Charcuterie and cheese boards look impressive, but they’re surprisingly easy to make! I’ll show you how to make a charcuterie board with a variety of meats, cheeses, and accompaniments for a party or snack.
An Epic Charcuterie Board Is Easier Than You Think!
Charcuterie and cheese boards are my go-to for super chill, no stress year-round entertaining. With a little bit of planning and creativity, you can create a stunning and tasty appetizer that will impress your guests, whether you are entertaining for 4 or 40 people. Load up your charcuterie boards with all your favorite cheeses, cured meats, fruit, nuts and spreads. Add a salad platter, veggie platter or a pasta salad, some wine and baguettes, and you have yourself a meal!
What to Add to a Charcuterie Board
The most important part of a charcuterie board is the selection of meats and cheeses. Choose a variety of textures and flavors to provide balance and interest. Then, to add more flavor and texture, consider adding some accompaniments like olives, pickles, nuts, fruit, and crackers or bread.
Why Charcuterie Boards Are My Favorite Party Trick
Charcuterie boards are easy to assemble and can be customized to fit any occasion or dietary preference. They look so fancy and are always a staple in my house when I have a party that I serve along with hot and cold dips, sangria, and more appetizers like my avocado shrimp salad. Here’s why it works:
- Visually stunning: Charcuterie boards are a feast for all the senses, starting with the eyes. They just look so beautiful, like edible art. They instantly draw the eye to the table.
- Something for everyone: I love that charcuterie boards have such a wide variety of items, everyone can find something they like.
- Simple to make: I’ll show you how to make a beautiful charcuterie board, step-by-step. The best part is that if you don’t like how it looks, you can always start again!
- Scale up or down: Sometimes I even make a charcuterie board for one to have as a snack or lunch! On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can get a huge board and make something big enough to feed a large event.
Cured meats: Prosciutto, genoa salami, chorizo, sopressata, ham, and cured sausages are all classic choices for a charcuterie board. If you live near an Italian deli or market, that’s a great source for creating an impressive selection!
Cheese: Choose a variety of textures and flavors. A few soft options are brie, burrata and camembert. For firm cheese options, try cheddar, manchego, Parmesan and gouda. Be sure to add some creamy options too like creamy blue cheese, gorgonzola or goat cheese. My personal favorite hard cheese is Bella Vitano Merlot. If your grocery store has a cheese monger, they can help you with your selection and maybe even introduce you to some new varieties!
Accompaniments: Olives, pickles, cornichons, nut, and pickled vegetables are all great options. I love using the olive bar at my grocery store; in addition to olives, they have marinated cheeses, pickled veggies, roasted red peppers, and other fun add-ons for charcuterie and cheese boards.
Fruit: Choose whatever fresh fruit is in season. Some options are grapes, raspberries, blueberries, pears, sliced apples, figs, strawberries or raspberries. I like keeping grapes in bunches for visual appeal; smaller bunches are great for filling in gaps on the board. You can also opt for dried fruit such as dried apricots or cranberries.
Fresh Herbs: Herbs that don’t wilt such as rosemary or thyme make a beautiful addition to a board for color and visual appeal. They’re another item that’s good for filling in empty spaces and also for adding texture.
Spreads and dips: Hummus (like my Carrot Hummus), tapenade, honey, and other spreads and dips can add flavor and variety to your board. I love adding this Whipped Feta Dip too, which is always a crowd-pleaser at parties.
Vegetables: Roasted vegetables, such as bell peppers, eggplant, and zucchini, add color and flavor to the board. In the summer, I also like to include crisp raw vegetables like cherry tomatoes on the vine, cucumbers, carrots, and radishes.
Crackers and bread: Add these as a base for serving cheeses and spreads. I include both regular and gluten-free options so there’s something for everyone.
How to Arrange a Charcuterie and Cheese Board
Once you’ve selected your meats, cheeses, and accompaniments, it’s time to start arranging them on the board.
- Choose your board: Use a large platter, cutting board, slate cheese board, marble slab, etc.
- Start with the larger items: If you have anything in bowls, that will go first. Otherwise, add meats and cheeses to the board first.
- Fill in the gaps: Add any smaller accompaniments. Consider the visual appeal of the board as you arrange the items, using different heights, colors and textures to create a cohesive and attractive display.
- Serve and enjoy: Once your charcuterie board is assembled, it’s time to serve! Make sure to provide knives for slicing the meats and cheeses, as well as plates for guests to use.
More Meat and Cheese Board Tips
- More is more: You don’t want empty spaces or gaps on a charcuterie and cheese board. We’re going for a look of abundance here, so fill every empty spot with something, even if it’s just a sprig of herbs or a small bunch of grapes.
- Play with shapes: Slice the cheeses differently, with some in cubes, others in triangles, and still others in thin slices. Do the same with the meats—get creative and make some rosettes or thread ribbons of prosciutto onto skewers. This adds more visual interest.
- Add height: Don’t just look at your board from above when you’re making it! Look at it from the side too since that’s how your guests will first see it when they walk into the room. Bowls and stacks help add another dimension to your board.
- Use a variety of colors: It’s easy to create a charcuterie board that’s all orange, white, shades of pink, and brown. Be intentional about adding pops of color with fruits, vegetables, and spreads.
Make-Ahead Game Plan
If I’m making a charcuterie and cheese board ahead of time for a party, I add anything to the board that can be refrigerated without compromising its texture or flavor: cheeses, most fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. Crackers, breads, dried fruits, and nuts I set aside in a separate container so I can layer them onto the board just before serving.
More Boards You May Love
How to Make a Charcuterie and Cheese Board
Ingredients
- variety of sliced cured meats and salumi such as Sweet Sopressata, salami, proscuitto, pepperoni
- variety of soft and hard cheese options such a Brie, Havarti, Gouda, Mozzarella, Provolone, Blue Cheese, etc.
- cured olives and colorful antipasti
- roasted and fresh veggies on the side, optional
- spreads, jams and mustards with with a variety of crackers and bread sticks
- a colorful variety of fresh and dried fruit such as grapes, berries, and dried fruit
- variety of nuts , such as pignoli, pistachios and almonds
- fresh herb sprigs such as mint or rosemary
Instructions
- Grab a large platter or two, you can use cutting boards, ceramic platters, slate cheese boards, marble slabs, etc.
- Artfully arrange where you want your cheese selection and jars, bowls of olives, jams, and antipasti to go, then place varieties of meat slices and rolled up meats around.
- Scatter crackers and bread sticks to fill up space, then add your fruit, nuts, and herbs to make keep the colors balanced and beautiful.
Looks like lots of choices. Salad bars could even help out for smaller amounts.
I like to make “dessert charcuterie” boards with lots of fresh fruit, cheese, sweet and savory crackers, and chocolates.
This is wonderful. I nev Er know where to begin!
Highest 10!
Love this! A great help for my Christmas Eve entertaining
I was able to learn some things here to help me feel successful in building a charcuterie board for the first time on New Year’s Eve. Thank you. I am looking forward to building another one in the near future!
can you make the night before?
You can prep a lot of it the night before, slice cheeses and meats and refrigerate but I wouldnt assemble until the day of.
This is lovely! How many people does it serve? I’m trying to make one for a friend’s bridal shower and need HELP!!! Thanks a bunch!
Killin’ me. Just move along if it isn’t to your liking – no one recipe or presentation will, or is meant, to please everyone.
I love this. Exactly what should be on a Charcuterie board. My hubby went to our local international market (and was unsupervised) and bought 400.00 worth of cheese and dips and spreads! So we are going g with a board for Christmas Day for the family. It will be an appetizer kind of Christmas meal! With him being less than a week out from a total knee replacement here in Florida….this will be perfect. Now I just need to incorporate some vegan options for me and we got this! Love this idea for family. A nice Cabernet and some mimosas! Woo hoo!
I’m bringing a charcuterie tray for Thanksgiving…for people who just love a good macaroni and cheese (i.e. people who just like basic stuff). I’ve always wanted to make charcuterie, but I want to bring something that they will eat and enjoy, without being too fancy.
What I have so far is a Camembert, an aged Irish Cheddar and some Boursin. Sliced meats are a pepper salami, hot capicollo and hot Calabrese, along with some unspiced ham. I’ll serve this with some Triscuits, pita crackers, and some cheesy layered crackers that are good on their own. Should I add more crackers or baguettes? I’ve got some grilled veggies and some marinated artichoke hearts. I plan to scatter some roasted almonds and dried apricots, and some cherry tomatoes. Am I at all on track, or am I overreaching?
I think it sounds great!
Your new Yorker stuff is too fancy for me. Living on the Southend of the Smokey mountains.. closest store for your fancy stuff is like 65 miles in either direction. Looks good but I’m going to stick with lots of meats and cheeses, but not the fancy stuff. Good luck New Yorker, we’ll have lots of fun with middle America foods. And some home brews. Sorry your detached from the real America.
Lol your comment is beyond rude… sorry that Gina didn’t know that you live 65 miles from your closest grocery store…. the title of the post is EPIC CHARCUTERIE AND CHEESE BOARD – what did you expect?!
Wow, you sound like a wonderful, open minded human. It’s a CHARCUTERIE BOARD, relax. Keep your unnecessarily rude comments to yourself and enjoy the holiday.
This is such a weird comment. This recipe looks great – I live in middle America and have made these boards many times… and they always turn out great. I also love basic “meats and cheeses” that aren’t necessarily fancy.
And home brews.
Gatekeeping anyone’s culinary tastes is pretty far off what I consider the “real America” to be.
Also, it’s “you’re” not “your”
Cheers mate.
Come on Joe. A little culture never hurt anyone.
May your attitude cheer up for the new year! ✨💫
clearly another disgruntled, miserable person in this world with disdain for New Yorkers. its a cheese and meat board — get over yourself and enjoy it.
Dude, I literally got everything for my New Year’s Eve Charcuterie board at Aldi’s. In case you don’t know, that’s a “middle America” discount grocery store. They have a great selection of artisan cheeses & meats, both imported & local, as well as lots of various types of imported spreads, jams, artisan crackers, pita chips, etc. They also have plenty of non “fancy” cheeses & meats. You certainly don’t have to be rich or fancy to make one of these. 🙄
No fancy food required.
Simple cheeses, ham. Pepperoni
Any pickled veggies
Various nuts, maybe a homemade jam and baquette(also easy to make!)
I guess “haters goin’ hate”
Tennessee or Georgia? Wow, up until this point everyone I knew from Tennessee was gracious, kind, smart, funny and open to new experiences. You must be from North Carolina. Trying new things and being open to new experiences is the real America. Sorry you are (you’re) missing out on a lot of America that doesn’t fit your particular worldview. Enjoy your cheddar and bologna!
I had to go back and read the description to see if it said anywhere that you could find all these ingredients at any grocery store EVER. Nope. Doesn’t say that. Your comment would suggest she included a picture of her holding up a finger to middle America on a map.
It’s meat, cheese, dried fruits and jam. There’s absolutely NOTHING confrontational about suggesting how and what to place on a board of meat, cheese, dried fruits and jam.
I’m surprised JOE has internet considering he lives so far out in the sticks. What was the inside of the capital building like?
Presentation looks great! I like all those things!
Midwesterner here and the way I read this recipe was that you can add whatever to a charcuterie board. Pick your meat, cheese, nuts etc all or nothing or as you said in your most hick voice meat and cheese is your choice. Bon appétit🤠
Joe where are you really from, I’ll bet not from the Smoky Mountains. Sounds like an angry New Yorker.
Nasty, miserable haters will always exist. One might wish they’d keep their vitriolic comments to themselves but, alas, that’s impossible to mandate. Feel free, Joe, to fill your platter with your cheese spray from a can and round it out with all the squirrels and possums you can shoot-you know, a real “non New York feast”.
The charcuterie board trend is pretty awesome! I grew up in an old-world Italian household, with three generations under one roof! My Grandmother would make a “charcuterie board” for us an an after school snack as young as when we were in elementary school! Cheeses, meats, Italian bread, Stella D’Oro breadsticks, dried figs (she dried them herself using fresh figs her fig bush), homemade jam, flavored EVOO for dipping the bread or breadsticks and grapes. There were three of us kids (and my Mom and Grandmom would snack with us, too!) so it wasn’t a HUGE board (it was just a snack, after all), but we had it several times a week as a snack and the BIG board was out for the family Sunday dinners which had a lot of other stuff the “kids” didn’t like just yet! Every time I see a pic of one of these it reminds me of my Grandmother and all the great memories I have of her. I miss that woman!!!
Those are the best kind of memories!
This looks beautiful! I am making this for Thanksgiving!
I found a great wood board at World Market today along with packages with a variety of charcuterie. I’m grabbing some olives and anti pasta from the bar at my grocery store along with some cheese and fillers! I’m literally going to just copy what you did to make it so pretty 🙂
🙂
Hi Gina, what about crackers?! That’s always my challenge! Thanks!
I buy a variety!
Love this article! My problem is finding quality cheeses in small quantities. I don’t know of a cheese shop or deli that has “exotic” cheeses they will cut. Am having a “tinto de verano”-summer wine, less time consuming than Sangria party this week-end so will use your suggestions. Salud!
Thank you for your great inspiration. Great pictures, great recipes. Greetings from Berlin
I’m loving your board too! And the combination of meats, cheeses, spreads, fruits, etc. here is delectable!
Thanks also for sharing the great visual on how to make the perfect cheese plate. This helps me know how to better organize my boards.
What I love most about cheese boards is the simplicity and selection and how it can be thrown together at a moments notice. 🙂
Looks delicious, as usual! Quick question: do you have any advice on sliced meats I could offer that aren’t beef or pork? My family and I gave up eating beef and pork a couple of years ago but still eat poultry, fish, etc. and I SO miss putting together charcuterie and cheese boards. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!
I’ve seen boards with chicken jerky, and you could add some sliced turkey ham and turkey pastrami. Smokes salmon would also be a great addition!
I think everything jammed onto one board especially with banana chips is too much for our preference. We’re a family of chefs from the CCA (California Culinary Academy in San Francisco with twenty years under our belts) so we’re pretty picky about palate and presentation. You’re recipes are usually great and have helped me be a chef based on my full guilt recipes at work and not guilt recipes at home thanks to you. Always nice for a different perspective when culinary training gets mind set stuck on traditional flavors and expectations. you’re so professional in your presentations usually. Thanks for all you do to inspire us.
So glad my recipes can help balance! Feel free to make them to your liking, of course!
Fun. But boy, that’s a whole lot on one board! I’m thinking dividing it into 2-3 boards based on items may be prettier and more themed. Just a personal preference for a cleaner appearance. Thanks for the inspiration though.
I can’t wait to make this for my next party. Where can I buy the lovely wooden tray shown in the picture.
Gina, I enjoy so many of your recipes and food preparations and suggestions. However, these boards featuring charcuterie are loaded with processed and highly salted preserved meats . Some of the lower fat cheeses are more healthful as are any raw veggies — not so much the pickled ones. Eating a few well chosen items from a cheese board is fine for an appetizer, but to make an entire meal out of it is not exactly healthful eating.
sigh…
Charcuterie boards are usually meant as an appetizer, not a whole meal. Maybe they would serve well at a wine party. And no one said they are healthy! People who want to eat healthy can pick and choose what they like. Sheila, I hope you enjoy the food you like, and will offer your guests food they will like too.
i would like to make a platter for a gluten free friend.. what did you use on that platter that was different? I am not gluten free so I was just curious
We subbed out the bread sticks and crackers for gluten-free options.
Oh Gina!!! Thank you so much! I am having a family reunion next month and this will be a huge success. Thank you also for the discount code. I just placed my order and saved $28 thanks to you!!! You are amazing!
That’s great Kristine! Enjoy!
Yay!! Kiss your friends at DeLallo for giving us a coupon code 🙂 🙂 I’m excited!
I will!!
You don’t happen to have a coupon code that isn’t expired, do you?
Gorgeous board!
thanks!
What size is your Boos cutting board? I love this idea and I love charcuterie!
Sorry I wish I knew the size.
I love it. It’s gorgeous with so many flavors. It also looks like it would be pretty expensive to make.
Yes, def for special ocassions.
I love cheese and meat boards but I struggle with their high fat and calorie content. Any ways to make this more skinny?
They are certainly meant for sharing and picking at, but yes serve up some salads and roasted and raw veggies!
This is so helpful! I always have trouble finding the right assortment and this is wonderful!
great!
These boards are my favourite because its got everything on it, and you can mix and match what ever you or your party goes like. I also love how you can have salty and sweet and meat and cheese at your will, it’s like the best PMS board ever!!!
🙂
My husband and I are drooling already. Great to have fresh ideas.
Hey Gina! I recently started weight watchers and I love using your recipes for it. I love how on your website you show how many points each recipe is per serving. My problem is, I have your cookbook and it doesn’t have the points in them! Is there an easy way to figure out the points?! Thanks!!
There is a tab on the website for cookbook, click on it and scroll down, the SP are listed. 🙂
I love cheese boards. I call them snack plates. Every bite is a different flavor. Mix and match. Love love love them.