You know how it's the week before a holiday and you haven't figured out your snacky appetizer things yet? I feel you. One of my favorite go-to appetizer ideas is prepackaged phyllo cups. You can put pretty much anything in these little beauties and it will taste amazing. So no need to panic, today I bring you the solution to your dilemma about holiday appetizers: phyllo cups five ways. You are bound to like at least one of these!
One of the best parts about these phyllo cups is you can cook them in your big oven or your toaster oven. For me, on Thanksgiving especially, my oven is full. I cannot spare any room in there for appetizers, so I rely on my toaster oven. One package contains 15 phyllo shells/cups and they fit perfectly on the toaster oven tray. So yay for that! Of the five appetizers I'm sharing with you, I would say three of them are super easy and two of them are slightly more advanced and will take a little extra time. It was a tough choice to pick my favorite because I'm such a fiend for goat cheese, pesto and roasted red pepper. However, my pick of this bunch is the chicken cordon bleu bites. You will knock it out of the park if you serve these! So here are my holiday appetizers: phyllo cups five ways.
Mascarpone, Raspberry & Blueberry
Goat Cheese, Pesto and Roasted Red Pepper
Mild Italian Sausage & Cheese
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Shrimp, Bacon & Lemony Breadcrumbs
Chicken Cordon Bleu Bites
Still Need More Ideas for the Holidays? Oh, I'm Way Ahead of You:
- Warm Shrimp and Gorgonzola Crostini
- Nana's Weird Hot Dog Appetizer (the kids will LOVE this!)
- Apple Brie Crostini w/Toasted Pecans & Honey
- Brown Sugar Bacon Sticks Brushed w/Maple Syrup
- Crispy Thai Pork Toast
- Garlic Shrimp Crostini w/Romesco Sauce
- Cute, Little Mac & Cheese Mini Muffins
- Stuffed Mushrooms w/Sausage, Panko & Cheddar
Mascarpone, Raspberry, Blueberry Bites
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 15 phyllo cups 1x
Description
Looking for some snacky crunchy things to serve your guests? I've got holiday appetizers: phyllo cups five ways and you are going to love them.
Ingredients
Scale
- 15 phyllo cups (1 package)
- ½ to ¾ cup mascarpone cheese
- 15 raspberries
- 15 blueberries
- 3-4 teaspoons honey (drizzle on top)
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Instructions
- Unpackage your phyllo cups and lay them out on a small sheet pan.
- Spoon about 1 ½ teaspoons of mascarpone cheese into each cup. It will look like a heaping amount, but remember the cheese will melt in the oven and the size will reduce. I did test this and this amount works best.
- Bake the phyllo cups and mascarpone in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts and the phyllo is toasty.
- While the cups are cooking, select your 15 best raspberries and 15 best blueberries.
- Once the phyllo cups are out of the oven let them cool just a couple of minutes, then transfer to your serving plate or platter.
- Gently place one raspberry and one blueberry in each cup.
- Using a kitchen teaspoon, drizzle a little honey over the cups and a little on the platter for presentation.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- For the mascarpone I bought one 8-ounce container and it was perfect. I used it to make a few extras. You can use any leftover mascarpone on your morning toast too – taste great with fruity jam on top
- For the honey drizzle using a smaller spoon works better.
Goat Cheese, Pesto Roasted Red Pepper Cups
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 15 phyllo cups 1x
Description
Looking for some snacky crunchy things to serve your guests? I've got holiday appetizers: phyllo cups five ways and you are going to love them
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 15 phyllo cups (1 package)
- 3-4 ounces of plain goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon of pesto
- ¼ of one large roasted red pepper (jarred)
- A few extra slices of roasted red pepper to garnish platter, optional
Optional garnish
- Chopped parsley
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Instructions
-
For the roasted red pepper, I bought one 12-ounce jar which usually contains one whole roasted red pepper. Cut ¼ (or so) of the pepper off. Slice the pepper into long, thin strips. Cut into 15 smaller pieces that are about ¼” to ½” in size (see note #1). My video shows this well. Cut a few extra strips for garnish on your serving plate if you want.
- Put your chunk of goat cheese in a small bowl or ramekin and do the same with the pesto to get ready for assembly.
- Lay out the phyllo cups onto a small sheet pan. Spoon one teaspoon of goat cheese into each cup.
- Top the goat cheese with a tiny dollop of pesto. Remember: one tablespoon is enough for 15 phyllo cups so be sure to distribute evenly.
- Top each phyllo cup with a small piece of roasted red pepper.
- Cook in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
- Arrange on a plate or platter and garnish with chopped parsley if using.
Notes
- To make sure you’re cutting the peppers the right size, simply hold a small piece pf pepper over the phyllo cup to see if it fits! So easy!
Italian Sausage and Cheese Bites
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 15 phyllo cups 1x
Description
Looking for some snacky crunchy things to serve your guests? I've got holiday appetizers: phyllo cups five ways and you are going to love them
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 ½ tablespoons finely diced onion
- 1 teaspoon finely diced garlic (1 medium clove)
- ½ cup shredded orange cheddar
- 3 Italian sausage links, meat pulled out
- 1-2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese
- 15 phyllo cups (one package)
Optional garnish:
- Chopped chives or parsley
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Instructions
- Finely dice the onion.
- Finely dice the garlic.
- Shred the cheddar cheese or use the stuff that comes already-shredded in a bag.
- Pull the sausage from their casings (discard the casing) and break apart the sausage in a small pan. Add a splash of olive oil for cooking.
- Cook the sausage for about 5 minutes on medium heat, breaking apart and stirring the whole time. We need the sausage to have a crumbly consistency. My video shows this well.
- In the last minute of cooking add the onion and stir for a minute.
- Add the garlic to the middle of the pan and let cook for 30 seconds until fragrant, then mix to combine with other ingredients.
- Remove sausage from heat and let cool a couple minutes.
- Transfer sausage to a small mixing bowl.
- Add the shredded cheddar and cream cheese and mix with the sausage until everything is well combined.
- Put your phyllo cups on a small sheet pan and spoon the sausage mixture into each cup. Should be a heaping teaspoon or so. You want a generous amount here without it overflowing.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
- While they are cooking you can chop the optional chives or parsley if you want.
- Once cooked, arrange sausage and cheese bites on a platter and garnish with the chives, if using. Could use parsley instead if you have that on hand.
- ALSO NOTE: You can fill the cups the day before and refrigerate overnight. Get them to room temperature the next day, THEN bake them at 350.
Shrimp, Bacon & Lemony Breadcrumbs
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 15 phyllo cups 1x
Description
Looking for some snacky crunchy things to serve your guests? I've got holiday appetizers: phyllo cups five ways and you are going to love them
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 15 medium shrimp (MORE DETAIL ON SIZE - note #1)
- 15 phyllo cups (one package)
- 4 strips of bacon, cooked
- 1 teaspoon finely diced garlic (1 medium clove)
- 2 tablespoons finely diced onions
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 lemon wedge (to squeeze over shrimp)
- 2 teaspoons canola oil, more if needed
Lemony breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup plain panko breadcrumbs
- zest from ½ of a lemon
- 1 ½ teaspoons chopped parsley
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Instructions
- This recipe calls for 4 strips of cooked bacon. You can cook the bacon the day before or at the beginning of preparing this recipe. Plan your time. (see note#2)
- Melt butter and olive oil in a pan on medium heat, then add the panko crumbs. Toss the panko until everything is coated in the butter and olive oil. Turn heat to low-to-medium and cook until golden brown – stirring when needed.
- While keeping an eye on the panko and stirring it, finely dice the onion.
- After dicing onions, check and stir the breadcrumbs again.
- Finely dice the garlic.
- By the time you chop the onion and garlic the panko should be golden brown. Give one final stir and remove from heat.
- Using a microplane or the finest side of a box grater – zest one half of a lemon.
- Chop the parsley for the breadcrumbs plus a little extra for garnishing the serving plate later.
- Chop the cooled bacon into tiny bacon bits. I cooked mine a few hours earlier so I was ready to go at this point. Plan your time with that one. If you cooked bacon earlier, chop it now and you can reheat it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds before assembling the phyllo cups.
- Spread out the phyllo cups on a small sheet pan and cook in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. For this appetizer, we are cooking the phyllo cups alone and adding hot ingredients to them when they come out of the oven.
- Peel 15 shrimp. Try to remember the pinch, pull, peel method here. Gently pinch the tail and pull it from the shrimp. There is meat in the tail and we don’t want to pull that off when removing the tail. The rest of the shell will peel away very easily. Do this for all the shrimp. Should only take a few minutes. I put the peeled shrimp in a large bowl.
- Spread out shrimp in bottom of bowl and season with salt and pepper on one side only.
- Add the lemon zest and parsley to the cooled down panko bread crumbs and toss to combine. Make sure to break up the lemon zest so its evenly distributed.
- Add canola oil to a pan and heat on medium and let the oil get hot. Then add the shrimp and lay each shrimp flat on one side. Cook for two minutes without touching.
- Turn each shrimp over and clear a small circle in middle of pan for the diced onions, then add the onions and a splash more oil. Cook for one minute and mix the onions only with a small spatula.
- Add the garlic to the center with the onions and let cook one minute – stir with the onions.
- Combine shrimp, garlic and onions together and toss a few times. Squeeze one lemon wedge over the shrimp, one final mix and remove from heat.
- To assemble, place one piece of shrimp (make sure to get some of the onion and garlic too) in each cup. I placed them on one side of the phyllo cup so that the thicker end was popping out of the top a bit. Next, spoon in some bacon bits on the other side of the phyllo cup. Lastly, spoon on a little lemony bread crumbs.
- Arrange on a serving plate or platter and serve immediately. Garnish with chopped parsley if you want.
Notes
- I used frozen medium, raw shrimp/41-50 per pound/e-z peel/deveined/tail on. I found this was the best size to fit in the phyllo cup. Remove 15 shrimp from the bag (more if you want to have a few extra on hand) and keep the rest in the freezer/ Leave refrigerator overnight to defrost.
- It’s fine to cook and chop the bacon the day before and might work better if you’re making this at the holidays when kitchen space can get tight. Simply put the bacon bits in a small ramekin or bowl and cover in plastic wrap. Before assembling the appetizer, microwave for 10-15 seconds to re-heat. Longer if needed but don’t microwave for more than 15 seconds at a time. Weird things might happen to the bacon.
Chicken Cordon Bleu Bites
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 15 phyllo cups 1x
Description
Looking for some snacky crunchy things to serve your guests? I've got holiday appetizers: phyllo cups five ways and you are going to love them.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 thin boneless breast of chicken cutlets (see note #1)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- Canola oil for frying (enough to cover bottom of pan)
- Chopped parsley, optional garnish
- ¼ to ½ cup of small diced ham cubes (see note #2)
- 15 phyllo cups (one package)
The sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon finely diced onion
- ½ teaspoon finely diced garlic (1 small clove)
- 1 long slice of swiss cheese, ripped into pieces
- ¼ cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 cup whole milk (you may only need ¾ cup)
The dredging station
- ½ cup flour
- â…› teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 beaten eggs
- ¾ cup plain breadcrumbs
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Instructions
- Finely dice the onion.
- Finely dice the garlic.
- Shred the fresh parmesan cheese. You can also use the shredded parmesan that comes in a bag.
- Take the long slice of swiss cheese and rip it into pieces. Set aside with the parmesan.
- Salt and pepper your thin sliced chicken breast on both sides. (see note#1 below about the chicken)
- Set up your dredging station with three different wide bowls. One bowl for the flour, salt, and garlic powder which you should whisk together. One for the beaten eggs. And a third bowl for the bread crumbs.
- Pour canola oil in a pan large enough to fry two chicken cutlets. The amount of oil depends on the size of the pan. The oil should be about ¼” deep, maybe a little more. Heat it on medium while you dredge the chicken.
- Dip each piece of chicken in the egg, the flour, the egg again and then the breadcrumbs. Be sure to coat thoroughly with each ingredient.
- Put your ham cubes in a small pan.
- Microwave the whole milk for one minute and have it ready for the bechamel.
- Put your phyllo cups on a small sheet pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. We’re heating the cups alone for this one and we’ll add the hot ingredients to the cups when they come out of the oven.
- Time to multi-task! On your stove should be the following. One small pan with the ham cubes. One small sauce pot with the butter, onion and garlic. One large pan with heated canola oil.
- The ham cubes: I cooked on low-to-medium heat with no oil in the pan for a few minutes until they started getting sear marks.
- The chicken: fry the cutlets for three minutes on one side, then turn over and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side until golden brown. Then set aside on a plate.
- The sauce pan: melt the butter on low heat with the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add the flour and whisk together. This makes a roux which is a thickening agent for sauces. Cook out the flour for a couple of minutes until it smells nutty. Turn the heat up a little, add the warm milk and stir – it will start to thicken quickly. Add the cheese and let melt – give a stir. Add a pinch of salt to taste and sample the sauce. If you need more salt – add it now. Remove sauce from heat. NOTE: if sauce is too thick add a little more milk. If it’s too thin, add more cheese. It’s simple – don’t overthink it. (see note #3 about extra sauce).
- Chop one and a half cutlets into small cubes. I cut it into thin strips first, then cut it into small cubes from there. My video shows this well. You will have extra chicken – eat it, you’re probably hungry.
- Your phyllo cups should be out of the oven and it’s time to assemble the appetizer.
- Add 3-4 chicken cubes to each phyllo cup. Spoon about ½ teaspoon of sauce over the chicken. Add a pinch of ham cubes to the top of each.
- Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with fresh parsley if you are using it.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- I used the already thin-cut chicken breast as the store. I found Purdue has the thinnest sliced. It was razor thin and this works best for this recipe. I cooked two cutlets but really only needed about 1 ½ for this recipe. You can either make more phyllo cups OR wrap it and eat it later. 😊 If you are using regular chicken breast and pounding it down yourself, you don’t want the chicken any thicker than ¼” – in fact, slightly thinner is better.
- I used a pre-packaged bag of tiny ham cubes which I loved. I froze what I didn’t use and saved them to make western omelets later.
- You will have extra bechamel. It’s cheese sauce – you’ll find a use for it. You can make my mega omelet and spoon the cheese sauce over the top. You can also freeze it and use it for something else another time.
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