How to Make the Best Meat and Cheese Board โ Learn my TIPS and tricks to create the BEST meat and cheese board!! From brie to prosciutto and everything in between, this board has it ALL! Itโll be a major hit at your next party!!
Donโt Know What to Put on a Cheese Board?
I can easily make a meal from a cheese board and am extremely happy and content. Iโve done it at least a few thousand times. The photos in this post showcase two different boards I made for different events.
There are a zillion ways to make a meat and cheese board, and the sky is practically the limit about what to include. Thereโs no rule book. What Iโm sharing here are some my favorite items and my general arranging strategy.
Iโm a cheese โexpertโ only by tasting, eating a ton, and realizing what I love and whatโs just so-so.
Everyoneโs tastes are different and as with champagne or wine, experimentation and trying new cheeses is the only way youโll find out what you like, donโt like as much, and youโll end up finding hidden gems along the way.
I have put together extravagant-looking cheese boards with less than 10 minutes before party guests arrive. Point being, you donโt have to spend tons of time on it nor does it have to be super precise nor does it have to break the bank.
Go with what looks good to you and incorporate the ingredients you and your guests enjoy and that are within your budget.
Donโt forget the champagne (or wine or cocktails) to wash it all down with!
The Best Cheeses for a Cheese Board
If you have cheese you love, go for it. As a rule of thumb, I try to do two kinds of French brie, one semi-soft and/or goat cheese, and one or two different hard cheeses.
Hereโs a breakdown of the types of cheeses I recommend including on a meat and cheese board:
Brie Cheese
I find that people gravitate toward brie at my parties. That may just be my friends and guests (major brie fiends), but I can have a myriad of other cheeses out and the brie is always the first to go. Because of this I always include two different kinds of French brie.
For this board I used a smooth, mellow, ultra-creamy triple-cream brie as well as St. Andre brie. The St. Andre has more of a ripe flavor and bite and isnโt as silky-creamy.
Goat Cheese
If I know I have guests who like goat cheese (soft), I will also include one even though there are already two kinds of brie (soft, soft). I like goat cheese thatโs flavored with honey, merlot, or something a little more interesting than plain goat cheese.
You can slice goat cheese into rounds or break it apart, put it in a small dish, add honey and thyme or rosemary to it, and itโs wonderful. The honey neutralizes some of the tanginess, which I appreciate.
If you enjoy goat cheese with more of a funk, Humbolt Fog is a winner, although pricey at $26 a pound in my area.
Semi-Soft / Hard Cheeses
Port Salut is a semi-soft cheese thatโs creamy, mild-flavored, the bright orange rind is edible and eye-catching, and people always seem to enjoy this cheese. If you have guests (or kids) who donโt like โstrong cheeses,โ this is a good one to include.
I personally love aged Spanish Manchego and the longer itโs aged, the more I love it. Itโs a great hard cheese that I always include because Iโm partial to it. In general I love cheese thatโs bold, forward, ripe, bitey, intensely flavored.
Trader Joeโs sells a cheese call Unexpected Cheddar for $3.99 per 8 ounces. Itโs one of my personal favorites based on value, taste, and everyone seems to love it.
It reads along the lines of a Parmesan in terms of the saltiness and flavor but there are what I would call โsalt crystalsโ in the cheese and when you bite into these lovely texture bombs, itโs better than any Parmesan. Especially when itโs one-fifth the price of Parm.
Other favorite hard cheeses include Pecorino, Parmesan, and washed-rind cheeses such as Toscano varieties. These are cheeses with a โflavoredโ rind such as black-pepper, espresso, merlot, syrah, or rum and are great options and nice conversation-piece cheeses.
I have a favorite gouda called Leydon Gouda that I can only buy at Whole Foods. I donโt love-love goudas in general unless itโs a Dutch gouda because those read saltier and sharper in flavor to me.
However, I love the Leydon gouda because it has flecks of cilantro running though it that youโd swear is actually anise. A really complex lovely flavor profile that I adore. Itโs the cheese on the top right corner with flecks of green in it.
How to Arrange Cheese on a Cheese Board
I arrange my cheeses vertically down my platter before adding anything else. Space them out so theyโre not crowded and obviously unwrap them.
I recommend saving the wrappers and stash them somewhere so that if someone asks what exactly is this cheese, you can show them the wrapper so they know what to look for at the store. Or, if youโve had a few too many libations, you can remember the next day exactly what you served.
The Best Meats for a Meat and Cheese Board
Meat can never compare with cheese for me. The end.
Pick your favorite prosciutto, chorizo, salami, speck, pepperoni, salami, and the various cured meats that you love. Trader Joeโs has a diverse and very ample selection of reasonably-priced cured meats.
I usually grab about 2 to 3 packs of meat that looks interesting to me that day. I find that the more meat I buy, the more my guests will consume. If I buy $15 worth, itโs gone. If I buy $30 worth, gone. So I tend to set a budget and buy what I think is appropriate and be done.
How to Arrange Meat on a Meat and Cheese Board
I arrange the meat all in one corner of the board in case there are vegetarian guests who definitely donโt want the meat touching anything else.
In general, remember that cured meats are fragrant and the meaty scents and flavors will likely transfer to nearby items on the board so donโt put the meat next to some delicate raspberries.
Make sure to โfluff upโ the meat rather than adding it straight from the package because it likely will be sticking together from the vacuum seal so un-stick it rather than let your guests.
The Best Fruit for a Meat and Cheese Board
This is highly variable based on the season. However, I will always include grapes and depending on the season and price, I will use red, green, black, and/or a combination.
Because I love champagne with strawberries and blueberries in it, I will likely be buying those berries anyway and some will end up on the board.
Apple wedges and figs are great in the fall, pomegranate seeds in the winter, pears in the springs, stone fruit and berries in the summer. Go with what you love, whatโs semi-seasonal, and affordable.
I could eat my weight in dried fruit. Dried apricots, raisins, craisins, sun-dried tomatoes, mango, you name it, I love it. Use your faves and if you already have lots of fresh fruit, skip the dried fruit if you think no one will miss it.
How to Arrange Fruit on a Meat and Cheese Board
I arrange the fresh and dried fruit strategically around the board depending on where I think each color looks nice.
Break your grapes into small bunches. You donโt need a bunch with 40 grapes on it. If someone tries to transfer that to a plate itโs awkward and if they leave it on the board, thereโs a half-eaten stalk of grapes.
The Best Nuts for a Meat and Cheese Board
There is nothing better than a salty, savory nut mix. The more you eat, the more you want. On this board I added a trail mix with cashews, almonds, raisins, and craisins.
I love adding a bowl of rosemary-flavored Marcona almonds. If youโve never had Marcona almonds theyโre so much better to me than regular almonds. Sorry, regular almonds!
Marcona almonds donโt actually donโt taste that almond-ey to me. Theyโre softer (more like a cashew) rather than your traditional hard almond and when theyโre coated with oil, salt, and rosemary (thank you Trader Joeโs or Amazon), Iโm in heaven. They are pricey buggers and a splurge, but worth it.
Pistachios are always delish. I have a love-hate relationship with pistachios in the shell. They taste better (all that salt) but then you have the shells and itโs not as โlady-likeโ to be shucking pistachio shells at a dinner party. For that reason sometimes I choose unshelled pistachios to put out.
More budget-friendly ideas include mixed nuts, honey-roasted peanuts, or sunflower seeds.
To arrange, I put the nuts in small bowls and add them to sparse areas of the board.
The Best Crackers for a Meat and Cheese Board
I am a cracker snob. I am annoying and I admit it. If youโre not as particular as I am, any ole assortment of โassorted crackersโ where there are 3 or 4 kinds in a box and theyโre differently shaped, youโll likely be just fine.
If you are like me and like different textures and flavors in your crackers, there is nothing like the Raisin Rosemary Crackers at Trader Joeโs. The Fig Olive version is also a standard year-round, but I prefer the Raisin Rosemary.
They also have seasonal versions including Pumpkin, Pomegranate, and Mango-Ginger and I literally buy all of them by the case, depending on the season, and hoard so they donโt โsell outโ before Iโve had my fill.
I like to offer a gluten-free option and my favorite is Maryโs Crackers, Original flavor (Black Pepper is the runner-up) because theyโre extra crunchy and loaded with seeds and texture. Theyโre nowhere near as salty as many other gluten-free crackers Iโve tried.
I feel like some companies add salt to compensate for the lack of gluten or whatever it is, but many GF crackers are salt bombs, which you donโt need with cheese.
Tip: Keep the gluten-free crackers in their own area and separate from the gluten-containing crackers for obvious reasons.
I always include mini brioche toasts or mini French bread rounds. Whole Foods sells them in their bakery area, and theyโre sometimes baked with garlic or other seasonings, and theyโre very cheap. Itโs the only thing you can get for two bucks at WFโs and get a big bag of. Kidding, not really. TJโs or any grocery store also has them.
Baked pita chips are always a winner and theyโre what you see spanning large sections of the photos. Theyโre fluffy and puffy and add nice height to the board.
How to Arrange Crackers on a Meat and Cheese Board
You always want to think high and fluffy rather than low and flat when youโre arranging food; or at least I do.
At the very least, you want the board to have different levels of heights and placing various types of crackers or toasts all over the board to fill in the final spaces is my strategy.
The Best Sauces and Spreads for a Meat and Cheese Board
Think: hot pepper jelly, mustards, caponata, your favorite honey, fig jam, or any kind of interesting jams or jellies that you love. Hot pepper jelly, smeared on a cracker, with melty brie on top, heaven. Meat is great with mustard on a brioche toast for many guests.
The juicy tomatoes shown above are great with cheese.
I am a major fan of honeycomb. Itโs expensive and I order it on Amazon because itโs easier to justify that way. Itโs a great conversation piece because usually no one has ever had it, itโs such a novel and rare item, and when you see the beeโs artwork with the intricate comb that holds the sweet honey, you canโt help but feel that nature is amazing.
And you canโt help but feel amazing that youโre sharing this with your guests!
All The Rest
There are so many other things you could include on a DIY cheese board, including hummus, olives, pate, and pretty much anything else that you think would be fun, fitting, and delicious for your board. Add to your heartโs content.
What Cheese Board Do You Recommend?
Use what you have, can afford, and is size and shape-appropriate for the event. For instance, I use cheaper old wood cutting boards that I line with parchment and then bring out to my backyard parties and save my fancy and ultra-heavy marble for indoor and fancier parties.
The board shown is an Etsy purchase from 5 years ago that worked out well for this party.
Tips for Making a Cheese Board
Line the cheese board with parchment paper: I have so many different sized boards and in different materials from slate to wood to marble.
Since I like to try to fill my boards up to the max with ingredients and leave as little โwhite spaceโ as possible, a cleanup tip is that I line the board with parchment paper before I add any ingredients, leaving just a bare margin around the edges so you can actually see the edges of the board.
The last thing I want to do at midnight or later is scrape dried-on brie off my expensive marble board so parchment is my friend.
Finding cutlery for cheese boards: Antique shops and thrift stores often have a great assortment of inexpensive, mismatched butter knives and small knives and theyโre perfect for cheese boards.
Knives tend to disappear and get carted off on peopleโs plates at parties so I always have more knives on the plate than I think will actually be needed.
The knives shown are from Anthropologie and they werenโt cheap but they had a pretty factor that I couldnโt pass up.
Have at least one sharp knife out: Make sure thereโs at least one semi-sharp or pointed knife for cutting hard cheese.
How much meat and cheese to buy: In terms of food quantity, you know your guests and it also depends on the rest of your menu. If this is all youโre serving and are just having people over for cheese and cocktails (I do that often), then size up.
If youโve also got prime rib, mashed potatoes, two sides, and a chocolate soufflรฉ waiting, then scale down. However, in my experience people tend to eat more cheese and meat than you think they will, at least my apparently very hungry friends and family members do.
Bring the cheese to room temperature: Cheese tastes better after itโs come to room temp so set out your cheese 15 to 30 minutes before serving if possible. But not too far in advance (hours and hours before), or if can dry out and cheese like brie can almost get too soft and runny if itโs warm outside.
Ready to Create Your Own Cheese Board Set-Up?
I know that this was a long post, but hopefully you now know what to put on a cheese board. Creating a meat and cheese board โ or a regular cheese board, or a meat and cracker board, or any appetizer board at all! โ is all about the arrangement.
Just start layering the various meats, cheeses, spreads, nuts, and fruit and enjoy the process!
If you have any further questions about how to make a cheese board or need help with your cheese board set up, leave me a comment below!
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Meat and Cheese Board
Ingredients
- cheeseboard and utensils
- cheese
- meats
- fruit
- nuts
- crackers
- spreads
- anything else/optional ingredients
Instructions
- Read blog post for my personal favorite items and arranging strategies.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Cheese Boar Ideas:
Easy Spanish Cheese Board โ Learn my TIPS and tricks to create the PERFECT cheese board! From prosciutto to manchego and everything in between, this board has ALL the goodies! Itโll be a major hit at your next party!
Girls Night Charcuterie Board โ A SALTY-SWEET mix of meats, cheeses, fruit, chocolate almonds, crackers, and more for your next GIRLS-NIGHT-IN!! Thereโs something for everyone on this EASY-TO-ASSEMBLE board!!
Your blog always provides a refreshing perspective. I appreciate the depth and effort you put into each post. Keep inspiring us!
great
great
YAAASSSSSS!!! Where has this post been all my life??
Just come to San Diego. Iโd be happy to make you one (with bubbly of course)! :)
Iโm French and I LOVE your cheese board! I would simply add some fresh sourdough baguette as well, cause I need bread with everything ;-)
You canโt go wrong with bread! And thanks for the compliment on my board!
Everything looks delicious. My only suggestion is keep meats separate unless you know for sure you have no
vegetarians among the guests. We have several in the family so I keep things apart.
I actually touched on that in the post, to keep the meats separated if you know youโre having veg guests. I agree!
You only mention putting them on the side of obviously the same board. They should be on a separate dish.
Can you do something about all the ads?? Too frustrating. Have to keep clearing them off and then they come right back.
This post, was making my mouth water. I eat cheese plate for dinner about 2-3 times a month.
My favorite at the moment is toasts + shell on pistachios + smoked Gouda + speck.
Have you tried the cranberry cheddar from Aldi? Now that is an AMAZING cheese!!!!
I havenโt tried the cranberry cheddar from Aldi and now I want to! I love cheese plates for dinner at least once a week! haha!
Beautiful board and fantastic recommendations. Thank you!!
Youโre welcome!
Yummy! Totally pinning this! Great ideas and a gorgeous looking platter! Have a few cheeses you might love if you want to try something new. All three of these could be a little polarizing because they are very distinct and flavorful. However, they are a home run for adventurous eaters! My family LOVES truffle! Thereโs a cheese by Cypress Grove called TRUFFLE TREMOR -Iโve only ever found it at Whole Foods or Amazon (most stores who carry CG donโt carry this particular flavor for some reason) โ talk about soooooo good! You have to love the truffle flavor though. Itโs a soft-ripped goat cheese. I always include this on my board and people FREAK. I sometimes add a jar of truffle honey (plenty on Amazon) and thatโs a huge hit too! Another cheese that we love is RED DRAGON by igourmet (Amazon). Itโs a smooth, firm cheddar made with brown ale and mustard seeds! Itโs buttery & spicy but not too hot. The ale makes it tangy. One more is: Salemville Applewood Smoked Smokehouse Blue Cheese (Harris Teeter or Kroger). Iโd never had smoked blue cheese until we had it at a Tapas place in ATL. We were blown away. I was on the lookout for one and found this brand and Kroger and loved it! We love the Marcona almonds too! Thanks for the tip about the rosemary ones from Amazon! Love the fig jam too! Awesome post! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for pinning and for your unique cheese recommendations. I will keep an eye out for those. Iโm always on the hunt for new and interesting cheeses to try!
The rosemary marcona that I buy are actually from TJโs not Amazon. Although Iโm sure Amazon has them too!
So many great tips here! I LOVE cheese boards and would also be happy with this as a meal! So good!
Literally my heaven. I could eat this every single day!
Me too :) Not a day goes by without cheese!
Another amazing looking cheese board!! I have been able to try so many different cheeses, spreads, and cured meats since Kroger put their cheese shop in. They have multiple samples out daily and if I am curious about something they will just cut me a piece to try. I have come to love strong, bold cheeses (and a few of the employees know that about me). I need to find the manchego you are referring to. TJโs gouda with cilantro sounds fabulous!
My Ralphโs (Kroger) also has a really nice cheese/meat area that they put in about a year ago. Except mine doesnโt do samples :( I love strong, bold cheeses as well. The Manchego is amazing! Get it the next time youโre at TJs and the Leydon Gouda with the cilantro is from Whole Foods. Sooo good too!