How to Make THE BEST Charcuterie Board (2024)

Discover creative and unique charcuterie board ideas for putting together meats, cheeses, and all the touches to make it perfect! This is the ultimate guide for making a beautiful, easy charcuterie platters, perfect for entertaining.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Blue Diamond®. The opinions and text are all mine.

What to Put on a Charcuterie Board

Looking for ideas of what to put on a charcuterie platter? Make the ultimate charcuterie board using some of these crowd-pleasing favorites!

The amount of meats, cheeses, crackers, fruits, and nuts you put on your charcuterie is going to depend on your budget and the size of your platter. Meats and cheeses are expensive to buy, so to keep it affordable pick a few speciality items and fill out the rest with fruits, jams, honey, crackers, nuts, dried fruits, olives, and pickles.

Aldi offers a great assortment of unique cheeses and meats at a great price. Also head to your grocery store salad bar. You can pick up smaller amounts of olives or fresh feta without buying a pricier larger package.

If you are making a charcuterie for a large crowd, filling the platter with veggies, dip, or hummus can also be an affordable hack.

Finally, look at your local deli. Buy an assortment of quality meats and only purchase the amount you need!

• Meats – hard salami, prosciutto, smoked ham, dry-cured chorizo, Genoa salami, capicola, mortadella, summer sausage
• Cheeses – Choose at least three flavors and textures. Creamy and soft (brie, goat cheese, camembert, burrata, Delice de Bourgogne); Hard cheeses (Pecorino Romano, Grana Padano, Manchego); Semi-Soft (Butterkase, cheddar, gouda, Emmental, Edam, mozzarella, provolone); strong and salty (blue cheese, feta)
• Crackers – I love the Blue Diamond® Almond Nut-Thins® because their artisanal flavor goes perfect with a charcuterie board. Plus they are deceptively gluten free!
• Olives
• Gherkin pickles
• Sweet red cherry peppers
• Jams / Spreads – Fruity, bright jams go perfectly with the cheeses and are the perfect spread for crackers, but mustards work well also.
• Nuts – Almonds, such as Blue Diamond® Gourmet PinkHimalayan Salt Almonds, are always a hit. Pistachios, marcona almonds, walnuts or these 5-minuteCandied Pecans
• Mustards – Stone ground mustard or something spicy like this killer Hot Sweet Mustard recipe goes perfectly with the meats.
• Dried Fruits
• Fresh fruits / Veggies – sliced apples, pears, grapes, berries, grapes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, or sundried tomatoes
• Honey or fresh honeycomb

How Do I pronounce it?

We’ve all seen this word, but can we all say it? Say it with me…[shahr-koo-tuh–ree] See, it’s kind of fun to roll off the tongue. Now you sound like a total baller.

In France, the person who prepares the cured meats is called a charcutier. Charcuterie actually translates to “pork butcher shop.”

What is a Charcuterie Platter?

Perhaps you’re less concerned with how to say it, and more interested in what the heck you’re saying.

Charcuterie is the craft of preparing smoked and cured meats for preservation and flavor. Typical charcuterie meats are salami, ham, bacon, sausages, and pates.

The learned method of preparing charcuterie has turned into a modern day entertainer’s dream. They are popular for parties and trendy restaurants commonly feature chef’s choice meat and cheese boards.

A selection of meats and cheeses are often accompanied by other yummy bites such as almonds, olives, gherkin pickles, jams, and spreads. Adding all the extra touches to the platter is what takes it from a meat and cheese tray to a lovely showpiece!

These platters are perfect for entertaining because guests are free to graze and mingle, and would make a great addition at a wine tasting party or game day party!

See Also

30+ Unique Charcuterie Board Ideas and Themes - Homebody Eats19 Best Bread for Charcuterie Board with Easy Pairing Ideas - Handmade Healthy15 charcuterie board ideas to take your dinner parties to the next levelOur Favorite Charcuterie Boards for Every Holiday

Where to Get the Ingredients

I’m always a fan of a one-stop shop so all of my ingredients came from Walmart. They carry everything for a gourmet charcuterie board – cured meats, gourmet cheeses, and other charcuterie bites such asBlue DiamondGourmet Pink Himalayan Salt Almonds and Almond Nut-Thins.

Walmart is also the perfect place to grab any other party necessities, such as platters, dishes, glasses, cheese knives, and table decor.

Blue Diamond Almond Nut-Thins are my go-to cracker because they were the first gluten-free product I loved that didn’t taste gluten-free. Everyone gobbles them up feeling guilt-free, and they can be used forholiday parties, game watching, dips, small bites, and snack bowls.

How to Make the Best Charcuterie Board

Building the best charcuterie board platter is easy with this step-by-step tutorial! The platter will be the showpiece appetizer, but if you’d like to make dips to go with it, Baked Ricotta and Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip will pair with the meat, cheeses, fruits, and crackers perfectly!

1. First pick your platter. It can be a tray or large serving platter. Keep in mind you want the charcuterie to look full and bountiful, so don’t pick too large of a platter. Place something on it with height to make it more visually appealing – a centerpiece of sorts to create around. Pile up a mound of grapes or fill a glass with crackers.

2.Add the cheeses and small dishes of spreads or dips to the tray. Disperse the spreads or place them next to a cheese to accompany it. Setting the cheeses out first also helps serve the cheese optimally, with the chill taken off.

3.Add the meats to the tray. Play with the shapes of the meats – slices, rolls, triangles, or loose bunches to make it more visually appealing.

4.Fill in all the nooks and crannies with small snacks, like nuts, sliced fruit, crackers, olives, gherkin pickles, or dried fruit. If you are adding any crudite, such as carrots, cucumbers, sliced radishes, they can be placed on the platter now as well.

5.Finish off by placing serving utensils in the cheeses and garnish with greenery. I used fresh herbs from my garden, but you could also use edible flowers, add trinkets from a holiday (such as small Christmas ornaments, candy corn, jellybeans), sprinkle capers around, or use dried fruits for a touch of color.

Additional Tips and Ideas

• Consider your pairings. If you are including spicy meats or cheeses, have something sweet to go with it, such as fresh honeycomb, fruits, or jams.
• Include items that will appeal to a variety of tastes and preferences. Salami will be a familiar meat, while mortadella or capicola might be something people haven’t tried before.
• When considering how much to buy, use 2 ounces per guest as a guideline. Buy 2 ounces of meat and 2 ounces of cheese per person for a small plate.
• The entire platter recipe can be prepared ahead of time, wrapped and refrigerated until ready to serve. However, save slicing fruits right before serving.
• Cheese is best served not ice cold, so allow about 15 minutes for it to sit out before serving.
• To keep your charcuterie board affordable pair speciality cheeses with more common ones. It will fill out the platter and, trust me, guests enjoy it all!

Charcuteries don’t have to be just a meat and cheese board! Dessert boards make fun additions for entertaining, holiday parties, or celebrations. Check out HOW TO MAKE A DESSERT BOARD for ideas, themes, and styling tips. ⬇️

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