This Christmas charcuterie board is made with cured meats, cheeses, dips, fruits and nuts. With a few festive holiday touches, it’s easy entertaining on a beautiful platter.
Easy Holiday Charcuterie Board
Planning and assembling a Christmas charcuterie board is so much easier than you might think! Platters, like this fall charcuterie board, are all about presentation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take shortcuts.
I love adding in homemade aspects like cranberry salsa and baked brie with honey, but you can also use a ton of store-bought ingredients and decor items too!
This Christmas board can be as festive as you make it. No matter what, it’ll be a wonderful introduction to the delicious Christmas dinner menu or holiday dinner party you’ve got planned. This easy-to-follow guide lays it all out for you and soon you’ll be wanting to make a charcuterie board for every occasion!
Tips for Success
Feel free to use my Christmas board as a guide. Follow it to the letter or adjust as needed to make it your own Christmas appetizer idea!
- Determine how many people you will be serving. This will help guide you in purchasing decisions.
- Have an idea if you want your board to be more sweet than savory or more savory than sweet. You could do a combination or make just a Christmas dessert board.
- Make a list of items you will buy versus make at home.
- Decide on a color scheme or shape. A Christmas charcuterie board and Christmas charcuterie wreath are popular.
- Take inventory of serving utensils. I recommend small tongs, spoons, cheese spreaders and forks.
What to Put on a Christmas Charcuterie Board
- A beautiful wood board or platter. This round reclaimed wood board and wood serving tray are two of my favorites.
- 3 small bowls or ramekins for the dip and nuts.
- Serving toothpicks, cocktail forks, tongs, a cheese knife, and napkins (Christmas napkins perhaps!).
- Dips and sauces – Cranberry salsa, spinach dip, or you could substitute homemade hummus, skinny dill dip and my bread dipping oil recipe.
- Cheese – Round of brie (rind on), sliced cheddar, blue cheese, swiss, goat cheese, Havarti, or gouda. If you use baked brie, you’ll need an extra ramekin for that and maybe one more for the jam or spicy jelly, you could also just make cranberry brie bites!
- Cheese ball – Make a cheese ball the focal point instead of a traditional cheese wheel.
- Things to dip – Tortilla chips, crackers, sliced French baguette. Other ideas are naan bread and pretzels.
- Fruits and veggies – Snap peas, olives, pickles, cherry tomatoes, sliced pears. You could also use sliced apples or apple slices, figs, orange slices, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. Use my fruit and cheese platter for inspiration.
- Sliced salami – I like to wrap it around the pear but you can use whatever cured deli meat you prefer.
- Mixed nuts – Use a combination of your favorites. For a sweet touch, use mixed candied nuts instead.
- Garnish – Sprigs of rosemary or other fresh herbs, sliced pomegranate. You could also use dried fruits and chocolates as garnish.
How to Make a Christmas Charcuterie Board
- Arrange your bowls on the board, evenly spaced out anywhere you’d like. Place the wedge (or whole round) of brie down. Wash and slice your fruits and veggies.
- Add your items around the bowls, a bunch at a time. Large items will naturally become the focal point. Place them in the corners or the center. Play around with it a bit before you find what works.
- Fill in the gaps with smaller items like bread, crackers, nuts, fruit, chocolate, or candy.
- Leave no bare spaces. The charm of the best charcuterie board ideas are that they are a feast for the eyes. A little sampling of a lot!
Make Ahead and Storage
- Make ahead: I only recommend assembling this up to an hour before serving. You can cover it loosely and store it at room temperature.
- Storing leftovers: This board can safely stay out for serving for about 4 hours. After that I would dispose any leftover meat and cheese and divide other items into separate storage containers.
More Christmas favorites include this fruit Christmas tree, cranberry meatballs and hot chocolate charcuterie board.
More Easy Christmas Appetizers
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Christmas Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
- 1 batch cranberry salsa
- ½ Brie cheese rind
- ½ cup spinach dip , see note
- 2 cups tortilla chips , more as needed
- 2 cups crackers
- ½ french baguette , sliced
- 1 cup snap peas
- ½ pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 pear , sliced
- 10 pieces salami
- ½ cup mixed nuts
For decoration (optional): sliced pomegranate, rosemary sprigs
Instructions
- Lay 3 bowls on top of the board. Wash fruit, vegetables and slice. Place dip in bowls and cheese rind in corner. Then start arranging ingredients around the bowls.
- Add remaining ingredients to charcuterie board and assemble as desired. Fill in any gaps with nuts or more bread and crackers.
- Serve immediately or cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes
- Cranberry salsa: For this board I made half a batch of this cranberry salsa.
- Delicious dips like these this homemade hummus and skinny dill dip can be substituted.
- Fruit – Fresh apple slices, or dried apple chips, orange slices, grapes, or figs.
- Cheeses – Slices of cheddar, blue cheese, swiss, Havarti, or gouda can be used. You could also make the centerpiece a cheese ball or a baked brie with spicy jelly.
- Bread and crackers– Naan bread, pita bread, Ritz, pretzels, tortilla chips, multi-grain crackers, or french bread could all work.
- Nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios etc. Mixed candied nuts are always a great idea.
- Meats – Feel free to add your favorite cured meats like salami, prosciutto, ham, pepperoni, etc.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Appetizers, Christmas, Platters, Snacks, Thanksgiving
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Wonderful! I could skip a formal dinner and graze.
I LOVE charcuterie boards. One of my favorite things to eat is cheese and crackers, and then you add all the extras for a charcuterie board and I am in heaven! We never really do one for Christmas, need to start! This one looks amazing!
Thank you so much, you have inspired me to make this for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing christmas charcuterie board recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!