Easy Christmas Charcuterie Board
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A simple and beautiful Christmas Charcuterie Board is an easy way to entertain during the holidays. In fact, it’s often the central gathering place at parties where there is something for everyone on an easy-to-make festive Holiday cheeseboard! And all it takes is about 10 minutes to assemble!
If you love simple entertaining for the holidays, be sure to see our Easy Christmas Breakfast Charcuterie Board or Easy Holiday Cheese Board as well!
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What I Love About a Christmas Charcuterie Board
The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, for a reason. It’s the season of twinkling lights, snow covered mountains, hot cocoa… and favorite holiday movies. In addition to all of that wonderfulness… for me, there’s nothing better than gathering with friends and family to celebrate Christmas day (or Christmas Eve).
If you’re entertaining for the holidays, or simply gathering the family close, there is nothing easier than serving simple delicious appetizers!
And when tidbits of delicious nibbles, from fruit to crackers, meats, and cheeses are arranged on a festive Christmas Charcuterie board, its all the more fun!
Why I Love Charcuterie Boards:
- Casual Entertaining: A cheeseboard will often set the tone for the gathering. It’s a fun way to begin a party, allowing people to interact and even meet.
- Simple to Customizable: I love how easy it is to adapt ingredients to favorite foods or dietary preferences.
- Quick and easy: In minutes, you can easily add your favorite meats, cheese, fruits, and veggies to a board. Make it festive with sprigs of herbs like rosemary, bay leaves, and sage or mint.
As you can tell, I’m absolutely in love with serving charcuterie boards, whether as a holiday breakfast, an easy brunch charcuterie board throughout the year, or simply as snacks and appetizers to get the party started.
Did you know?
“Charcuterie” is the 15th-century pairing of two French terms — “chair” meaning meat, and “cuit” meaning cooked — and was put into use in early markets specializing in cured meats! Well… now you DO know!
Christmas Charcuterie Board Offerings
As mentioned, one of the things to love about a charcuterie board, especially a holiday charcuterie board, is how simple it is to customize the board for the time of day, occassions, and the guests. These are the ingredients I’ve used on this board, but be creative and add to or subtract to your heart’s content.
Some of the items I’ve made from scratch previously for gifts and my holiday cheeseboards. But all items can be store-bought and mixed and matched.
I typically like to serve a variety of textures on a cheeseboard, including cheeses, meats, fruits, and crispy crackers. I also choose items by color, seasonality of fruit to herbs, and items that need little to no prep (like slicing). Here is what I’ve included on this Christmas Charcuterie Board:
- Crackers: To make it really simple, I used a variety pack of assorted crackers.
- Olives: By visiting the deli section of your market, you can often find a variety of olives you can purchase in small quantities, which is perfect for a charcuterie board. I used pitted Castelvetrano, Spanish and Greek olives, and pimiento-stuffed olives for holiday colors.
- Cherry tomatoes: for Christmas color.
- Fruits & Berries: Thick slices of kiwi (the only slicing on this board!), raspberries, green grapes, blueberries, and pomegranate wedges.
- Cheeses: Mozzarella balls, ready-to-serve cubes of Colby Jack, and sharp cheddar. To serve slices, consider using small cookie cutters to shape cheese into festive Christmas trees, stars, etc.
- Meats: For the Christmas rose, I used slices of salami, Proscuitto Panino, and pepperoni slices.
- Rosemary Cream Cheese Spread: I made a simple dip using whipped cream cheese, 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary, a drizzle of honey, and a pinch of sea salt.
- Herbs: This helps create a “Christmas Wreath” effect by garnishing the edges of your round board with bits of fresh rosemary and sage or bay leaves.
- Sweetened Mixed Nuts: I love to make a batch of these sweet and salt nuts early in the season for gift giving and boards. But, you can easily buy prepared sweet nuts too.
How to Make a Christmas Charcuterie Board
- BOARD: Use any large round board you have. Place a bowl or paper plate in the middle to help keep the Christmas wreath shape. Pizza peels work great too!
- PLAN & PREP: Make a list of what you want to offer on your board. Two to three options of cheese and meat is a good starting place.
- ARRANGE your items in a circle to form a wreath shape. Keep sections together, repeating as needed across the board. Consider complementary colors and textures next to each other. Position the items close to the board’s edges and fill in the gaps with small items like nuts and berries.
- GARNISH the edges of the board with fresh herbs to create a Christmas wreath.
Tips for Serving a Christmas Charcuterie Board
- Use a Big Board: Make your Christmas wreath board large enough to serve your guests without replenishing food throughout the party. Repeat offerings around the board as needed to create easy access to the delicious items on your board.
- Small bowls: Use small containers and bowls for dips, spreads, nuts, and small items.
- Cheeseboard Utensil Set: It’s helpful to have small cheese knives and utensils for serving.
How to Make a Christmas Charcuterie Board Ahead
This Christmas charcuterie board is easy to make ahead and store until ready to assemble. Prepare recipes like nuts, dips, and spreads ahead, cover, and refrigerate until serving.
More Holiday Appetizers
Easy Christmas Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
- 3 cups variety crackers on a side plate
- 1 cup mozzarella balls removed from the container of water and dried lightly with a paper towel
- 1 cup cheddar cheese cubes
- 1 cup Colby Jack cheese cubes
- 2 cups Italian meats like rolls of Prosciutto Panino, salami and pepperoni slices
- 1 cup mixed olives like pitted Castelvetrano, Spanish, Green and Pimiento Stuffed olives
- 2 fuzzy kiwi sliced thin
- 2 cups raspberries or a variety of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
- 1 cup green grapes
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes on the side
- 1 cup spread See notes for the spread I used
- fresh herbs rosemary, sage, and fresh bay leaves are good choices to create a wreath
Instructions
- Present cheeseboard items according to color and texture. Create pleasing holiday colors by placing red, green, and white items throughout the wreath.
- Build your Christmas board items in a circle to form a wreath shape. Place a bowl in the center of the board to help you keep the shape while adding items.
- Finally, tuck sprigs of fresh herbs around the board to make it festive and pretty.
Notes
- Crackers: To make it really simple, I used a variety pack of assorted crackers.
- Olives: By visiting the deli section of your market, you can often find a variety of olives you can purchase in small quanities, which is perfect for a charcuterie board. I used pitted Castelvetrano, Spanish and Greek olives, and pimiento stuffed olives for holiday colors.
- Cherry tomatoes: for Christmas color.
- Fruits & Berries: Thick slices of kiwi (the only slicing on this board!), raspberries, green grapes, blueberries, and wedges of pomegranite.
- Cheeses: Mozzarella balls, ready to serve cubes of Colby Jack and sharp cheddar. To serve slices, consider using small cookie cutters to shape cheese into festive Christmas trees, stars, etc.
- Meats: For the Christmas rose, I used slices of salami, Proscuitto Panino, and pepperoni slices.
- Rosemary Cream Cheese Spread: I made a simple dip using whipped cream cheese, 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary, a drizzle of honey, and a pinch of sea salt.
- Herbs: This helps create a “Christmas Wreath” effect by garnishing the edges of your round board with bits of fresh rosemary and sage or bay leaves.
- Sweetened Mixed Nuts: I love to make a batch of these sweet and salty nuts early in the season for gift-giving and boards. But, you can easily buy prepared sweet nuts too.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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