The Best Appetizer of 2024 Tastes Like "Heaven"

Best Recipes 2024: We’re back for our 2nd annual Best Recipes showdown! In 2024 we combed through our over 55,000 recipes to find a winner in each of the following five categories of Party Food: Champion Mains, Top-Notch Apps, Winning Brunch Bites, Gold Medal Sweets, and Prize-Worthy Sides. 

Just like the first page of a book or first moments of a movie, that first bite at a party should have you hooked and excited for more. Which means appetizers deserve as much attention as we tend to give to our main course or our dessert. What a perfect challenge to fuel the Top-Notch Appetizer competition in this year’s party-themed Best Recipes of 2024. 

Here’s how we set out to name our winner. First, Allrecipes editors considered the hundreds of great appetizer recipes on the site, landing on 10 semi-finalists that were all terrific, from a sweet and salty caramel popcorn that comes together in the microwave, to an on-trend hot cowgirl dip and a Mexican-inspired shrimp cocktail. From there, our readers voted for their favorites on the list; the top two headed to our Birmingham test kitchen for a good old-fashioned cook-off. Once the test kitchen team prepared each recipe to perfection, two expert judges tasted, tasted, and tasted, then weighed in to crown the winner.

Meet the Judges

It takes a pro to suss out the best appetizer in the land, so we brought in a pair of top-tier judges to make the final call. Let's meet them!

Nicole McLaughlin: McLaughlin is a senior producer and on-camera talent for Allrecipes. With more than 20 years of experience in the culinary world, she has a bachelor's in restaurant and hospitality management from the University of Alabama and a culinary arts degree from Johnson and Wales University.

Roscoe Hall: Best known for competing in season 18 of Top Chef, Allrecipes contributor Hall began his culinary journey at Chez Panisse, where he trained under the legendary Alice Waters for two years. His cooking chops have taken him all over the country where he’s worked in kitchens from Portland, Oregon to New York City.

Meet the Two Contenders

Sausage and Cream Cheese Pinwheels: These festive savory roll-ups make clever use of store-bought crescent roll dough and require only three ingredients! They are perfect for holiday entertaining, especially for those upcoming brunch celebrations. This genius recipe is courtesy of Allrecipes community member brandi03 and has received a 4.8-star rating among those who’ve made it. Community member Joanne Peabody says, “I didn't change a thing. Delicious all gone in an instant!” The exact praise you want to hear when you are searching for the perfect appetizer recipe.

Easy Lemon-Pepper Chicken Wings: Debuting right in time for playoff football last winter, these bright and peppery wings bring lots of flavor with minimal effort. The recipe was contributed by FleurSweetLoves, who was inspired to make wings at home after spending far too much money at the local Wingstop! These wings are deep-fried, which makes all the difference in crispness. This technique may seem overwhelming for home cooks, but once you give it a try, you’ll never turn back. 

What the Judges Had to Say

Both Hall and McLaughlin enjoyed the play of sweet and savory on the Sausage and Cream Cheese Pinwheels, but also wished there was a bit more cream cheese to go around. When it came to the wings, Hall had nothing but high praise, describing the Lemon Pepper Wings as “Heaven: tangy, crispy and peppery.” McLaughlin, who gave a perfect 5-star rating to the wings, shared Hall’s sentiment, noting that they were perfectly seasoned and incredibly juicy.

And the Winner Is….

Easy Lemon Pepper Wings!

It’s hard to beat a classic and these tangy, peppery wings walked away with the crown as the Allrecipes Top-Notch Apps 2024 champion. While it was hard for the judges to resist either starter, the wings won out due to their tangy, juicy and heavenly flavor. Maybe community member Danielle spoke for us all when she said, “I love Wingstop but after making this, they will not be seeing me for a while for sure.”