This festive Christmas Charcuterie Board is perfect for your holiday get togethers and parties, where finger food is the best way to please a crowd.
I love arranging a Christmas charcuterie platter like a Christmas tree. It gives it that extra holiday cheer and everyone swoons over it when they arrive.
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The best thing about this Christmas platter is that it can be refilled easily as people graze on it, and you really can include just about any cheese, meats, fruits, and nuts that you like.
What to Include on a Charcuterie Board?
I like to make sure there are items from a few categories—cheese, cured meats, fruit, savory, nuts, and crackers.
This board includes:
- 3 different cheese: cheddar, gouda and cubed feta cheese
- 2 cured meats: salami and prosciutto
- Crackers
- Green olives
- Almonds, walnuts, dried cranberries
- Marinated artichokes
You’ll want to include 2-3 types of each item, so guests have options to choose from. This also helps diversify the board and makes it visually appealing.
Here are a few other options that I haven’t included, but that make a great addition of a charcuterie board:
- Sauces and dips, like honey, jelly/jam, mustard, creamy dressing.
- Fruits like pomegranate pieces, apple slices, dried fruits, and grapes.
- A couple types of crackers, baguette slices, and cucumber slices (in case any guests are eating low-carb).
How Much Food to Include
Your Christmas Charcuterie board should be able to serve at least 3 ounces of meat and cheese per person, which is the optimal serving size amount if it’s served as an appetizer.
Because guests will likely be grazing on other appetizers at a party, you can keep that in mind when building your board. It’s unlikely that you’ll exceed 3 oz per person.
Of course, not all of that food will fit on the platter at one time. Keep all the extras in containers or baggies to have at the ready when a section gets low.
How to Display Your Platter
One of the most important parts of a beautiful party platter is the board you put it on. It doesn’t have to be something elaborate or fancy, but the board really does elevate the display.
A large wooden cutting board is perfect for the display of your foods. Depending on the size of the board you want to make, it will need to be a sizeable board to hold enough food.
This large maple cutting board is great because it doesn’t have a lip around the edge.
Slate and glass boards also make a nice display.
There are some nice platter boards that you can buy on Amazon that have the space to display your foods, plus trays for dips and holders for cheese knives and spreaders.
Smirly Cheese Board and Knife Set: 16 x 13 x 2 Inch Wood Charcuterie Platter for Wine, Cheese, MeatBy SMIRLY$59.99$69.99
ROYAMY Bamboo Cheese Board Set with 3 Stainless Steel Knife, Meat Charcuterie Platter Serving Tray,…By ROYAMY$30.99$42.99Ads by Amazon
Once you’ve got a great platter, half the job is done. What is left to do is to cut and arrange your foods.
- Start with a line of crackers along the bottom.
- Place a line of salami on top of the crackers for the next layer. I like to lay a full line of salami as a base, then scrunch up more pieces on top. That will make it last longer.
- Cut the cheeses into cubes and arrange them in alternating lines with the remaining cured meat.
- Add a line of artichoke hearts and/or olives.
- Extras like nuts and olives can be interspersed throughout the plate to fill empty spots and scatter color across the board.
- Sauces should be included in small bowls around the outside of the board. Don’t forget to include spreaders and small serving spoons for each sauce.
- Garnish with sprigs of rosemary.
Refilling the board
Prepare extra of each food item and have it at the ready to refill empty spots in the board as they get eaten.
If you want to mix it up, you can replenish empty spaces with different types of cheese and meats to keep it interesting.
Get Creative and Have Fun
The fun part about putting together a holiday charcuterie tray is that you can be as creative as you want and just have fun with it. You don’t have to use the same meats and cheeses.
You don’t even have to display it like a Christmas tree. You could display it as a wreath or an ornament. There are dozens of options.
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Christmas Charcuterie Platter
Ingredients
- 3 oz cheddar cheese cubed
- 3 oz gouda or other hard cheese, cubed
- 3 oz feta cheese cubed
- 3 oz Prosciutto
- 3 oz salami
- 1 jar jar marinated artichoke hearts
- 1 jar green olives
- 2 oz almonds
- 2 oz walnuts
- 2 oz dried cranberries
- 1 package crackers
- 5 sprigs rosemary
Instructions
- Add a layer of crackers to a wooden cutting board as the base of the tree.
- Alternate cheese cubes, meat, artichokes, and olives to form layers.
- Intersperse the nuts and cranberries throughout. Garnish with rosemary.
- Top the tree with a cheese star.
Notes
Nutrition
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Laura is a home cook who loves making new recipes and finding new favorite things to eat, whether at home or abroad. She also runs a popular travel blog and spends a lot of her time traveling for food.
Such a brilliant idea! I don’t think I will let the guests spoil it though ! Will do this to earn extra brownie points!
This is so adorable! And so easy to put together, too. Plus, the kids love being able to pick out what they want from it.
This is the perfect party board and my ideal holiday snack! It never last long lol. Thanks for sharing!
This charcuterie board is stunning and so cute!! I love everything about this and I know everyone else will too. I can’t wait to make this!
This is ADORABLE! I would’ve never thought to make this on my own (not that creative!) but love that I can easily recreate it now! Thanks for sharing!
This is amazing! I guess i won’t let them touch it because it’s too cute to eat :p LOL! This is nice, I’m sure my kids gonna love this!