5 Simple Charcuterie Board Ideas

Today we are featuring 5 Charcuterie Board Ideas to impress your guests year round. Plus all the top tips and tricks to creating the perfect charcuterie tray every single time!

I think charcuterie is the most perfect appetizer because you can add anything you want and it works!

Below is a list of 5 unique charcuterie board ideas including a Thanksgiving charcuterie board, Christmas, brunch, and even vegan appetizer tray.

Plus tips on putting together the best charcuterie platter and the answer to several FAQs!

How Is Charcuterie Pronounced?

Charcuterie is a French word and there are a couple of main ways it is pronounced. Americans largely pronounce it “sharh-koo-teh-ree” with an emphasis on the “koo” and spoken as if it has four syllables.

However, as far as I’m aware, the correct French pronunciation is “sharh-koo-trih” with three syllables and an emphasis on the “trih”.

What Is a Charcuterie Board?

Charcuterie boards are inspired by the French “charcuterie”, a cooking practice focused on preserved and cured meats like bacon, ham, and sausages along with pates and roulades, etc.

Charcuterie board combines assortment of meats with other ingredients including fruits, vegetables, nuts, cheese, preserves, and bread. Usually served on a large platter making it perfect for serving at dinner parties, special occasions, gatherings, and potlucks.

Tools You Will Need

• Pretty board: There are tons of special charcuterie boards you can buy. However, feel free to use any attractive flat wooden, marble, or slate board you have. There’s no need to buy an expensive charcuterie board specifically. Even baking sheet works!
• Small bowls: Tiny bowls and ramekins for servings dips, sauces and preserves. Also helps things tidy and helps to avoid dry crackers getting soaked with pickle juice.
• Mini utensils: Include plenty of serving tools and utensils like toothpicks, cheese knives, little spoons and mini forks. That way everyone can easily serve and enjoy your charcuterie board ideas.

Ingredients You Will Need

What goes on a charcuterie board? What doesn’t?! Charcuterie board ingredients can be based on the season and a theme, as well as your fridge and pantry contents. And let’s not forget the budget either.

To make the perfect charcuterie plate, it’s best to pair ingredients to contrast and balance taste, texture, and color.

These days you can even make a vegan cheese board as we show below.

Cured meats & seafood: It’s best to select meats ranging from pre-sliced cured meats for salty, savory flavor and harder meats for texture and chew.

Traditional meat includes prosciutto, salami, cured ham, cured beef, chorizo, soppressata, mortadella, etc.

You can also use cold smoked salmon, smoked fish, and shrimp or other smoked proteins.  

Spreadables: This is technically optional but a must-add in this list of charcuterie board ideas. By spreadables, this includes meat products such as Pâté, rillette, and terrine.

Hard cheeses and Soft cheeses: Like the above, it’s best to choose a varied selection of cheeses – mild vs. mature and soft vs. hard cheese.

You can also vary types of cheese by the milk used. For example, cow milk vs. goat milk vs. sheep milk.

Best cheeses include brie cheese, camembert, burrata, soft mozzarella, cheddar cheese, gruyere, gouda, sharp provolone, crumbly feta cheese and goat cheese, hard Parmesan and Manchego, stilton, Roquefort, or blue cheese like gorgonzola.

You can also include cheese spreads like plain cream cheese and flavored soft cheese like Boursin.

Bread & crackers: Next, you’ll need a carrier for the above three. That’s where crackers and bread come in. Avoid cheap crackers when making a DIY charcuterie board and instead use Artisan crackers, crostini, breads, baguette, and more.

Fruits & vegetables: With those main elements out of the way, it’s time for the accompaniments, starting with fruits and vegetables. The ones you use will depend on your other ingredients.

However, there are lots to choose from. Cucumber, celery, bell pepper, olives, apple, grapes, berries, cherries, figs, melon, etc. Pickled vegetables are also often included.

Other accompaniments: Lastly comes all the other odds and ends used to fill in the board and add extra flavor. Jams, spicy jelly, preserves, tapenade, condiments like mustard, honey, and other sauces, dips, nuts, and even chocolate.

How to Make a Charcuterie Board

There are a few steps to making a basic charcuterie board, including selecting ingredients, slicing and arranging them.

People do this in various ways. However, this is the formula I use to help in creating a visually appealing board.

Step 1: Place the Large Items

This will depend on whether you’re mainly using sliced cheese or not. However, at this point, I usually place various cheeses, making sure they’re evenly spread around the board and alternating in terms of shape and size for better visual appeal.

Depending on the size of your board, you can also add any bowls for smaller goodies like olives and dips, and jars of preserves, jams etc. For a large board, I tend to add them now. For smaller one, I add them in step two alongside the meats.

Once again, I like to place these around the board, so nothing is right next to one another, and the tallest items are towards the center of the board, creating visual appeal and depth.

Step 2: Add the Meats

Using the already placed ingredients and jars to help prop meats up. Now it’s time to add meats.

When it comes to creating an interesting charcuterie board, make sure not to lay slices of meat flat. Instead, create visual appeal by rolling, folding, scrunching, and shaping the meats in various ways based on their size and flexibility.

This not only looks great but is easier for your guests to remove, too.

Once again, make sure to spread the options across the board rather than place them all side by side.

Step 3: Add the Crackers and Bread

Make sure not to lay the bread too close to any wet foods but still spread them evenly across the board.

I like to make sure I have at least 2-3 options like baguette slices along with thin crackers or vegetable chips.

Step 4: Place the Fruits, Veggies and Accompaniments

Now it’s time to fill in all the little gaps on the board with fruits, veggies, and different accompaniments.

I recommend making sure to place different colored and shaped ingredients beside one another to spread color across the board.

Add lots of different components, too, for plenty of choices! These really help to boost color and texture!

Make sure not to place anything too wet next to the bread and crackers and use larger fruits like grapes and pomegranate to add height and dimension.

You can then finish off the cheese board with herbs to garnish and any cheese markers, so your guests know exactly what is what.

Tips for Best Results

Here are top 6 tips for the best charcuterie board ideas looking beautiful!

• Using a theme: You don’t have to have a theme for a successful charcuterie board. However, if you don’t know where to begin, then a theme can help. You can create themes based on the season, holidays, color, region, dietary preference, flavor profiles, etc.
• Plan the amount: To avoid waste, it’s a good idea to plan for a number of guests you have to feed. As a general rule, plan on around 3 oz of charcuterie per person for an appetizer or snack and 6 oz when serving as a main. Along with 2-3 slices of bread, some crackers, and a handful of various additions.
• Balance and contrast flavors: Adding a combination of sweet, savory, salty, and spicy components is a sure way to appeal to all and create a balance of flavors. Plus, giving your guests a lot of options almost always leads to success!
• Balance the board: Likewise, balance the boards with different colors, textures, and shapes. Don’t place any components that are too similar in color, shape and size side by side. However, it can be a good idea to place ingredients that pair well beside one another. For example, cheese and grapes.
• Fill the board: In most cases in life, less is more. That’s not the case with classic charcuterie boards. In my experience, a charcuterie board packed with beautiful food and barely any board showing tend to look the best.
• Experiment and have fun: Don’t get too bogged down by the perfect pairings if that’s not what you’re into. Yes, certain meats and cheeses work best together, but you can also just use your general common sense to choose flavors you think works well together. Trial and error are all part of the fun.

1. Simple Charcuterie Board

This traditional charcuterie board takes the simple formula of ingredients above and chooses a selection of each for a simple and delicious treat for any occasion.

• Charcuterie meats: Salami, prosciutto.
• Soft Cheese: Blue cheese, Boursin, brie, Havarti.
• Semi-hard cheese: Gruyere, cheddar, parmesan.
• Bread & Crackers: Baguette, parmesan crisps, crackers.
• Fruits & Vegetables: Two varieties of grapes plus dried fruit, including apricots, dates, figs, and cherries. I also used olives and a selection of pickled vegetables including baby dill pickles and pearl onions.
• Other accompaniments: Olive oil bread dip and a selection of condiments, including any jams, jellies, or honeycomb.

2. Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board

This Thanksgiving charcuterie board takes advantage of holiday variety of meats and seasonal produce paired with classic cheese and ingredients. It is perfect for using up Thanksgiving recipes leftovers, too!

• Charcuterie meats: Honey maple roast turkey, prosciutto.
• Soft Cheese: Blue cheese, brie, Havarti, goat cheese.
• Semi-hard cheese: Gruyere, cheddar, parmesan.
• Bread & Crackers: Mini ciabatta buns, sweet potato and beet chips.
• Fruits & Vegetables: Grapes plus in-season pomegranate, pears, apples, Brussels sprouts. And dried fruit including cranberries, raisins, and figs. I also added pickled veggies like cornichons, stuffed green olives and pearl onions.
• Other accompaniments: Olive oil bread dip, healthy french onion dip, and a selection of condiments like cranberry sauce and Dijon mustard.  

3. Christmas Charcuterie Board

While similar to the Thanksgiving charcuterie board, this Christmas charcuterie board contains breads and ingredients that are popular around Christmas time and can easily be adapted to what you have in your own kitchen.

Add variety of cheeses based on what you selected for a Christmas cheese platter and feel free to use leftover cooked meats and ham.

• Charcuterie meats: Garlic roast beef, prosciutto, and other leftovers like turkey breast or ham.
• Soft Cheese: Blue cheese, brie, Havarti.
• Semi-hard cheese: Gruyere, cheddar, parmesan.
• Bread & Crackers: Stollen, panettone, fruit and nut bread, and sweet potato and beet chips, or other crackers.
• Fruits & Vegetables: Grapes, in-season pomegranate, pears, apples, Brussels sprouts. And dried fruit like cranberries, raisins, and figs. I also added pickled cornichons, olives and pearl onions.
• Other accompaniments: Greek yogurt veggie dip, French onion dip, Dijon mustard, homemade cheese ball and dried nuts like hazelnuts and pistachios. You could also add walnuts or Brazil nuts.

4. Vegan Charcuterie Board

This vegan charcuterie board follows a similar formula with dairy-free and meat-free substitutions. I’ve included more fresh veggies in this board for lots of eat the rainbow ingredients.

This is definitely one of the healthiest charcuterie board ideas!

• Charcuterie proteins: You can use smoked or marinated tofu or tempeh. There are also tons of options for meat alternatives these days.
• Soft cheese: I used dairy-free ricotta. You could also use vegan cream cheese.
• Semi-hard cheese: I used vegan cheddar though you can use the cheese of your liking. These days there are brands that make vegan blue cheese, gouda, and softer options like Camembert and brie.
• Bread & Crackers: Baguette, crackers, and sweet potato and beet chips. Good news, most are vegan by default.
• Fruits & Vegetables: Two varieties of grapes plus dried apricots were added as fruit. In terms of fresh vegetables, I used a selection of fresh cucumber, snap peas, cauliflower, and red cabbage. Plus marinated roasted bell peppers & olives, pickled cornichons and pearl onions, and kimchi.  
• Other accompaniments: Veggie dip, garlic hummus, a handful of nuts (I used pistachios), and condiments including jellies, preserves, and mustard. Swap out for dips and condiments of choice.

5. Brunch Charcuterie Board

This brunch charcuterie board is any brunch-lover’s dream with a combination of sweet and savory elements including bagels, fruits, veggies, smoked salmon, and eggs.  

• Charcuterie proteins: Smoked salmon. I also added sliced hard boiled eggs.
• Soft cheese: Spreadable cheeses like cream cheese, goat cheese and Boursin are great for the bagels.
• Bread: An assortment of sliced bagels that are sweet and savory. I used blueberry bagels and sesame bagels.
• Vegetables: Cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, and avocado slices dipped in lemon juice to keep them green for longer. I also included capers which pair wonderfully with the smoked salmon.   
• Fruits: I paired green and red grapes with a selection of raspberries and blueberries. Other fresh berries like blackberries and sliced strawberries would be great.
• Other accompaniments: I also included some dark chocolate. Add fresh herbs like dill, parsley and mint. You could optionally make a simple honey butter spread for the sweet bagels or serve with various preserves and jams making a great addition to this brunch charcuterie board.

Make Ahead Instructions

I recommend preparing your charcuterie board up to 24 hours in advance and storing it in a refrigerator tightly wrapped with plastic wrap to stop from drying out.

You don’t even have to prepare the entire board in advance. I like to pre-slice the meats and some of the cheese then store in airtight containers.

Avoid adding any fruits that may brown until right before serving.

Storing Leftovers

Once it’s served, it’s best to store any leftovers back in the fridge within 3-4 hours.

You can easily wrap up any whole leftovers like blocks of cheese and salami without them drying out. Transfer any pre-sliced pieces into airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days.

FAQs

More Appetizers

I hope you enjoyed these easy charcuterie board ideas. Here are few or our favorite simple appetizers to make and possibly add to your beautiful charcuterie board.

• Roasted mini peppers
• Cranberry turkey meatballs
• Cranberry cream cheese dip
• Smoked salmon crostini
• Sun dried tomato crostini