Easy, super tasty, and so fun, this Spooky Halloween Dirt Pudding Recipe is perfect for your next Halloween party! Loaded with layers of oreo cookie dirt, cream cheese chocolate pudding, and decorated with hand-crafted cotton candy ghosts, this oreo dirt cake will stand out on your dessert table.
❤️ Why you will love this recipe
- Easy dessert: A lot of the ingredients for this recipe can be bought ready to use making it a great recipe to throw together quickly.
- No-bake dessert: No oven is needed for this recipe! You don’t really even need to use the stove unless you make your own cool whip.
- Customizable: Decorate the top of the dessert with your favorite Halloween treats! Gummy candies, candy eyeballs, Halloween Sprinkles, cotton candy ghosts, candy corn, and candy pumpkins are all great options.
- So much fun! This easy dirt pudding recipe is whimsical, colorful, and so much fun to make, decorate, and admire!
🗝️ Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Oreos: Crushed oreo cookies are added to the top and bottom of the dirt pudding. It looks perfectly like dirt! I used gluten-free Oreos, however, regular would be just fine too or substitute other chocolate cookies.
- Butter: Butter is mixed with the Oreos to give it more flavor. Salted or unsalted will both work.
- Instant Pudding: Jello instant pudding mix is ideal. If you live in the UK, use Angel Delight. I chose 2 packets of chocolate pudding, however french vanilla pudding is often substituted. Butterscotch pudding is also a great option. Use a mixture of 2 flavors if desired!
- Milk: Whatever milk you have on hand! I used oat milk this time. It’s my favorite.
- Cool whip: Use either cool whip or make your own like I did, using heavy cream, gelatin, and sweetener or confectioners’ sugar. It was really easy.
- Cream Cheese: I used full-fat cream cheese, but reduced fat would be a good substitute for a lighter version.
- Decorations: Instead of gummy worms I added Haribo Twin Snakes which look a bit like 2 headed snakes popping out of the dirt pudding. Next, I sprinkled Halloween sprinkles and candy eyes and also made cotton candy ghosts. You could also make tombstone cookies with a tombstone cookie cutter to turn this into a graveyard dirt cake and add candy pumpkins.
👻 How to make this Halloween Dirt Pudding Recipe
1. Dirt layer: Begin by crushing the chocolate cookies. You can crush them in a food processor or pop them in a ziplock bag and roll them over with a rolling pin. The crushed cookies should be fine crumbs when you’re finished rolling. Next, melt the butter and then add the oreo crumbs. Mix them together well.
2. Cool whip: If you’re making homemade cool whip, begin by sprinkling the gelatin over cold water in a saucepan. Allow it to bloom for 2-3 minutes before turning on the heat. Stir it until the water looks clear again and remove it from the heat. In a large bowl, whip together the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer or stand mixer until soft peaks form. Drizzle the gelatin mixture slowly down the side of the bowl while whipping until it’s fully mixed in and is it bit more firm. Place it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
3. Pudding: In a medium mixing bowl, add milk to the instant pudding and whisk until smooth. Set it aside in the fridge.
4. Cream Cheese: In a large mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together with a hand mixer until it’s fully blended.
5. Mix the puddings: Pour the creamy chocolate pudding mixture over the cream cheese mixture and stir it all together. Then fold in the cool whip.
6. Layering: In a 9×13 dish, begin by adding a layer of half of the oreo cookie crumbs followed by the chocolate pudding layer, and topped with the remaining oreo cookie crumbs.
7. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
8. Decorate: Right before serving, decorate the pudding by adding gummy worms, gummy twin snakes, candy eyes, Halloween sprinkles, and cotton candy ghosts.
How to make cotton candy ghosts
It’s best to make these right before you serve the dirt pudding as they tend to absorb the moisture in the air and disappear leaving their eyes behind in about an hour!
With clean, dry hands, take a pinch of cotton candy. Look at the shape and turn it gently to where you think the head should be. Smooth the edges to form the ghost shape. I just smooth the top of the head and leave the bottom a little ragged. Make all of the ghost shapes before adding the eyes. Add candy eyes by placing a teeny tiny amount of water on the back of the eye and sticking it on the ghost.
🫙 Storage Instructions
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. The cotton candy ghosts will not keep for longer than around an hour, especially in humid climates because they attract the moisture in the air and dissolve.
🪄 Recipe Notes & Tips
- Halloween Dirt Pudding Cups: You can turn this recipe into Halloween Graveyard Dirt Cups by layering the dirt dessert recipe in individual cups. Place a tbsp of oreo cookie crumbs at the bottom of each cup. Divide the pudding between the dessert cups and then add another tbsp of oreo cookie crumbs on top of the dirt cup. If you have extra crumbs, divide them between the cups. Add a ghost, gummy worm or snake, candy eyes, and sprinkles to each cup to complete the graveyard pudding cups.
- Careful when making the ghosts: Your hands need to be very dry when handling the cotton candy or the ghosts will disintegrate. When you place them on the Halloween dirt cake, try to allow them to only touch the oreo cookie crumbs and not the homemade pudding or they will dissolve. Make them just before serving as they tend to absorb the moisture in the air and disintegrate. Luckily, they only take a few minutes to throw together!
Expert tip on pudding mixes: Choose 1 or 2 of your favorite flavors of jello pudding or angel delight. Some of my favorites are vanilla, pumpkin spice, chocolate, butterscotch, cookies ‘n cream, and coconut cream.
🎃 More Halloween recipes you will love
- Halloween Mac-O-Lanterns (Mac & Cheese)
- Halloween Witch Popcorn Balls
- Frankenstein Avocados
- Halloween Strawberries
- 75 Kid-Friendly Halloween Recipes
Have you made this recipe? I’d love to know <3 Tag me on Facebook and Instagram, Pin it on Pinterest, and please leave a star rating review below! Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list (top right of this page) for sparkly new recipes in your inbox.
Halloween Dirt Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 14oz packages Oreos (gluten-free or regular)
- 6 Tablespoons butter melted
- 2 packets or small boxes instant pudding sugar-free or regular (see note 1)
- 830 ml 3.5 cups milk of your choice
- 226 g 8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar or sweetener
- 350 g 12oz cool whip, store bought or homemade (see below)
- Decorations: Cotton candy candy eyes, gummy worms or Haribo twin snakes, halloween sprinkles, candy pumpkins, etc.
Homemade Cool Whip (optional)
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
- 300 ml heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar or sweetener
Instructions
- Dirt layer: Begin by crushing the chocolate cookies. You can crush them in a food processor or pop them in a ziplock bag and roll them over with a rolling pin. The crushed cookies should be fine crumbs when you're finished rolling. Next, melt the butter and then add the oreo crumbs. Mix them together well.
- Homemade cool whip (optional): If you're making cool whip, begin by sprinkling the gelatin over cold water in a saucepan. Allow it to bloom for 2-3 minutes before turning on the heat. Stir it until the water looks clear again and remove it from the heat. In a large bowl, whip together the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Drizzle the gelatin mixture slowly down the size of the bowl while whipping until it's fully mixed in. Place it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
- Pudding: In a medium mixing bowl, add milk to the instant pudding and whisk until smooth. Set it aside in the fridge.
- Cream Cheese: In a large mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together with a hand mixer until it's fully blended.
- Mix the puddings: Pour the creamy chocolate pudding mixture over the cream cheese mixture and stir it all together. Then fold in the cool whip.
- Layering: In a 9×13 dish, begin by adding a layer of half of the oreo cookie crumbs followed by the chocolate pudding layer, and topped with the remaining oreo cookie crumbs.
- Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.
- Decorate: Right before serving, decorate the pudding by adding gummy worms, gummy twin snakes, candy eyes, Halloween sprinkles, and cotton candy ghosts.
How to make cotton candy ghosts:
- With clean, dry hands, take a pinch of cotton candy. Look at the shape and turn it gently to where you think the head should be. Smooth the edges to form the ghost shape. I just smooth the top of the head and leave the bottom a little ragged. Make all of the ghost shapes before adding the eyes. Add candy eyes by placing a teeny tiny amount of water on the back of the eye and sticking it on the ghost.
Notes
- Pudding mixes: Choose 1 or 2 of your favorite flavors of jello pudding or angel delight. Some of my favorites are vanilla, pumpkin spice, chocolate, butterscotch, cookies ‘n cream, and coconut cream.
- Careful when making the ghosts: Your hands need to be very dry when handling the cotton candy or the ghosts will disintegrate. When you place them on the Halloween dirt cake, try to allow them to only touch the oreo cookie crumbs and not the homemade pudding or they will dissolve. Make them just before serving as they tend to absorb the moisture in the air and disintegrate. Luckily, they only take a few minutes to throw together.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. The cotton candy ghosts will not keep for longer than around an hour, especially in humid climates because they attract the moisture in the air and dissolve.
- Halloween Dirt Pudding Cups: You can turn this recipe into Halloween Graveyard Dirt Cups by layering the dirt dessert recipe in individual cups. Place a tbsp of oreo cookie crumbs at the bottom of each cup. Divide the pudding between the dessert cups and then add another tbsp of oreo cookie crumbs on top of the dirt cup. If you have extra crumbs, divide them between the cups. Add a ghost, gummy worm or snake, candy eyes, and sprinkles to each cup to complete the graveyard pudding cups.