My guide for building your own gorgeous charcuterie spread that’ll have all your friends and family talking through the new year.

There’s something really magical about a charcuterie board. First, the act of planning and designing it is both a creative and intuitive process. You can customize it to any size or style of event and palate — large super bowl party, casual game night, intimate holiday party, or make it plant-based or strictly desserts.

It also encourages both the builder and the eater to play with their food (my favorite thing!), physically arranging the foods or constructing the perfect bite with the ideal balance of flavors and textures. Crafting a beautiful and delicious board plucks at your creative brain through both designing and arranging the board through functionality and aesthetic. While one can argue that any meal is an opportunity to plate beautifully and focus on a balance of colors and textures, building a charcuterie board truly demands it.

Charcuterie boards are my love language. I get giddy over sharing these with friends and family as an extension of myself. What I find beautiful. The flavors that I appreciate the most. How I choose to celebrate the food I eat. And the time and effort I put into creating it is a way of showing them how much they mean to me. What started out as a simple cheese spread for game and wine nights with friends in college has turned into one of the most therapeutic and rewarding hobbies for me in adulthood. Crafting these always has my soul singing and my brain firing on all cylinders fulfilling my passion for food, creativity and design, and community.

For a lot of people, I hope, crafting their own charcuterie board might serve as an exciting exercise in intuitive shopping and eating. To sit down and think about what foods you find attractive in flavor, texture, and appearance. To appreciate them as a part of a whole, but also celebrate what each ingredient brings to the table. To experiment with different flavor and texture combinations in each bite to discover what foods you enjoy the most, and which ones didn’t spark as much joy and satisfaction. Sharing it with others can take some of the pressure off of eating such a wide variety of foods yourself and you can be certain no one will be staring at your plate, they’ll have their eyes on the board and their bites the whole night.

I believe the best meals are shared with others and a charcuterie board is a beautiful, interactive way to draw guests into great conversation around something nourishing and comforting. While the board I am featuring in this post is larger and elaborate, please know that what makes a charcuterie spread great is that it can be adapted to any size space, budget, and dietary needs. All you need to know are the essentials, and you can customize your own from there! Let’s get started.

Where to begin:

As a general rule, I add larger elements (like bowls and cheese) or focal points (like the orange slices here) to the board first. Then, I arrange the medium sized elements (cheese, sliced fruit or veg, crackers) an equal distance from each other. I also take note of balancing the colors on the board. Last, I add the more free-flowing elements (meats, smaller fruit) and fill in gaps and add color with garnish (nuts, seeds, herbs, decor).

Key Elements:

A board. First thing first, you’re going to need somewhere to put all the goods. I got this gorgeous wooden board from Targé (Target) for only $34. Prior to that, I’ve used a smaller stone cheese board and cutting boards. You can also use a large serving plate (depending on the number of guests) if none of those other options are available or accessible to you. Essentially, you just need a large enough surface that is smooth, even, clean, and designated food-safe. (In a pinch, even a piece of parchment paper on a table top could work!)
Dips and spreads. I don’t have any pictured on this spread, but I do usually like to add one jam to the board. My favorite is the fig jam from Trader Joe’s. If you’re focusing more on veggies, a dip or two would be nice to keep things interesting and satisfying! These go on the board first because they’re often in larger bowls.
Meats and cheese. Next, we add the cheese. I like to get a trio of both cheese and meats. I usually get two hard cheeses and one soft, like brie, to appeal to everyone’s taste. Of the two hard cheeses, I usually pick one neutral fan favorite (like a basic cheddar or gouda) and a bolder option (maybe a goat cheese or something with added herbs or fruit). The idea is to have a little something for everyone to enjoy because not everyone loves a trio of stinky cheeses, and that’s okay! I arrange these on the board within equal distance from each other.
For meats, I’m not too picky and usually choose a prepackaged Italian mix of capicollo, prosciutto, and salami. Depending on your budget and interest in cured meats, you can also opt for the unsliced specialty meats or hit the deli counter for more precise amounts. I will say freshly sliced prosciutto is by far superior and would highly recommend, if accessible. I usually fold the meat to add texture and depth to the board but you can also just lay them down.
Note: If you’re vegan or vegetarian, you can absolutely still make a board, just focus on making the other components shine brighter. Try doing a trio of olives, incorporating more dips, or experimenting with nut based cheeses.
Bread or crackers. Whole wheat baguette, gluten-free seed crackers, fruit and nut crisps, whatever you prefer. All you need is a vehicle to carry the cheese and meats to your mouth. I love the seed and dried fruit crisps from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s (TJ’s are way cheaper but smaller and tougher). They add hearty texture and unique flavor without being too crumbly and messy. For smaller gatherings, I opt for one or two styles of crackers but if a variety of crackers makes your heart sing, you can offer as many as you want! Crackers can be arranged in rows (as pictures here) or in a bowl on the side, if space is tight on the board itself.
Fruit and veg. I prefer a fruit heavy board versus a veggie one but that’s also up to you! Veggies add a lighter, fresher element to the board, like baby carrots or snap peas. I really love pairing fruit with cheese and it adds a pop of color to the board as a bonus! Some of my favorites are berries in the summer, oranges, pear, apple, persimmons in Autumn/winter, or pomegranate (used here as more of a garnish). Larger fruits like the pomegranate halves will go on before the meats and cheeses, but smaller fruits like apple slices and berries can go on later.
Olives and nuts. I really like Castelvetrano olives, they’re buttery and only slightly tart, making them a perfect neutral choice for a beginner board. I also love marinated olives, especially green olives in lemon and garlic! Obviously, you can use whatever olives you prefer but I do recommend getting them pitted so you don’t have to keep reminding grazers to be careful. You can put olives in a bowl, like I did here, or use them as fillers for a more natural looking board (just be sure to pat them dry first so your crackers don’t end up in puddles!).
Garnish. I love adding herbs for a pop of natural greenery. Here, I doubled up two sprigs of rosemary and arranged them to balanced out color and draw the eye towards focal points on the board. Garnish can also be part of the theme, like using rosemary to mimic pine tree for the holidays, using peppermint sticks, fresh cranberries, and candied ginger to add texture, flavor, and dimension.
Optional: Non-edible accents. This is my first themed board and I loved adding the lights, pinecones, and mini ornaments to bring festive holiday cheer to the spread. Just be sure to clean whatever you use and make sure that people know if something isn’t edible if it isn’t obvious (like the lights lol). You hope someone wouldn’t try to take a bite out of an ornament, but you really never know!

Other things to consider:

Textures. I like to use contrasting textures to help guide people to craft the perfect bite. Create a balance of creamy and hard cheeses, hearty and crisp crackers, soft olives with crunchy nuts, juicy fruit with tender meats. In essence, make sure there’s enough different elements on the board that people aren’t forced to pair soft cheese with soft jam on soft bread, ya feel me?
Flavors. Think about what flavor combinations you like to experiment with and make sure there’s a variety for other palates. Both sweet, savory, spicy, and sour can exist together in harmony on a charcuterie spread!
Size. Consider how many people you’ll have grazing on this board and assume they’ll eat more than you think. If you’re having a larger gathering but don’t have a board big enough, use bowls and plates to hold the less aesthetic parts of the board like the bread and crackers.
Practicality. Some things are beautiful and add intrigue, but aren’t practical to eat, like the pomegranate on this board. It’s okay to add some of these elements as garnish but if your board is filled with aesthetic things that your guests can’t actually realistically eat them without making a mess or putting in work, it’s probably best to do some editing.
Dietary needs of your guests. It’s hard nowadays to keep track of everyone’s dietary preferences of the moment but do pay attention to the medical and religious/ethical needs of your guests. If you have friends that eat halal, make sure any pork products are left on the side. Likewise, if you have a friend with celiac disease, put crackers and bread in a separate bowl and have a designated bowl or plate for gluten-free crackers.
Tip: If you’re not comfortable or familiar with accommodating their needs on your own, don’t hesitate to ask them what you can do to make their experience safe and welcoming. They’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness and appreciate it even more that you double checked what they need to get it right.
Getting friendly with your grocery store’s cheese and deli department people. If you’re new to the charcuterie scene, find the cheese counter overwhelming (there are SO many tiny labels!), or can’t identify a cured meat if it isn’t pepperoni on your pizza, you can still do this! Strike a conversation with the people working in those departments and they’ll help build a balanced, delicious spread. You may also get free tastes or insider info on wine pairings, too!

Above all, this should be a fun and creative experience. If you’re new to this, start with a plate or small board for yourself or you and your partner. Get feedback and take note of what pairings worked and what didn’t. If you loved a cheese someone at the store recommended, go with it again until you’re comfortable “going rogue” and experimenting on your own. Almost every board I make has Humbolt Fog Midnight Moon goat cheese on it because it’s a tried and true favorite. Remember that this is something you’re sharing with others and the true gift is in your efforts, not in how wildly stunning you can manipulate food to look.

Happy building and happy holidays!