Holiday Charcuterie Board

A charcuterie board is the perfect addition to your holiday gatherings. It’s great as an appetizer for guests to snack on while the main meal is being prepared. They are also great to serve with wine as out of town family and friends arrive from a long day of travel. You can even serve a charcuterie board as a full meal.

For our holiday charcuterie board, we started with this beautiful serving tray. You can use any cutting board, platter, plate or any food-safe item you have on hand. The sky is the limit for what to include on a charcuterie board. Here are the items we used for ours:

Holiday Charcuterie Board Meats:

• Hard salami
• Pepperoni – I just used a meat rose tutorial on Youtube to create the pepperoni roses. They are much easier than you think!
• Other popular meats you could add are candied bacon, chorizo, sopressata, or prosciutto, mortadella

Holiday Charcuterie Board Cheeses:

• Brie (you can also top it with fig, apricot or berry jam) cut it in wedges to make it easier for your guests
• Pepperjack cheese looks festive on its own
• Sharp cheddar cracker size cuts – my kids love these so I always try to include them. Sometimes we even cut them in shapes to add a little more seasonal flair like in this post as seen here:

• Manchego – I love the taste of manchego but also love the wedge shape and how when you slice it you can layer it in alternating directions to create the look we did here. I learned this from the queen of charcuterie Nosh Charcuterie

Holiday Charcuterie Board Nuts, breads, crackers:

• Pistachios
• Cranberry walnut bread (from Costco)
• Grilled garlic toasts (from Aldi)
• Multiseed crackers
• Other options could include candied pecans, your favorite gourmet crackers, chocolates

Holiday Charcuterie Board Fruits, vegetables etc:

• Almond stuffed olives
• Mini cucumber slices
• Blackberries, blueberries, strawberries
• Apple slices
• Figs
• Cranberry relish – see this post for the recipe
• Honeycomb – may be available at your grocery store. If not, I ordered this one from Amazon

Tip: For sauces or other items that may run into other items, consider putting them in small bowls. We love these small bowls which we used for the honeycomb, cranberry relish and olives.

Make your board your own with your favorite items. Here are some additional ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• grapes
• almonds, walnuts
• goat cheese logs covered in cranberries or blueberries
• parmesan, muenster, gruyere
• Aldi and Trader Joes have great budget friendly cheese options
• chocolates to add a bite of sweetness
• mustard, hummus

Have fun putting your holiday charcuterie board together! When assembling, it’s best to start with the larger items such as blocks of cheese and items served in bowls, then fill in the spaces around them with the other smaller items. It’s so much fun! Cheese is best served at room temperature so pull your board out of the refrigerator a half hour before serving. The best thing about charcuterie boards is gathering around them with friends and family. Enjoy!