Forget Pigs in a Blanket—Your Next Party Needs Figs in a Blanket

As much as we love keeping up with the latest food trends, there’s something undeniably appealing about a throwback recipe. Nostalgic and comforting, vintage recipes like cheese balls, deviled eggs, and bacon-wrapped dates, are among our favorite potluck contributions. 

If we had to choose just one retro party recipe that tends to disappear the quickest, it would be pigs in a blanket. For the uninitiated, pigs in a blanket are a kid-friendly cousin of British sausage rolls. They typically feature small pieces of hot dog or Little Smokies wrapped in a “blanket” of puff pastry, biscuit, or crescent roll dough. After being baked to warm the piggies and allow the dough to puff up and get golden brown, pigs in a blanket are often served with ketchup and mustard for dunking. In this instance, pigs do fly—off the platter we share them on!

We adore pigs in a blanket, however, since the vintage recipe is such a staple, there’s always a risk that someone else might bring the recipe to the party. Plus, with more and more folks opting to go gluten-free or eat less or no meat, we are always keeping our eyes open for more inclusive options. Since it’s a thoroughly modern (and vegetarian!) remix of a classic, we immediately stopped scrolling the moment we learned about Figs in a Blanket on social media.

What Are Figs in a Blanket?

Figs in a Blanket is a plant-based twist on pigs in a blanket, featuring figs instead of pigs (hot dogs) in the center. We were originally clued in about the concept of Figs in a Blanket by Lexi Harrison and Beth Sinclair, the mother-daughter duo behind the recipe website Crowded Kitchen. Their 5-ingredient recipe calls for fresh fig halves, which they recommend stuffing with goat cheese and wrapping in prosciutto before baking and drizzling with honey and balsamic glaze. A few weeks later, bestselling cookbook author Justine Doiron (@justinesnacks) entered the chat with her rendition that showcases red wine vinegar-marinated fresh fig halves tucked inside little coats of homemade rye dough.

We took hints of inspiration from both of those viral recipes to create our own Figs in a Blanket formula based on what our editors and Test Kitchen experts are often looking for in the best party snack recipes. Ideally, an appetizer should:

• Be possible to make year-round
• Star budget-friendly, easily accessible ingredients
• Require minimal hands-on time
• Include time-saving shortcuts when possible
• Be either vegetarian or gluten-free (or both)

Our new Figs in a Blanket recipe below checks all of those boxes since we swapped in dried figs for fresh, skipped the prosciutto to keep it plant-based, opted for store-bought puff pastry instead of homemade dough, and adjusted the directions to ensure the marination and baking phases are both steps during which you can set and forget.

Figs in a Blanket Ingredients

A sweet-tangy-spicy combo of red wine vinegar, honey, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (scale this up or down based on how much spice you like) infuse the figs; plumping them up and packing them with flavor. Besides that simmering blend, here are a few notes about what you’ll need.

• Figs: Fresh fig season is fairly short, running from July to August in most parts of the country. Dried figs are always in season and are easy to buy at most supermarkets and online, so that’s what we suggest using for this Figs in a Blanket recipe.
• Puff pastry: Laminated doughs like puff pastry are labor-intensive and often messy to make from scratch. To cut down on prep and clean-up time and make these Figs in a Blanket a cinch to prepare, this is one occasion in which store-bought is more than fine. Grab a package of refrigerated puff pastry at the supermarket to use for Figs in a Blanket. When you’re ready to assemble your appetizers, simply dust a clean surface with flour, roll the sheet of puff pastry into a 12 x 12-inch square, then slice this into 12 strips one way. Slice these in half across, then each of those halves in half to form 48 small strips. A sharp chef’s knife or pizza cutter—and a ruler if you’d like to be precise—make this process a breeze.
• Goat cheese: Seek out a log of semi-soft goat cheese, sometimes labeled as chèvre, rather than a firm goat cheese or goat cheese crumbles. Plain goat cheese is great, however, if you can find honey goat cheese or fig and honey goat cheese, either would be lovely to echo the other ingredients in this easy snack.
• Poppy seeds: After tucking the marinated figs inside their blankets of puff pastry, our Test Kitchen recommends brushing the tops with egg wash to promote browning. If desired, sprinkle with poppy seeds for a little extra flavor and crunch. No poppy seeds? Flaky sea salt is also a delightful finishing touch.

What to Serve With Figs in a Blanket

Figs in a Blanket are a terrific addition to a light appetizer party spread. At occasions like this with 10 or fewer guests who will be enjoying dinner later on, we typically plan on 3 different appetizer selections. We like to pair warm with chilled; meaty with plant-forward to offer enough variety.

Figs in a Blanket give a nod to one of our favorite charcuterie board pairings: fig jam with goat cheese on a cracker or crostini. We prefer to complement rather than duplicate ingredients as part of a cohesive, crowd-pleasing snack spread, so items like meatballs and a dip (plus dunkers) would be lovely to round things out.

If you’re planning a wine pairing, a dry sparkling wine like Crémant or a light red wine like Pinot Noir or Sangiovese play nicely with Figs in a Blanket.