How to make an easy cheese board (charcuterie for beginners)

Simple Cheese Board for Beginners

After a mom’s night last month, a few of my friends begged me to tell them my “secret” to making the perfect cheese board. I’m pretty sure they wanted more in depth than throw cheese on a plate, so that’s why I decided to write this post.

To me, making a cheese board is all about balance: salty, creamy, sweet, soft, crunchy. If you check all the boxes you’ll have the perfect easy appetizer that doubles as dinner!

Meat for Charcuterie

Again, this is like the cheese: use what you like. Here are my suggestions:

• Salami, for me, is a must. It’s often the only meat I put on my charcuterie tray, because it’s a universal meat. I often use regular salami and peppercorn salami on my trays (one for the adults and one for kids).
• If you want to be a little fancier, try prosciutto, mortadella, or sopressata.
• You can use thinly sliced meats or stick salami that you cut into chunks.

Vegetables and Fresh Fruit

I always like to add a few kinds of raw vegetables to my charcuterie. My two favorites are carrots and cucumber, but snap peas or celery go well also.

Cheese and grapes go well together, so I usually ad a few bunches of grapes as garnish.

Other Charcuterie Ingredients

The cheese and meat are the backbone of the tray. I always add them to the board first. Then I add my vegetables. Then, think about the following:

Crackers. Crackers and cheese are important. Just get about 2-3 different kinds of crackers, but you don’t need to put a ton on there. You’ll notice I don’t have many; you can always add more but believe me, you probably won’t need to unless you have lots of kids. Adults are weird and don’t eat tons of carbs with their meat and cheese.

• Pepperidge farm “Trio” crackers
• Water biscuits (such as Carr’s)
• Something gluten-free, like a Nut Thin or something similar

What can you use as a charcuterie board? What else do you need?

• Usually you’ll use a large wood board or cutting board or even a platter, large plate or tray.
• The type of board you see in these photos (or, rather, don’t see) is from Target. They have several options that are fantastic prices. Check out the kitchen aisle to grab a few.
• Check out Ross, Home Goods, or TJ Maxx. They often have them cheap!
• Amazon has some great options, just search “wooden serving tray”.
• Want to splurge? Buy a Boos Block!
• Small bowls are perfect for holding olives or dips