Charcuterie Board DIY

If you know me, then you know my LOVE for an EPIC charcuterie board. I have high standards for them 🤪 I love them so much that I had one created as a massive appetizer for our wedding (photos below). Pinterest didn’t do me any justice for inspiration, so I went to the tables and made some myself and was my own inspiration!

My sister is pretty handy at them as well and planted my seed a while back for loving them so dang much.

They look complex but they are actually reallllyyyy easy, as long as you know WHAT TO BUY… I think that’s where they can quickly go from fab to sad.

I have scouted out the best sources (in my personal opinion) for the best deal and am so excited to share them with you so you can create your own beautiful boards!!

These boards can get pricey depending on where you shop and (obviously) how many guest you are serving BUT they are VERY filling- Mike and I ate the one I made for this for dinner after and we were extremely content! So, lets talk about getting the biggest bang for your buck!

Trader Joes is your BEST FRIEND in all this. I get 90% of everything here:

 

CHEESE, at Trader Joes its weighed out and sold in the most perfect pieces for display AKA you don't have to do anything but place it!! I know nothing about cheese, but I sure do love to eat it! So I’m always okay with trying new kinds, but you may just want to stick to what you know, and thats okay- try to do a soft cheese, a hard cheese and a crumble!

Trader Joes has SO MANY OPTIONS at they are SUCH GOOD PRICES. They probably average $3-4 / triangular slice (do they have a name for that for cheese? 🤣 like a pie slice, but a cheese slice…)

I recommend a ‘slice of cheese” for every 3 people you have, so 10 people = 3-4 slices (or do 2 medium slices and one larger one)

 

CRACKERS, seriously the best of the best and such fun options at Trader Joes. My absolute FAVORITE are the fig and olive crackers. SO SO SO GOOD. They have cheese twists, parmesan crisps, brioche loaf crackers and so much more. I think that crackers play a huge part in the design of the board. Everybody likes to try new things and venture around and a cracker is one of the easiest ways to venture around without getting to crazy! They also add more shapes and sixes to the board drawing you into it!

 

 

FRUIT, dried and fresh are both great. I always have dried fruit at home for these boards. Dried cranberries are so yummy with soft cheese. The candied lemons and mandarin oranges are DELISH and add a pop of color to the creation. I always have grapes on the board as an easy and cheap fresh fruit. You can always add pears and apples (prep and bag until you are ready to serve the board so that they dont brown as fast!). Figs would be yummy, too!

 

NUTS, pistachios are my love language. SO YUM. I get big bags from Costco for cheap. Same with walnuts! Great deals if you use them regularly. If not, Trader Joes has a MASS delish selection. Some of my favorite are the honey sesame almond 🤤🤤🤤

EXTRAS + GARNISH, I LOVE olives + pickles, but forgot to pull out the pickles for this board and was so bummed. They are a nice salty addition to the boards. I toss them in a paper towel to absorb all the juices before putting them on the board. If you want to add a dip, you can add it next to the board or add it into a small dipping dish and place it on the board after the cheese! Rosemary is the BEST and only garnish you will ever need.

DISPLAY, a big cutting board or a serving tray works great for this! If you want to get wild for an event, you can use parchment paper on a table (covering the whole thing) and just lay everything on that! Cheese knifes are always fun and helpful! I always find mine at Home Goods / Marshalls for cheap!

I threw this video together to walk you though how I lay things out / the order of placement for each of them! I hope that you enjoy it and have a blast making your own!! (Tag me if you do!!!)

1. Cheese (unwrap upon serving)
2. Meat
3. Large fruit (grapes, sliced apples, sliced pears, figs, etc.)
4. Crackers
5. Large dried Fruit
6. Nuts
7. Small dried fruit
8. Garnish