How to Make a Cheese Board
It might seem intimidating to get a charcuterie board to look "right," but I promise with my easy steps and expert tips, you'll learn how to make a cheese board in no time!
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: How to Make A Cheese Board
- ⏰ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🥄 Good For: Parties, potlucks, date night in, when you don't want to cook!
- ↪️ Make Ahead: Cheese plates can be made ahead, just leave the crackers off until right before serving.
- 🧡 Difficulty: I promise it is so much easier than it looks!
"I made a BEAUTIFUL cheese board all thanks to this helpful article. Thank you so much!"
- ANA -
🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hi friend: I'm a big fan of dishes that have a high oooh-and-ahhh to elbow grease ratio, and cheese boards are the epitome of a great return on time investment. It might seem intimidating to get a cheese board to look "right," but I promise with my easy steps, you can have a fancy charcuterie board in just a few minutes. Here's why you'll love it:
- It's so simple. We're basically just going to pile layers of food onto a platter. You can handle that!
- No cutting required! Save yourself a step by not cutting your cheese into slices and instead using pretty (and affordable) cheese knives.
- Infinitely customizable. Pick your family's perfect cheese, crackers, and other yummies! That means this cheese board works great for all diets and tastes-I've even made a board using nut cheeses for the vegans in my life.
- The tastiest, easiest dinner ever. Throw together a cheese board and crack open a bottle of wine (maybe a bottle from my strawberry wine recipe) and you've got one of my favorite easy dinners. Especially for a Friday after a long workweek. Ahhhhh. Pure relaxation.
Of course, if you want to make a fancier cheeseboard you can, but no need! A cheese board is inherently special, and after I teach you my tricks, you'll be able to make them in less time than you ever imagined.
🧀 The Ingredients You Need
- Cheeses (obviously): I try to always have at least three cheeses on a cheese board, just because I think visually it looks the best-with a mixture of textures, colors, shapes and flavors. Get at least one soft cheese (like brie), one hard cheese (like Parmesan or cheddar), and one crumbly cheese (like bleu cheese). And remember: not everyone loves stinky cheese, so make sure one or two of your options are mild or buttery.
- Garnishes: Rosemary sprigs, sage leaves, parsley sprigs-anything green!
- Meaty/Salty: Prosciutto, salami, sausage, olives (stuffed are great), marinated artichoke hearts, fermented veggies, pickles.
- Crunchy: Nuts, seeds, rice crackers, water crackers, Triscuits, crunchy breadsticks, cheese crisps, bagel crisps, pita chips.
- Sweet: Dried apricots, chocolate squares, chocolate-covered almonds, dried mango, yogurt-covered raisins.
- Fruits: Grapes, apple or pear slices (treated with fruit preserver), orange slices, pomegranate arils, persimmon slices, cherries, strawberries, blueberries.
- Veggies: Grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced bell pepper, caprese sticks, any blanched veggie (asparagus, broccoli, etc.).
- Condiments: Grainy mustard, chutneys, honey, homemade hot sauce, jams (like my blueberry jam), fruit salsa, homemade sauerkraut, jellies (like my apple jelly or pomegranate jelly), preserves (like my gingered pear preserves), hot honey, kale pesto. You can add sauces and chutneys and whatever else makes you happy.
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Make it vegan: Yup, a vegan cheese board is possible! There are amazing nut-based cheeses out there that make for great chese plates.
- Make it gluten-free: Just make sure to use gluten-free crackers. Easy!
- Make it festive: Use specific garnishes and additions to make it on theme. Check out my Halloween charcuterie board, Thanksgiving cheese board, or Christmas charcuterie board for ideas!
🥣 How to Make a Cheese Board
Step 1: Choose a board. I have a large slate board that I love. Don't have a specialty cheese board? Ain't no thang. Use a big cutting board (I have this bamboo one that is perfect), a serving platter, or even a cookie sheet works-it looks all rustic and cute-like. Any large flat surface will work.
Step 2: Put on cheeses. The cheese wedges are the "hubs" of the board, so I like to get those on first. I generally recommend picking 3-5 cheeses for your cheese platter.
Step 3: Add meats and salty items. Use the cheese wedges as the center and build out from there. I pile meats, nuts, and olives around. Sometimes I use small bowls, but more often than not, I just pile.
Step 4: Add sweets. You don't need a ton of fresh or dried fruit here, but a little bit can be a nice thing to bite on between cheese tastes. Pieces of chocolate or candied nuts are also great options.
Step 5: Pile on crackers. I like to use a mix of crackers, just because it's fun, but use whatever makes you happy. I just pile them on the cheese board wherever there are openings.
Step 6: Add condiments. Condiments are a really fun addition to a cheese board. If the bottle the condiment comes in is small enough, I just take off the lid, stick a spoon in it, and call it day. If I need to transfer it (like with honey), I move it into a small jar or bowl to save space.
Step 7: This is what will help make your cheese board look really amazing-fill in all the empty spaces. I like to do this with little clusters of grapes. They fill in all the nooks and crannies nicely, and they're the perfect size for someone to grab and just eat a few grapes. Another good option: cherry tomatoes. Both grapes and tomatoes help add some really beautiful color!
Step 8: Finally, garnish that baby. For the holiday season, I love just adding a few sprigs of fresh rosemary-it looks a lot like a Christmas tree, and it smells amazing. I also tend to use fresh sage a lot, too. Is this step important? Heck, no. Does it look good? Absolutely! And it takes about 10 seconds.
🙋🏻♀️ How to Make a Cheese Board FAQs
You can, but it's so much easier and more attractive to just provide cheese knives and allow your guests to slice their own pieces of cheese. If you are serving to folks with mobility challenges or young children, you might want to pre-slice your cheese for ease.
Putting a cheese board together is done in just a few minutes, but if you want to do some of the work ahead of time, you absolutely can! Just leave off any crunchy items-like crackers or nuts-or they'll get soggy. Other than that, you can have the entire cheese board assembled up to a day in advance. Just make sure to wrap the whole thing well in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge.
The 3-3-3 rule is an easy way to remember what to put on the base of your cheese plate: 3 cheeses, 3 meats/salty items, 3 starches (crackers, breads, etc.), and 3 extras (like fresh fruit or olives). Just use it as a general guideline-no cheese board police are going to come after you if you have 4 cheeses!
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Keep it simple. My basic principle when making a cheese board is to put piles of stuff I like on a board. Done. It really is that simple. I just pile stuff on a board until it's full, and then when people eat some, I pile on some more. There isn't really anything magical to it!
- Try before you buy. Most of those cheese counters at higher-end grocery stores will let you sample cheeses if you don't know what you're buying.
- Find a bargain. Lots of cheese counters will have a bargain bin of cheese ends-pieces that were too small for people to order. This is a great place to get cheeses for your cheese platter, because you can get lots of variety for only a few dollars.
🍽️ Easy Holiday Cheese Platter Ideas
If you tried this How to Make a Cheese Board tutorial or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
How to Make a Cheese Board
Equipment
Ingredients
- Various cheese get a mix of flavors, textures, shapes, and colors
- Salty items meats, nuts, olives, etc.
- Sweet items fruit, dried fruit, chocolate, etc.
- Crunchy items crackers, pita chips, breadsticks, etc.
- Condiments honey, mustards, chutney, etc.
- Space-filling items grapes, cherry tomatoes, cherries
- Garnish fresh herbs
- Cheese board can use a cheese board, cutting board, serving platter, tray, or cookie sheet
- Cheese knives
Instructions
- Begin by spreading the cheese wedges, logs, and wheels evenly throughout the cheese board surface. Add cheese knives.
- Next, fill around the cheese with the salty items.
- Then, add a few piles of sweet items.
- Pile in the crunchy items and the condiments in small jars or bowls.
- Next, fill in any empty spaces with space-filling items like grapes, cherry tomatoes, or cherries.
- Finally, garnish the cheese board with fresh herbs.
Video
Nutrition
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I'm trying this out tomorrow at a casual brunch hosted by my sister-in-law. Yours is so gorgeous, I just couldn't resist it! I'll let you know how it goes 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!
Love... love .... love this idea! Looks beautiful!
Can't wait to try it... everyone will be so impressed!
Thanks!
God bless you for this!!!
Thanks.
Your cheeseboard idea was a hit!!! Artistic and beautiful was the words spoken.
I made a BEAUTIFUL cheese board all thanks to this helpful article. Thank you so much!
Love, love. We have 4 main events at my church. I'm the nontraditional food member. "What's that? They say. Lol. Just try it I tell them. When I fur joined my church, we had heavy foods. now I tried a Mimi board l your this past week along with other fruit and parfaits the 60 and under love it. Smh. My seniors say where's the collards and cornbread? Lol. I keep trying. Next I'm hit them with your beautiful cheese broad. Love love. Ty
I'm roaming through old post and have decided to serve this at a potluck on Thursday. Great idea.
Everyone loved the board.
Hooray!
YUM!
I have never thought of making a cheese board like this before. I eat a lot of cheese and when we are visiting France (living in Europe) eating cheese is of course a classic. But presenting it like this is a wonderful idea and new to me.. Thanks for sharing!
This looks amazing! Your board is so full and lush looking! I want to dive right in! Thanks so much for sharing this!
I don't even like cheese but I read this post with an intensity like I was going to get quizzed on it. You made it all make so much sense! And your pictures lately have been so gorgeous--especially the last shot of this post!!
This is great Cassie....just what I've been wanting to do but didn't know where to start....I will be making a cheese board for Thanksgiving appetizer spread this year!
Yummmm and perfect timing - I've got a group of friends coming over for a make-your-own-gnocchi night and this will really push it over the top!
I made a very similar cheese board for my husband's birthday this year. I kept asking what he wanted me to make for his birthday dessert, but he never really came up with anything, as he isn't a big sweets guy. But he loves cheese and salty things. When I showed him the awesomeness, he was super impressed and thought I had spent hours on it. So easy and delicious! It was a big hit! And I'm with you on the simplicity factor - simple = goooooood!
This is so cool. I am planning to do a cheese plate for this thanksgiving. this is a great share.
Great tutorial - love the pictures!
I am a big fan of everything that goes on a cheese board. I'm in a book club and our food spread is pretty much based on cheese, salty meats and crackers so I really enjoyed this post and your tips!
Thank you! I have always wanted to make/create a cheese board and gave up before shopping because I hadn't a clue where to begin. Breaking it down into these steps makes the effort worth it! Now, to add it to my holiday menu....
I think I started on this same post but ate it before I got pictures done. This is how I do it too! So easy, so delicious, and the best party/people food around! I have bought some crazy gorgeous boards from Turkey on Etsy. If you are willing to wait for it to get shipped across the ocean on a boat, it's fairly cheap way to get really pretty boards. I'm obsessed, I've bought three this year from overseas! This is so great keep it up!