Spaghetti and Eyeballs

Combine spooky and scrumptious with this creepy Spaghetti and Eyeballs dish! It’s the perfect dinner for Halloween night!

Halloween night is always a battle to make something fun yet filling for my kids before they go out trick-or-treating and eat their weight in Kit Kats. Enter Spaghetti and Eyeballs. Fun, frightening, spooky, ‘gross’, yet delicious! With a little preparation from me (that was honestly fun, it’s like an art project) and boiling some noodles, we have a silly, spooky dinner!

Ingredients Needed for Spaghetti and Eyeballs

This recipe makes homemade meatballs with spaghetti, these are the ingredients:

• Lean ground beef- this makes the bulk of the meat ball, and the bulk of the eye.
• Onion- grated, adds flavor to the meatball, essential!
• Panko breadcrumbs- when added to the meatball, it bulks up the texture.
• Parmesan cheese- this gives the meatball a great flavor.
• Eggs- eggs bind the meat together making the meat able to form a ball.
• Garlic- crushed, another flavor enhancer.
• Milk- adds moisture and richness as well as works as a binder for the meat.
• Salt- essential flavor.
• Oregano- this is that quintessential ‘Italian’ flavor you associate with meatballs. It has a slightly sweet peppery bite.
• Pepper- essential flavor.
• Spaghetti sauce- pick your favorite! Or make your own! We have a great recipe you might like.
• Green olives with pimento- these look like little eyes! EW! Perfect! Tuck these into the pasta!
• Mozzarella cheese slices- these will be cut into circles to make the white part of the eye which will lay on top of the meatball.
• Black olives- these will be cut into small circles and placed within the white eye (mozzarella) on top of the meatball, to form the complete eyeball.
• Spaghetti noodles- boil your noodles and form nests around your plate to complete the creepy look.

How to Make Spaghetti and Eyeballs

To Make the Meatballs:

• Combine beef, onion, Panko, Parmesan, eggs, garlic, milk, salt, oregano, and pepper in a bowl and mix (it’s easiest to mix with your clean hands).
• Form the meat into balls, a little smaller than a golf ball.
• Spray bottom of an Instant Pot with cooking spray and add spaghetti sauce.
• Place the formed meatballs over the sauce, layering them if necessary. It’s okay if they touch, but you don’t want to squish them.
• Place lid on Instant Pot and switch valve to “sealing”. Press “manual” and set to high pressure for 7 minutes. After you hear the timer go off, allow to slow release for another 5 minutes and then do the quick release (you do this by carefully switching the tab to “venting”). Remove lid from Instant Pot, stir.

To Assemble the Spaghetti and Eyeballs:

• Make your spaghetti according to package instructions.
• Combine noodles, sauce, and meatballs.
• Form “nests” of noodles by twirling noodles in a serving ladle with a fork and then placing in a serving bowl.
• After meatballs have cooled slightly, cut out circles of mozzarella cheese and place one circle on each meatball, creating the start of an eyeball. Place one black olive slice over the cheese circle, completing the eye.
• Gently place meatballs randomly over the spaghetti. Add green olives over the top, to taste.

What to Serve with Spaghetti and Eyeballs

Why not make dinner a spooktacular feast? Get your eyes out of the pasta and look at our Halloween Food Ideas post! It is full to the brim with ideas for Halloween dinner from fun beverages like Butterbeer, to spooky little appetizers like Halloween Deviled Eggs, to dessert, our Harry Potter themed Pumpkin Pasties is a must try!

More Halloween Recipes

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so it goes without saying that I have some great recipes to go with it:

Pumpkin Juice
Dinner in a Pumpkin
Soup in a Pumpkin
Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Pumpkin Mousse
Halloween Charcuterie Board
Halloween Cake Pops
Pumpkin Roll