The Savoury Stuff
Sticky Sausage Baps With Beer-Braised Onions
Olive Magazine
No Bonfire Night spread is complete without sausages, and these sticky bangers, tucked into soft rolls with a generous helping of beer-braised onions, are just the ticket. The onions are cooked slowly until sweet and soft, with the beer lending a delicious depth of flavour. Add a dollop of mustard for good measure and make plenty: these are unlikely to hang around for long.
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Fire-Baked Potatoes With Soured Cream And Fiery Salsa
Delicious Magazine
The humble baked potato comes into its own on Bonfire Night. Choose large, floury potatoes, rub their skins with a little oil and salt, and bake until crisp outside and fluffy within. We love this version, with soured cream and salsa – or alternatively, keep proceedings classic with salted butter, mature Cheddar and baked beans. Wrap them in foil to keep warm if you're taking them outside, but don't leave them sitting around for hours.
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Slow Cooker Chilli
Olive Magazine
If there's one dish guaranteed to feed a merry crowd without chaining you to the stove, it's chilli. This slow-cooked version is just the thing, particularly since it comes with a recipe for jalapeño Cheddar cornbread, which we'd argue is almost reason enough to make it. Prepare the chilli the day before to let the flavours develop, then reheat thoroughly and serve with plenty of soured cream, coriander and lime wedges. Easy, hearty, delish.
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Glazed Honey & Mustard Sausages
BBC Good Food
For something party-friendly, roast sausages in a glaze of honey and Dijon mustard until burnished and sticky. They're impossible to resist, especially straight from the oven, and make excellent finger food for anyone (big or small) too impatient to wait for supper. Keep a vegetarian alternative separate. Oh, and do have plenty of napkins at the ready.
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Pumpkin Soup In Mugs
Olive Magazine
A warming mug of soup is precisely the thing for a cold evening outdoors, and this creamy pumpkin number is particularly appealing thanks to the accompanying blue cheese and sage toasties. The latter are, frankly, worth making in their own right, though dunked into the soup they're even better. An excellent way to use up any pumpkins left over from Halloween, too.
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Something Sweet
Lyle’s Tremendous Toffee Apples
Lyle’s
Bonfire Night without toffee apples would be a sorry affair. Their glossy red shells and satisfyingly sharp centres are part of the occasion's charm, even if eating one elegantly is all but impossible. Choose small, crisp apples and make sure they're completely dry before dipping them into the hot sugar syrup. The caramel is dangerously hot, so this is very much a job for grown-ups.
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Sticky Parkin
BBC Good Food
If you've never made parkin for Bonfire Night, this is the year to start. The traditional Yorkshire ginger cake, made with oats, treacle and golden syrup, is dark, sticky and warming. Better still, it improves after a few days in an airtight tin, making it the ideal thing to bake ahead. Serve in generous squares, perhaps with a little butter if you're feeling extra.
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Bonfire Toffee
Little Sugar Snaps
Also known as treacle toffee, this dark, brittle confection is another northern Bonfire Night tradition. Made with black treacle, sugar and butter, it's rich, intensely sweet and quite unlike ordinary chewy toffee. Break it into small shards once cool and serve in paper bags. A word of warning: it's not especially kind to teeth.
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Cinnamon Baked Apples
Tastes Better From Scratch
For something a little less likely to require an emergency appointment with the dentist, try these baked apples, stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins and butter, then cooked until tender. They're especially good served with warm custard or vanilla ice cream, and make a good alternative to the traditional toffee apple.
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Chilli Hot Chocolate
Knoops
Leave it to the chocolate experts at Knoops to come up with a hot chocolate that's guaranteed to warm the cockles and add a little fire to proceedings. Their chilli-spiked version has just enough heat to provide a good kick, which is extra welcome on a freezing November evening. Decant into a flask if you're heading out to watch the fireworks, or serve in generous mugs alongside gingerbread or a slab of sticky parkin.
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Bonfire Night Snacks
What food is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night?
Traditional British Bonfire Night foods include sausages, jacket potatoes, toffee apples, parkin and bonfire toffee. Warming dishes such as chilli and soup are also popular, particularly at outdoor gatherings.
What can I make ahead for Bonfire Night?
Chilli, soup, parkin, gingerbread and bonfire toffee are all excellent make-ahead options. Parkin is particularly good prepared several days ahead, as its flavour and texture develop over time.
What vegetarian food can I serve on Bonfire Night?
Vegetarian sausages, jacket potatoes with cheese and beans, smoky three-bean chilli, pumpkin soup and roasted vegetable pasties are all good choices. Make sure any cheese used is suitable for vegetarians.
What food can I take to a fireworks display?
Choose portable food that doesn't require cutlery, such as sausage rolls, filled rolls, gingerbread, parkin and wrapped baked potatoes. A flask of soup or hot chocolate is useful too. Keep hot food safely hot and cold food chilled until needed.
What is parkin, and why is it eaten on Bonfire Night?
Parkin is a traditional northern English ginger cake, particularly associated with Yorkshire and Lancashire, made with oatmeal, treacle and syrup. Its longstanding association with Bonfire Night makes it one of the occasion's most distinctive culinary traditions.
