How To Set Up A Christmas Charcuterie Board

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If you’re looking for a unique and impressive way to serve holiday appetizers this year, look no further than a Christmas Charcuterie Board.

A charcuterie board can be customized to suit any taste and is sure to impress your guests.

Here’s how to set up a festive and delicious charcuterie board of your own.

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Christmas Charcuterie Board

The whole ingredients list and instructions are in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions, to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required and understand the steps and timings involved.

I have always loved setting up charcuterie boards, as they’re a great way to serve a variety of delicious foods, and they look amazing with minimal effort!

Over the past few years, charcuterie boards have exploded in popularity, and if you’ve been on Pinterest you will no doubt have seen many gorgeous boards covered with all kinds of charcuterie.

From traditional French and Italian boards to modern-day versions with crackers, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and dipping sauces.

You can even make a board with candy and desserts – I actually have a Chocolate Dessert Charcuterie Board that you can take a look at.

But before that, let me talk you through the elements that make up our Christmas charcuterie board.

What is a Charcuterie Board?

Well, essentially it’s a platter – be that a wooden board, ceramic plate, or even tabletop, filled with a beautiful display of finger foods. You might also hear the term grazing board to describe pretty much the same thing.

The word charcuterie (pronounced shar-KOO-tər-ee), is a French term for a branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés, and confit, primarily from pork. Source: Wikipedia.

Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe

While most ingredients can be bought in grocery stores, for your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed for this recipe have been linked to Amazon or other stores if available online.

The complete list of ALL ingredients with measurements is found on the recipe card at the end of this post.

Ingredients Needed For A Christmas Charcuterie Board

The hardest aspect of creating your first charcuterie board is going to be deciding what goes on it; the rest is fairly easy! I ADORE creating them for parties.

This charcuterie board “recipe” is really just a guide on how to set up a board of delicacies to serve at your next Christmas gathering.

The items listed below are used in the board featured in this post.

But if you can’t source a particular element, don’t like something, or want to switch to something else – you totally can. You could visit a local deli counter and see what’s good!

Thanks to Wiki for the description of the various ingredients…

Cured Meats

• Salami – a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork.
• Pepperoni – an American variety of spicy salami made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chili pepper.
• Prosciutto – Italian uncooked, unsmoked, and dry-cured ham.
• Dry Coppa – also known as capocollo, is a traditional Italian and Corsican pork cold cut
• Soppressata – a southern Italian dry salami.

TIP! Buying your cured meats ready-sliced will make the setting up of your Christmas charcuterie board a lot easier.

Cheese

• Brie – a soft cow’s-milk cheese named after Brie, the French region from which it originated. It is pale in color with a slight grayish tinge under a rind of white mold. The rind is typically eaten.
• Cheddar – a relatively hard, off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting cheese originating from the English village of Cheddar in Somerset.
• Colby Jack Cheese – an American cheese made from Colby and Monterey Jack. It is classified as semi-hard in texture and is mild due to its two-week aging process. In the UK, you could substitute Colby Jack for Gouda which is a sweet, creamy, yellow cow’s milk cheese originating from the Netherlands
• Fontina – an Italian cow’s milk cheese,  semisoft to hard in texture and mild to medium-sharp in flavor. It is distinctively nutty and savoury. If you struggle to find Fontina, try Gruyère or Emmental.
• Blue Cheese – is a semi-soft cheese with a sharp, salty flavor. It is made with cultures of the edible mold Penicillium, giving it spots or veins throughout the cheese in shades of blue or green. Types of blue cheese include Stilton, Roquefort, and Gorgonzola.
• Mozzarella Pearls – a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo’s milk. The pearls are perfect for charcuterie boards, but you could also tear up a larger ball of Mozzarella if you prefer.
• Mini Babybel – these mini, wax-covered cheeses are just the right size for grazing boards, and are now available in other types as well as the original.
• Goat Cheese – also known as chèvre, is cheese made from goat’s milk. It is made around the world with a variety of recipes, giving many different styles of cheese, from fresh and soft to aged and hard. We used a Wild Blueberry Chèvre Goat Cheese Log on this platter, but use one that is available to you where you live.

MONEY-SAVING TIP! Aldi and Lidl (UK) are great places to shop for your charcuterie produce, especially continental meats and cheeses, as they often have a big variety to choose from at affordable prices.

Fruit, Vegetables & Olives

• Strawberries – leave the leaves on for a nice presentation.
• Green and Red Grapes – pick some grapes off the stems to place individually, and break some of them into smaller bunches
• Pomegranate Arils/Seeds – these can often be bought as seeds in a package rather than you having to remove the seeds from the pomegranate fruit. The arils are used to fill the Christmas tree cutout in the Brie wheel.
• Blueberries and Blackberries – check for bruising and use the best berries for your charcuterie plate.
• Baby Tomatoes – you can use whatever type of baby tomato you like – cherry, grape, or baby plum. You could even use different colored tomatoes if available, but I think the red ones lend to the festiveness of the charcuterie board.
• Olives – use your favorite kind of olive. Use whole olives – pitted or unpitted, stuffed or unstuffed – your choice.
  • Green Olives – often stuffed with pimentos, garlic, or lemon rind.
  • Kalamata Olives – a very popular Greek olive.
  • Black Olives – includes Kalamata, but other tasty varieties are Niçoise, Mission, and Amfissa.

TIP! Ensure that you use fresh fruit rather than frozen which will end up being mushy on your board.

Condiments & Sweet Treats

• Red Pepper Jelly – you can of course use any kind of complimentary condiment, dip, or chutney that you like.
• Sconza Milk Chocolate Churro Toffee Almonds – this is quite a specific addition to our Christmas board, but you can use any sweet or savory flavored almond. And indeed, any kind of nut you like.
• Yogurt-coated Raisins – these are one of my guilty pleasures! You could use regular raisins, or indeed other dried fruit like cranberries or apricots.
• Chocolate-coated Blueberries – I found these in the UK from Ocado! You could use other chocolate-coated things like raisins, peanuts, or Brazil nuts.

Garnishes

• Fresh Cranberries – these are not for consumption but are sugared to add a festive touch!
• Cinnamon Sticks – for decorative purposes.
• Fresh Rosemary and Dill Sprigs – this adds some pretty green color to the presentation.

TIP! For extra Christmassy garnish, cut star shapes from cheese slices using a cookie cutter.

Equipment Needed For This Recipe

• Wooden Board – or a platter to place all of the charcuterie elements on. The one you see in these photos is 9″ x 13″, but you can use one you have to hand and adjust to the items to fit.
• Small Bowl – to serve the condiments in. You could also use a ramekin.
• Sharp Knife
• Chopping/Cutting Board – to cut and prepare the food.
• Christmas Cookie Cutters – including tree and star shapes.
• Small Plates – for guests to eat from. This might be ceramic plates, or paper plates, which will depend on your event.
• Charcuterie Utensils – knives, tongs, spoons, etc. You will need them for guests to cut cheese, and pick up foods from the charcuterie board, as well as utensils to eat with.

Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog use both cup measurements and/or weighted measurements. American cups and kitchen food scales are handy pieces of equipment to have in your kitchen as it means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog. I try to give American, imperial, and metric measurements in my recipes. Please note, that you can mix cup measurements with weighted measures, but never mix imperial (pounds, ounces, pints, etc.,) with metric (kilograms, grams, liters, etc.,).

More Festive Appetizer Recipes

Here are some more appetizers for serving at a holiday party:

• Recipe for Baked Brie with Cranberries and Walnuts
• Pistachio and Raisin Goat Cheese Log For Holiday Entertaining
• Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates Wrapped in Bacon – Holiday Appetizer Recipe
• Christmas Brie Crostini Appetizer with Orange-Cranberry Relish
• Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts Party Appetizer with Spicy Mustard Dip

There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too.

What is the Best Board To Use for Charcuterie?

It’s a common misconception that a charcuterie board must be displayed on a wooden board.

But you can use slate, marble, ceramic, and glass, and even line a counter or table with parchment paper and lay everything out direct. (Very popular on TikTok!)

Take a look at your trays and platters – I’m sure there are plenty you could use.

There are really no hard and fast rules – use what you have, or invest in a good quality non-porous hardwood or bamboo board to use for charcuterie.

Hardwoods such as olive, black walnut, teak, and acacia are best.

Softwoods like oak or ash are not good to use as a charcuterie as they’re too porous and the oils and aromas will leak into the wood.

No matter what shape it is – square, rectangle, round, or otherwise – reserve the board you’ll use to serve cheese and meats solely for that use. Don’t chop food on it as well.

How To Set Up A Christmas Charcuterie Board

The printable recipe card has the full ingredients list and instructions and can be found at the end of this post.

This charcuterie board is an assembly job rather than a recipe as all the items are bought ready-made.

However, you will need to “make” the salami rose (which is easier than you think!), and “frost” the cranberries with sugar for added decoration.

Step 1: To make a salami rose, you will need a glass and thin slices of salami. Fold the salami slices over the rim of the glass, placing each one about halfway over the one before. This will produce the pretty design you often see on charcuterie boards.

Step 2: Press a Christmas tree cookie cutter about ¼ of the way into the top of the Brie wheel, and carefully remove it with a knife. The tree-shaped cavity will be filled with pomegranate seeds.

Place the Brie wheel in the center of your board (we used a ceramic platter), the Brie triangle in the top left, the blue cheese in the bottom left, and the goat cheese in the bottom right.

Make sure that they are not too close to the edge – use the photo below as a guide.

Step 3: Roll the prosciutto and dry coppa and place the rolls standing up around the top half of the Brie wheel. Any remaining meat, place by the goat cheese.

Fold the pepperoni slices in half and then in half again, and place them in a line below the Brie wheel and across the whole board. Fold the remaining salami the same way and place some above the Brie triangle, and in a line to the right of the blue cheese.

Place the salami rose in the top right corner and the cheese and meat rolls in a pile on either side of the Brie wheel.

Step 4: Add a bowl at the top of the board and fill it with red pepper jelly.

Place mozzarella pearls around the salami rose.

Unpeel Mini Babybels and place them in a line to the right of the blue cheese – cut a tiny sliver from the edge so that they can stand up.

Finally add the square slices of Cheddar, Colby Jack, and Fontina cheese in an overlapping row on either side of the Brie Wheel.

Step 5: Now start adding fruit – blueberries between the bowl of jelly and the Brie triangle, raspberries behind the goat cheese, blackberries and green grapes on their stem, to the left of the blue cheese.

Step 6: Continue to add the remaining elements to the board, which pictured below is:

• Halved strawberries in a row to the left of the Brie triangle, with yogurt raisins next to the left of the strawberries.
• Green, Kalamata, and black olives around the salami rose.
• Baby tomatoes behind the blue cheese.
• Single red grapes to the right of the Mini Babybels, with the churro almonds in front of them.
• Chocolate-covered blueberries to the right of the goat cheese.

Step 7: Your holiday charcuterie board is now assembled. You just need to add some finishing touches!

• Fill the tree-shaped cavity in the Brie with pomegranate arils.
• Break fresh rosemary and dill stems into suitable sizes and poke into various sections of your board as desired.
• Use a cookie cutter to cut star shapes from slices of cheese and arrange them on top.
• Insert a few cinnamon sticks in any empty gaps.
• Add some sugar-frosted cranberries – see below for how to make them. They look like frozen berries, which gives a pretty festive flourish to the board.

How To Sugar-Frost Cranberries

The technique of adding sugar-frosting uses raw egg white. If this is a concern for you, you can use a simple syrup (mix 1 part sugar with 1 part water and stir until the sugar is dissolved).

You can add sugar-frosting to other hard fruits such as grapes, apples, cherries, and plums. Soft berries are not ideal as they are too wet and the sugar won’t harden. You can also use this technique on edible flowers and leaves.

• Whisk an egg white until frothy.
• Pick up a cranberry with a wooden toothpick and dip it into the egg white.
• Use a spoon to sprinkle sugar over the egg white-coated cranberries until covered.
• Leave the fruit to dry/set at room temperature for a couple of hours before using.
• Do not place them in the fridge as the sugar will dissolve making the cranberries sticky instead of pretty!

More Charcuterie Ideas

If you love setting up boards and platters for your guests, then check out these additional ideas:

• How to Assemble An Italian Charcuterie Board
• How To Assemble a Mediterranean Meze Platter
• How To Set Up An Easy Cheese Board

And check out Wendy’s gorgeous Christmas Fruit Platter on Daisies & Pie.

Christmas Charcuterie Board Recipe Card

The printable recipe card below has the full ingredients list and instructions. To save ink, any demonstration photos do not print.

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The Create the Holidays series on The Purple Pumpkin Blog features free printables, crafts, recipes, and more for Christmas and the Winter Holidays. Check out Create the Holidays (formerly Create Christmas) from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.

This charcuterie board features in Twinkl’s 8 No-Bake Recipes blog.

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