If you love a DIY spooky season you're in the right place. We love DIY Halloween decorations and DIY Halloween costumes. That's why we've come up with several different approaches to make fake blood for Halloween. Whether you need to add some realistic detail to your zombie costumes or you're in charge of making some blood-splattered walls for the haunted house. Our mad scientists have been hard at work on selecting ingredients and products that will create the most realistic bloody props.
We take Halloween just as seriously as you do, which is why we've gone ahead and concocted recipes that ensure the right texture and color for your epic Halloween costumes. After all, if you're making fake guts and scabs, you've got to bring your A-game. Luckily, fake blood of all kinds can be made with a few household ingredients, like corn syrup and food dye. Test a few options out now so you're ready when it's time to get to work.
Want to get into the Halloween spirit? Watch your favorite Halloween movie, make a frightful snack or get inspo for your next pumpkin-carving session.
How to Make Fake Blood for Dripping and Splattering
This clean, runny blood is perfect is for dripping and splattering. Plus, it was the easiest to make of all the recipes we tested.
- Combine 1 cup corn syrup with 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup in a bowl.
- Stir in red food coloring until you get a blood-like color. We used about 8 drops.
HERSHEY'S Chocolate Syrup
How to Make Fake Blood Without Coloring: Substitute beet or pomegranate juice in place of the food dye. You can also try red Kool-Aid or Jell-O powder, tomato paste, fruit punch or strawberry syrup.
How to Make Fake Blood for Clothes
This darker, viscous blood is ideal for smearing (á la the shower curtain scene in Psycho). It also can look really drippy without actually running all over the place. To make dried blood on clothes or surfaces, just heat it with a hair dryer after applying.
This blood includes detergent and IS NOT edible, so avoid putting it directly on skin. It's great and ghastly for splattering a Carrie-like prom gown or a lab coat for a mad scientist.
- Combine 2/3 cup chocolate syrup and 1/3 cup Tide laundry detergent in a liquid measuring cup.
- Stir in 4 to 6 teaspoons red food coloring.
HERSHEY'S Chocolate Syrup
Tide Liquid Laundry Detergent
OXO Liquid Measuring Cups
How to Make Fake Guts
To simulate the texture of guts, you can use anything from chunky peanut butter to oatmeal. We took it to the max by adding thin strips of tissue paper, which best mimicked the gruesome look of vital organs.
- Prepare either fake blood recipes (above).
- Tear thin strips of tissue paper.
- Stir into the blood until you've reached your desired texture.
HERSHEY'S Chocolate Syrup
Tissue Paper
How to Make Fake Scabs
This was our favorite and the most realistic looking blood mixture. It will darken slightly as it dries and the texture gets better as it sits, so feel free to make it about an hour ahead of time. Adding onion flakes gives just the right chunky texture to give the appearance of scabs. Gagging yet?
- Combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 tablespoon onion flakes, 4 teaspoons water, 1 teaspoon corn syrup and 4 drops red food coloring in a bowl.
- Clump it onto your skin and let dry.
McCormick Minced Onions
Susan (she/her) is the recipe editor at Good Housekeeping, where she pitches ideas, parses words, and produces food content. In the Test Kitchen, she cooks (and samples!) recipes, working with developers to deliver the best written versions possible. A graduate of Brown University and a collaborator on several cookbooks, her previous experience includes stints at Food & Wine, Food Network, three meal kit companies, a wine shop in Brooklyn and Chez Panisse, the pioneering restaurant in Berkeley, California. She enjoys playing tennis, natural wines and reality competition shows.
