon will be a jolly good showstopper on the table, especially if the temperatures are rising on your movie night. All you need are two ingredients: A mini seedless watermelon and a 375-milliliter bottle of vodka. Cut a hole in the fruit, upturn the entire bottle of vodka into it, leave the vodka to soak into the watermelon for 12 hours, and voila! You'll have yourself a spiked little fruit to snack on that might just become a regular on movie nights in your home.

Recipe: Vodka Spiked Watermelon

When hosting a movie night with friends or family over, you want snacks that require very little effort to put together but can be shared between a large crowd at the same time. In times like these, a chocolate fondue will do the trick. Recipe developer Jennine Bryant not only uses both milk and dark chocolate to make the melted chocolate, but also folds in whipping cream to make the already luxe chocolate fondue even more silky, satiny, rich, and luxurious. Once you've nailed the melted chocolate for the fondue pot, you can use all sorts of foods for dipping — think fruits, marshmallows, nuts, cookies, or even some salty pretzels.

Recipe: Chocolate Fondue

The flavor of corn ribs charred on a grill but without actually using a grill? Who would have thought that! Recipe developer Susan Olayinka gives corn ribs a flash of heat in an air fryer which she says makes the ribs taste even better than what they would if they were charred on a grill. With the help of olive oil to give the corn ribs a crunch and a nice brown color, as well as a paprika, onion powder, oregano, black pepper, and garlic powder spice mix for bucket loads of flavor, you've got yourself a movie night winner.

Recipe: Air Fryer Corn Ribs

A cross between French fries and roasted potatoes, jojo potatoes pack in the best of both worlds. Even better, these jojo potatoes need nothing more than a non-stick cooking spray, salt, all-purpose flour, and well, potatoes. Besides, because these potato wedges are baked in an oven and not fried, you could say that they're a healthier alternative to grease-covered deep-fried fries. The potatoes are baked twice in the oven to give them a crisp exterior but if you'd like for them to be even crisper, you can pop them in the broiler for extra heat.

Recipe: Baked Jojo Potatoes

Pronounced as pow-ge-kay-ju, these chewy bite-sized cheese bread balls may be a popular snack in Brazil but it's very likely that they'll become a staple in your home too (via Eater). This recipe calls for only six ingredients to make a basic pao de queijo but gives you the option of adding one herb and one meat to the mix. Crisp bacon and scallions are a particularly good combination for a crunchy texture, whereas chorizo and cilantro add freshness with a hint of spice. While the recipe calls for shredded cheddar, you can even swap it with pepper jack for a bit of oomph.

Recipe: Pao De Queijo

Who wouldn't like to sneak a healthy vegetable into a tasty movie-time snack? Recipe developer Susan Olayinka takes the incredibly nutritious fiber-rich sweet potato and sprinkles it with heaps of cajun and paprika to give the sweet root vegetable a spicy seasoning, per Healthline. Then, Olayinka pops the sweet potatoes in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit which she calls the "magic" temperature to give fries perfectly crisp skins but soft and fluffy insides. Make sure to prep enough sweet potatoes because these fries will be flying off the table.

Recipe: Baked Cajun Sweet Potato Fries

There's nothing quite like cozying up to a new episode of the show that you've been eyeing all week with a tub of chocolate ice cream in your lap. But here's one way to sweeten the deal even more: Homemade chocolate ice cream! Recipe developer Susan Olayinka's no-churn ice cream scraps all the preservatives, stabilizers, and emulsifiers and calls for only three ingredients — heavy cream, condensed milk, and cocoa powder — an electric whisk, and five minutes of prep. Plan ahead and set aside 12 hours for your ice cream to set in the freezer and top it with peanut butter sauce, hot fudge, sprinkles, or whipped cream when it's time to eat the treat.

Recipe: No-Churn Chocolate Ice Cream

If you're team chewy cookies over crunchy ones, these coconut almond chocolate chip cookies will quickly become one of your favorite cookies to bake in times of a quick sugar fix. A cut above the average chocolate chip cookie, recipe developer Mark Beahm says that the addition of coconut and almond makes them taste like Almond Joys. If you're really aiming for the perfect cookie here, aka crisp edges and chewy centers, you might want to plan ahead to give the cookie dough time to chill in the refrigerator overnight. If you're in a rush however, Beahm gives you full permission to skip through this step and jump straight to baking the cookies in the oven.

Recipe: Chewy Coconut Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are several reasons why these homemade jalapeño poppers beat anything you would ever find in a frozen foods aisle. First, all that these poppers need are three ingredients — jalapeños because, well, they're jalapeño poppers, as well as cream cheese and chicken sausage for a creamy and salty filling. Second, the poppers make for an excellent low-carb snack that is free of any bread crumbs or floury coating. Third, you have the option of either baking the poppers in an oven or frying them in an air fryer and guess what? This recipe walks you through both options!

Recipe: 3-Ingredient Jalapeno Poppers

If you struggle to choose between French fries and nachos, struggle no longer: These pork-loaded French fries make use of fries of course, but come with all the toppings that you'd usually find on your nachos. You can use a bag of frozen fries or make them fresh if you prefer but the highlight of the dish is in the thick layers of fries, shredded pork cooked in an instant pot, sliced onions and scallions, and a whole lotta cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese.

Recipe: Pork Loaded French Fries

It's hard to have missed all those ASMR videos of perfectly crunchy pasta chips that were all the rage on TikTok recently. Recipe developer Laura Sampson's twist on the trendy pasta chips however, comes in an entirely new form and with a whole lot of cheese in it. Sampson uses a bag of frozen cheese ravioli and coats it in breadcrumbs, an Italian seasoning blend, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese so that there's cheese both inside and outside the crisp ravioli. Serve the toasted ravioli in a plater with a bowl of marinara or pizza sauce for everyone to share.

Recipe: Air Fryer Toasted Ravioli

Mozzarella sticks are darn near perfect as it is but wait till you try recipe developer Kristen Carli's take on them. While the recipe has all the usual suspects that you'd find in mozzarella sticks, what it also has is an entire bottle of beer. Adding beer to the batter that coats the mozzarella sticks Carli says, "helps to create a lighter crust on fried food," and dark beer in particular, will add a "deep malty sweetness" to the fried cheese.

Recipe: Beer Battered Mozzarella Sticks

Although popcorn balls usually make an appearance only around the holidays, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to enjoy this nostalgic treat on movie nights all year round — it is popcorn after all, isn't it? Be prepared to pop a lot of corn kernels because this old-fashioned recipe calls for a whopping 14 cups of popped popcorn. Turn the popcorn into sticky balls using a sweet corn syrup-sugar-butter liquid and any other mix-ins that you might want to eat.

Recipe: Old-Fashioned Popcorn Balls

Bored of the usual deep-fried fries covered in salt and a thin layer of grease? This recipe upgrades run-of-the-mill fries with heaps of shredded mozzarella cheese, some more Parmesan cheese, a sprinkle of fresh parsley, and bites of minced garlic. And if that's not enough, there's the option of layering the fries with cheese, garlic, and parsley so that it turns out like a gooey French fry version of a lasagna. Even better, you get to add some more Parmesan flakes on top of the fries once they are cooked and ready to be served.

Recipe: Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Fries

A staple part of Indian cuisine, papadums are crisp and thin flatbreads made from chickpea flour. Served alongside dips and fresh chutneys, these papadums are an excellent gluten-free snack to lay out on the snack table. This recipe calls for protein-rich chickpea flour and seasons it with cumin seeds, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic. The dough is then rolled out and baked in the oven till the papadums are golden and crisp enough to have a nice snap when broken into.

Recipe: Crispy Papadum

What's better than classic chocolate chip muffins? Mini versions of the muffins that are bite-sized and ideal for snacking of course! These mini muffins can be baked fresh and eaten whilst still warm from the oven or, baked ahead of time and frozen for up to three months. Simply defrost them and pop them in the microwave for a few seconds when movie night comes around and they're ready for you to much on them.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Somewhere between crisp cheese balls and traditional meatballs, these sausage cheese balls are just as easy to make as they are to eat. All this finger food needs is ground sausage, shredded cheese, Bisquick baking mix, and some milk which is the secret to making the meaty cheese balls moist. You can even add some freeze-dried parsley if you fancy a bit of extra flavor. Shape them, bake them, and finally, serve them alongside a dip — sour cream mixed with cajun and basil is a particularly good dipping sauce for these sausage cheese balls.

Recipe: Sausage Cheese Balls

If movie nights in your home are incomplete without a family pack of Oreos, this Oreo fluff is going to be a wonderful way to eat your favorite cookie sandwich in an entirely new form. The recipe calls for 31 whole Oreo cookies which are smashed into rough chunks and folded into a cream cheese, milk, and heavy cream mixture which makes the "fluff" in the recipe. From there on, you can eat the Oreo fluff as it is or eat it after the fluff has chilled in the refrigerator for a bit. Alternatively, you can even slather the fluff on top of a chocolate cake or a cupcake.

Recipe: Oreo Fluff

Besides being a good source of fiber, copper, zinc d vitamin B1, Healthline says that pecans have been linked to several health benefits. Pecans can improve heart health and brain function as well as stabilize blood sugar. Safe to say, pecans have enough nutritional value to make them worthy of being eaten in more ways than just in the occasional pie. Luckily, this recipe makes it incredibly easy for you to eat more pecans. Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, these candied pecans make for a nutritious and tasty snack to munch on.

Recipe: Candied Pecans

Who doesn't like Dairy Queen's iconic dilly bars? If you usually make a trip to Dairy Queen to stock on these ice cream bars before a movie night, recipe developer Kit Hondrum has an easy-peasy copycat recipe for you to replicate these at home. Using just a tub of soft vanilla ice cream, a bag of chocolate chips, and a few nifty tips and tricks, these homemade copycat dilly bars taste and look darn near indistinguishable from their original versions.

Recipe: Copycat Dairy Queen Dilly Bars

Cinnamon roll fans brace yourselves: Here's your favorite treat in a form that you've never seen before. This recipe takes everything that's good about a cinnamon roll — the cinnamon, the sugar, and the white icing — and turns it into a buttery cookie using a store-bought pie crust. The best part? The pie crust is sliced into several mini disks that are bite-sized versions of the beloved cinnamon roll, making them ideal for snacking. The fact that the cookies bake in only eight minutes is only the cherry on the top.

Recipe: Mini Cinnamon Roll Cookies

If you tend to prefer a bag of crunchy nuts over popcorn and a bar of chocolate over candies, gummies, and other sugary treats when it comes to matters of snacking, these chocolate nut clusters might be just the thing for you. While this recipe uses peanuts and almonds with chocolate, you can use all sorts of nuts in your clusters. Don't let the hour-long cook time fool you into thinking of this recipe as time consuming, five minutes of prep aside, most of the heavy lifting is left to the slow cooker.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chocolate Nut Clusters

Bagels in just under half an hour, and using only five ingredients? Who would've thought such a thing possible! While this recipe depends on nothing more than all-purpose flour, Greek yogurt, baking powder, table salt, and an egg for a batch of soft and basic bagels, you can mix all sorts of add-ins to customize these bagels to your liking. Think cinnamon powder, raisins, and sugar for cinnamon raisin bagels or everything seasoning for everything bagels. You can even shape them smaller than your usual bagels to make them a more fitting size for snacking.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Air Fryer Mini Bagels

Warm carnival-style funnel cakes are great but recipe developer Jessica Monroe has a problem with them: "Usually, when I eat funnel cake, I end up getting powdered sugar all over my clothes from trying to break it into smaller pieces." Naturally, Monroe found a way to make them a lot easier and less messy to eat. In nearly 20 minutes, you'll have yourself fluffy funnel cake bites that taste just like what you'd find at a fair but without the mess of all the powdered sugar that it leaves behind.

Recipe: Funnel Cake Bites