Healthy New Year's Appetizer Recipes

Don't let the fancy French name for these cheese puffs mislead you—this is an easy appetizer recipe. They're traditionally made with Gruyère or Comté; we couldn't resist turning to our Vermont roots and using good old Cheddar instead.

A riff on traditional spinach artichoke dip, this creamy, cheesy dip recipe is made healthier by replacing some of the cream cheese with yogurt. Serve as an easy appetizer with tortilla chips and carrot sticks.

These succulent baked oysters thrill with spicy spinach and a crispy cheese topping.

In this easy appetizer recipe, olives are marinated (cunzate) to present as an antipasto. Try this with the plain green olives you buy from a supermarket olive bar. It will bring them to life in a whole new way

A simple lemon-dill mayonnaise adds a touch of sophistication to smoked trout on crackers.

You don't need a deep fryer to make crispy potato chips. We toss thinly sliced potatoes with just a touch of olive oil, pop them in the microwave and voilà! Crispy, crunchy homemade potato chips with 8 grams less fat per serving than regular chips.

Guacamole-stuffed eggs are the perfect healthy appetizer recipe for an easy, yet impressive, potluck or party dish.

Our healthier version of chile con queso will have ooey-gooey-cheese lovers celebrating. Now you can enjoy this Tex-Mex dip without all the fat and calories. We replaced some of the cheese with a low-fat white sauce and used sharp Cheddar plus a splash of beer to boost the flavor. Our version cuts the calories in half and reduces total fat and saturated fat by nearly 60 percent.

The sweet-and-salty combination in this easy, one-bite prosciutto-wrapped pineapple appetizer recipe is addictive. Double the recipe and serve it for a party. The “bites” taste best with fresh pineapple, but can also be made with canned pineapple chunks.

Stuffed shrimp make a quick and easy appetizer perfect for holiday parties. The trick to great stuffed shrimp? Make sure your shrimp are large enough to hold the filling. We recommend jumbo shrimp, which easily encase the savory filling of scallions, breadcrumbs and bacon with just a hint of spice from cayenne pepper.

This oven-baked mushroom rice features short-grain brown rice and plenty of flavorful mushrooms. If you'd like to make it vegetarian, use mushroom broth and vegetarian Parmesan cheese.

Serve with sliced baguette for dipping.

Here we skewer and broil cubes of extra-firm tofu and serve them with peanut sauce for a vegetarian version of the popular Indonesian street food. The accompanying peanut sauce is filled with exquisite sweet, hot and salty flavors but omits the often-used coconut milk, which is high in saturated fat. This flexible recipe works with tofu or chicken. If serving a group with some vegetarians and some meat eaters, prepare half chicken and half tofu and marinate them separately.

Don't let phyllo dough's fussy reputation put you off: our method of brushing olive oil and sprinkling breadcrumbs between the layers makes this tart actually quite simple to assemble, and helps keep it healthy. It can be served as a main course or cut into smaller pieces and enjoyed as an appetizer.