How to Create the Perfect Holiday Charcuterie Board with Easy Ideas

Discover creative ways to transform your cutting and serving boards into unique holiday charcuterie boards! These easy ideas are guaranteed to delight your guests. They also offer a wide range of finger foods for your seasonal parties and events with little effort on your part.

An Easy Solution to Holiday Entertaining

If hours spent baking and cooking isn’t how you envisioned preparing for a holiday gathering, then we recommend a holiday charcuterie board. A quick and easy alternative to traditional appetizers and finger foods, a homemade charcuterie board offers a small sampling of delectable, filling snacks for all your guests.
 
We love this simple entertaining solution! It’s quick and effortless to throw together. So, it works just as easily for planned events as it does for impromptu parties!
 
Keep reading to learn how to build the perfect meat and cheese board or dessert tray for the holidays with our easy ideas! After all, feeding people doesn’t have to be complicated.

What is a Charcuterie Board?

Charcuterie boards are quite simply snack boards that serve as finger foods at parties or appetizers. However, they are typically as nutritious and filling as an actual meal. Meant for grazing, they are designed so you can pull them together quickly as a simple entertaining solution. So, they’re the perfect fit for busy lifestyles.
 
Pronounced shahr-kyu-tuh-ree, the word charcuterie originated in France and refers to a collection of cold cooked meats. In turn, a board by this name refers to an assortment of meats, cheeses, breads, fruits, and nuts that are arranged onto a serving board for consumption.

What is a Christmas Charcuterie?

A Christmas charcuterie is essentially the same thing as a regular charcuterie board. The difference is that this version may have a holiday design theme or seasonally edible additions. Much like Halloween, food may be placed onto the board in holiday shapes such as a Santa or a candy cane. Or it may contain Christmas treats like Terry’s chocolate oranges or Christmas cookies with peppermint bark dip.

What Should Go on a Charcuterie Board

There really is not right or wrong way to create a Christmas charcuterie board. While they typically include a variety of meats and cheeses, you can also create a holiday dessert charcuterie board stacked with foods like cookies, apples, cannoli dip and candies in lieu of savory options.
 
Following are some easy ideas on what should go on your holiday charcuterie.

Savory Ideas

To create a savory holiday charcuterie board, we recommend incorporating the following ingredients:
 

• Incorporate a variety of cured meats. This allows you to cater to the different tastes of your guests. We recommend meats such as prosciutto, pepperoni, jamon, salami, pancetta, serrano ham, pastrami, coppa or capocollo, soppressata, and Spanish or Mexican chorizo.
• Don’t skimp on the cheese! Choose several types of both soft and hard cheese that will complement the cured meats you are using. However, you should also make sure you have at least one or two mild cheeses for those who don’t appreciate more pungent types of cheese such as blue cheese or limburger.
• Fresh fruit is also a great choice especially if you’re after a sweet and savory combo. Orange slices, strawberries, dates, figs, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, cherries, and pomegranates go well with meat and cheese and add variety and color to any holiday charcuterie board. You can also include pears or apples, but make sure you dip these in lemon juice first to keep them from browning.
• Condiments are a great way to add fun flavors that compliment your choice of meats and cheeses. We love to include jams and chutney with our selections. However, you can also include one or two types of mustard, a savory jelly, honey or even horseradish.
• Accent your charcuterie with herbs. Fresh sprigs of rosemary, thyme, dill, chives, or tarragon are not only aromatic, but they also make beautiful garnish. And they can be paired with the meats and cheeses for additional flavor.
• Pickled foods, such as pickled onions or other vegetables, are another popular addition. While not necessary, pickled veggies are a great way to add unique flavors to your presentation, along with a variety of colors. We like using not only pickled red onions, but also gherkins, pickled okra, olives, pickled carrots, and pickled mushrooms.
• Spiced or candied nuts are also a great choice for your charcuterie board, especially during the holidays. You can buy these, or make your own, to add extra crunch to your appetizer offerings.
• No holiday charcuterie board is complete without salty crackers, a baguette or toasted bread. This gives you something to build the meat, cheeses, and other food selections on top of when enjoying.

Dessert Ideas

If you’d like to create a holiday dessert charcuterie board, try adding versions of these fun food elements:
 

• No bake Oreo truffles are always a hit. You can dip these in seasonally colored chocolate to fit your party or holiday theme. Or use include a selection of popular holiday cookies.
• Desserts like mini cheesecake slices, petit fours, and brownies are always popular with guests.
• Candies, such as truffles or chocolates make another fun addition. You can also include candy such as M&M’s, candy canes or Hershey’s kisses.
• Fruit always goes well with a dessert board. Apple slices, pears and clementine’s are perfect. Include a dessert dip for dipping such as cookie butter, toffee dip, or peppermint fluff to make your board even more exciting.
• While dessert boards are typically sweet, that doesn’t mean it can’t be sweet and salty! Mix things up with chocolate covered pretzels, Chex mix, or puppy chow.

What is the Best Way to Set up a Charcuterie Board?

Here are a few tips to help you create a simple, yet visually appealing charcuterie board for the holidays:
 

• Choose natural wood cutting boards. These can be any shape or size. However, you do want to fill the entire board. So, make sure to select the right size for the number of people you plan to serve.
• Design your board using foods that reflect a wide range of colors so it’s visually appealing.
• Layer the same ingredients on top of one another. This gives you more room to include everything on your serving board.
• Stack ingredients. In addition to using layers, you can also stack ingredients at different levels. This helps your eye naturally follow the flow of the board.
• Use garnish. If the foods you chose seem to lack color or just don’t seem to pop, adding fresh herbs at random intervals can give your presentation the boost you are looking for.

Holiday Charcuterie Board Ideas

If you can’t quite decide how to design your holiday charcuterie board, then try some of these ideas to get you started:
 

• Make a candy cane inspired board for the holidays. Using the Caprese salad as inspiration, layer rounds of sliced tomatoes with fresh mozzarella cheese in a candy cane shape on your board. Serve it with toasted bread and small dishes of basil leaves for garnish and a balsamic vinaigrette for dipping.
• Add vegetables to the board as design elements to create other themed designs. We love the idea of using sliced peppers or cherry tomatoes to help form a Santa hat. Mozzarella balls resemble the cotton ball puff trim. And you can use cauliflower to form St. Nick’s beard with olives for the eyes.
• Help your holiday appetizers pop by including seasonal favorites such as sugared cranberries and candied pecans accented by rosemary sprigs.
• Take a traditional charcuterie board and give it a Christmas spin by using a tree shaped serving dish in the center. Fill it with a holiday dip, spiced nuts, or other small treats that complement the other selections on your board.

• Design your holiday charcuterie in a wreath shape on a round cutting board or serving platter. Stack toothpicks with meats, cheese, and other culinary delights to create mini appetizers. Then arrange them onto your dish in a wreath shape.
• Arrange the elements for your meat and cheese tray in a Christmas tree shape. Then use fruits, such as dates or grapes, as Christmas tree decorations along with herbs as garnish. While cheese cut into a star shape serves as a holiday tree topper.
• Create a house, similar to a gingerbread house, but made from meat and cheese to use as a centerpiece. Use meat sticks for the logs to build the home and glue them together with cream cheese. You can then add sliced pepperoni for the roof, crackers for the door, and pistachios for the trim.
• Use cookie cutters to cut meat, cheese, or fruit into shapes such as stars, bells, or gingerbread men.

What to Use as a Charcuterie Board

The great thing about creating a charcuterie board for entertaining is that you have absolute creative freedom. Not only do you get to choose the foods you serve your guests, but you also can choose any board as well. The shape and size are up to you. You simply need to load it up with a selection of foods that compliment one another.
 
Here are some of the boards you can use for a charcuterie:
 

• Round lazy Suzan boards
• Large serving trays with handles
• Round cutting boards
• Square or rectangular wooden cutting boards

Where to Buy Cutting and Serving Boards for Your Holiday Charcuterie

When considering where to buy cutting and serving boards, I always consider quality first and foremost. Not only will a quality charcuterie board last longer, but it will also make your holiday presentation pop!
 
Lifelong Gifts offers a stunning line of serving trays and custom wood cutting boards that are well made, beautiful and designed to last a lifetime. This distinct line of products boasts unique patterns, grains and wood types that are both functional and make a statement as beautiful home decor. In addition, all these products come with free customization. So, they’re perfect not only for personal use, but also to give as holiday gifts.

Shop now from the following:
 

• Cherry Serving Tray
• Acacia Serving Board
• Cherry Wood Cutting Board
• House-Shaped Cherry Cutting Board
• Ulu Knife and Bowl Board

We hope that you enjoyed this simple guide on how to pull together a tasty charcuterie board for the holidays. If you’d like more information on the services and products we offer, then be sure to subscribe to our newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook or Instagram.