Charcuterie boards, also known as meat and cheese boards, are a delicious and visually appealing way to serve a variety of meats, cheeses, and accompaniments at a party or as a snack.
How To Make a Charcuterie Board
Meat 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 charcuterie board that will impress your guests. You can load them up with all your favorite cheese, cured meats, fruit, nuts and spreads. Add a salad platter, some wine and baguettes and you have yourself a meal!
I co-hosting a blogger retreat with Lexi of Lexi’s Clean Kitchen and Liz of the Lemon Bowl in a beautiful house in Water Mill, NY. Lexi and I made two Charcuterie and Cheese Boards (a gluten-free, allergy-friendly one not pictured here) with lots of hot dips, Sangria, wine, plus avocado shrimp salad, and my Southwestern black bean salad for there arrival.
Charcuterie boards, also known as meat and cheese boards, are a delicious and visually appealing way to serve a variety of meats, cheeses, and accompaniments at a party or as a snack. They are easy to assemble and can be customized to fit any occasion or dietary preference. Here’s how to make your own charcuterie board at home:
How To Make A Charcuterie Board
- Choose your meats and cheeses – 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. Some options to consider include cured meats like prosciutto, salami, and chorizo, soft cheeses like brie and camembert, and hard cheeses like cheddar and gouda.
- Add some accompaniments – Charcuterie boards aren’t just about the meats and cheeses. To add flavor and texture, consider adding some accompaniments like olives, pickles, nuts, fruit, and crackers or bread.
- Arrange the items on the board – Once you’ve selected your meats, cheeses, and accompaniments, it’s time to start arranging them on the board. Start by placing the larger items, like meats and cheeses, on the board first. Then, fill in the gaps with the 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 small dishes or bowls for the accompaniments. Invite your guests to help themselves to the board and enjoy all the delicious flavors.
Charcuterie Board Ideas
There are endless options for what to include on a charcuterie board. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Cured meats: Prosciutto, genoa salami, chorizo, sopressata, ham, and cured sausages are all classic choices for a charcuterie board.
- Cheese: Choose a variety of textures and flavors. A few options are soft brie, burrata and camembert. For firm cheese oprions try cheddar, manchego, Parmesan and gouda. And creamy options like creamy blue cheese or goat cheese. My personal favorite hard cheese is Bella Vitano Merlot.
- Accompaniments: Olives, pickles, cornichons, nuts, baguette slices, bread sticks and crackers are all great options. They add flavor and texture to your charcuterie board.
- Fruit: Choose whatever fresh fruit is in season such as grapes, rasperries, pears, figs, strawberries or raspberries. Or opt for dried fruit such as dried apricots or cranberries.
- Spreads and dips: Hummus, tapenade, and other spreads and dips can add flavor and variety to your board.
- Vegetables: Roasted vegetables, such as bell peppers, eggplant, and zucchini, add color and flavor to the board.
- Specialty items: Consider adding some unique or specialty items to your charcuterie board, like artisanal jams, honey, or mustards.
The key to a successful charcuterie board is to include a variety of flavors and textures, and to arrange the items in a visually appealing way. Have fun experimenting and creating your own unique charcuterie board!
How to Pronounce Charcuterie Board
The word “charcuterie” is pronounced as “shahr-koo-tuh-ree.” The word “board” is pronounced as “bawrd.” So, the phrase “charcuterie board” is pronounced as “shahr-koo-tuh-ree bawrd.”
What region is a Charcuterie Board from?
Charcuterie is the art of preparing and presenting cured meats. It comes from the French words “chair” (meat) and “cuit” (cooked). Charcuterie boards usually have a variety of cured meats, cheese, bread, and other accompaniments. They are popular in France, Italy, Spain, and the US. In France, they are often served as a starter or light meal with wine. Elsewhere, they may be served as part of a meal or as a snack or appetizer at parties or social events.
There really is an art to making photo-worthy, mouth-watering platters. Varying the colors and textures, a variety of meat and cheese options, and lots of fresh items is the secret to success. For a smaller crowd, use smaller boards or platters. If you make one this summer, I want to see, please tag @skinnytaste on Instagram and I will regram the prettiest photos!
How To Make A Charcuterie 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.
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!
Board looks like crap. Did a grade school kid arrange that canned garbage?
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🤠
You people are so rude. I can’t believe it. This is a simple idea; and guide you make your own. I live in fucking Hawai’i. It’s hard to find a lot of these things as well. But I make due with my version of local I gradients and fruits. No need to bash someone on their recipe. Move the fuck along then. Jeez. No wonder mainland America sucks right now, you are all fighting over charcuterie board recipes/ideas! 🙄
Joe where are you really from, I’ll bet not from the Smoky Mountains. Sounds like an angry New Yorker.
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!