How To Make The Perfect Charcuterie Board

A step by step guide to being the host with the most….beautiful appetizer

Remember when avocado toast seemingly took the world by storm? Well, it looks like it’s time to move over, and make room for the ultimate people pleaser, charcuterie. Whether you’re enjoying the evening at home with your family, or having an intimate gathering with friends, the perfect pairing of meats, cheeses, fruits, and vegetables remains unmatched. 

You may have scrolled across a beautiful board on Instagram, or an impressive display on Pinterest, and thought, “Where do I begin?” I’m here to create the perfect fall charcuterie board with you, step by step! Trust me, you’ve got this!

Here’s what we’ll need:

• A board - I have the board I am using linked on LikeToKnowIt 

• Cheese Knives - Linked these exact knives on LikeToKnowIt

• Ramekins 

• Cracker Assortment - Trader Joe’s

• Garlic Naan Crackers - Trader Joe’s

• Everything Seasoning Crackers - Trader Joe’s

• Maple Leaf Cookies - Trader Joe’s

• Persian Cucumbers

• Grape Tomatoes

• 1 Peach or Nectarine

• 1 Red Apple (of your choice)

• 1 Green Pear

• 1 Firm Plum

• 1 Can of Baby Corn

• Blueberries

• Baby Carrots

• Mini Sweet Peppers

• Spanish Queen Olives

• Honey, with or without Honeycomb

• Spicy Red and Green Bell Pepper Goat Cheese - Trader Joe’s

• Feta Cheese In The Brine

• Cherry, Apricot, And Cranberry Goat Cheese Log - Trader Joe’s

• Sesame Cashews - Trader Joe’s

• Olive and Herbs Nut Mix - Trader Joe’s

• Prosciutto 

• Spicy Spanish Salami

• Capocollo

 Step 1:

Place your first cheese. I recommend placing a wedge or log at an angle, as this tends to be create the best aesthetic. Make a few clean slices, and stack those at an angle as well.

Step 2:

Layer your first cracker choice next to your first cheese. Be sure to stack the crackers neatly, or fan them out. Do not include any broken pieces!

Step 3:

Add your second cheese. Same thing, we’re going to layer a  few slices in front of the block. Place this cheese on a distant corner of your board, this will create contrast of ingredients.

Step 4:

Add your first fruit pairing to you first cheese. Goat cheese pairs nicely with peaches, so, we’ll thinly slice our peach, and fan the slices next to the log of cheese. Make sure the slices are nice and cozy without gaps.

 Step 5:

Add your second fruit next to your second cheese. Thinly slice plum, and fan out slices next to the wedge of cheese. Again, try to keep space to a minimum between ingredients.

 Step 6:

Thinly slice bell peppers, and add them next to your wedge of cheese. This doesn’t have to be perfect! Next, add your cracker pairing for that cheese, neatly fanned leading into that corner of the board.

Step 7:

Fill one ramekin with honey, and place near your first  cheese. Remember, the ingredients are friends, they’re best snuggled up next to each other! Next, fill your third corner of the board with baby carrots. 

 Step 8:

Neatly stack baby corn between your carrots and crackers. This is going to bridge the gap, and provide support for the salami. Now, take your salami and fold it in half, then in half again. Put the corners of the folded salami down facing the board, and the fluffy, flower petal looking edges up. Begin placing them one by one from the carrot corner to your honey ramekin. These pieces may need to be fluffed once they’re placed. 

 Step 9:

This is an easy one! Stack your grape tomatoes in between your peach slices and cheese log. They won’t lay perfectly at first, but we can always readjust later.

 Step 10:

Slice your next fruit, and fan the slices in front of your honey ramekin. This is bridging the gap between the salami, and the cheese log. You can see here, I place prosciutto in the corner with the tomatoes and peaches. Putting together a cheese board is like fitting pieces of a puzzle. Sometimes it seems like a piece could fit somewhere, however, there is probably another place where that piece fits perfectly instead. You’ll see in the next few steps I make some adjustments.

Step 11:

Fill your next ramekin with the olive and herb nut mix,  and set in your fourth corner of the board. 

Step 12:

Take your capocollo, and use the same folding pattern as the salami. Fold in half, then in half again. Place these slices one after the other, filling the space from your plum slices, to your apple slices in the center of the board. Fluff if necessary.

Step 13:

Thinly slice your pear and Persian cucumbers. Carefully stack cucumbers next to your mixed nut ramekin, overlapping the crackers behind it. Again, nice and cozy, no gaps! Then in the opposite corner, fan your pear slices next to your carrots and salami. 

 Step 14:

Here, you’ll see I found the perfect place for our prosciutto. Roll the prosciutto at an angle, to create a neat blossom. Next, stack your prosciutto blossoms next to the cucumbers, overlapping the crackers behind it. We’ll place our next cracker choice at an angle between the plum and pear, leading to the apple slices in the center of the board. Then, fill the space between apple and pear with your fresh feta, diced into cubes. 

Step 15:

Next to your tomatoes, add your maple leaf cookies. It  may take some adjusting to get these to lay nicely. Sprinkle blueberries between your folded capocollo and crackers, to cover any parts of the board peeking through.

Step 16:

Create a mound with the Spanish queen olives in front of your apple slices. Then, carefully fan out the garlic naan crackers behind them. This should bridge the gap from your capocollo to the cucumbers. Finally, sprinkle sesame cashews in front of your bell peppers. 

You’re officially the host with the most! I can’t wait to see how your fall charcuterie boards turn out. Be sure to tag @Junk.In.Love on Instagram, so I can see your beautiful creations!