Here’s how to build the best charcuterie board in less than 20 minutes! Spring edition… Learn the basic rules and create your masterpiece with ease.

What is charcuterie board?

Charcuterie (“shar-coo-tu-ree”) means a variety of cured meats and even patês, like prosciutto, salami, ham, bacon, chorizo, liver pate, etc!

My favorite cured meats are white wine salami, prosciutto and smoked salmon. And I included all three of them in my spring meat and cheeseboard today.

How to build the best charcuterie board:

Step 1. Choose a large platter

You really don’t have to have a beautiful cheese board. Any large surface will do. Here, I’m using a large baking stone. But in the past, I’ve used a simple baking sheet, a large cutting board, and even just a big serving platter.

Step 2. Gather all the ingredients

Right before assembling your charcuterie board, bring everything out on the counter.

Cut all the cheeses into different shapes and sizes for an interesting presentation. I’ve covered how to choose cheeses for cheese boards in my Charcuterie and Cheese Board tutorial.

Step 3. Arrange the cheeses first

Now that you’re ready to build your board, start with your cheeses. Just place them in random places on an empty board. Don’t worry, it’s just a starting point and you can tweak things later too.

Step 4. Onto the meats

Now, arrange the cured meats, spacing them out in different corners of the platter.

Step 5. Fill in the gaps

• First, add bowls onto the board. Say, if you have bowl of blue cheese, or olives, jams or honey. It’s easier to place the bowls first while you still have some room.
• Then arrange some fruits and vegetables. In this platter, I placed snap peas and sliced radishes together with hummus. Perfect spring addition!
• Crackers come in next. Again, I like to place different varieties in different places, so they aren’t bunched together in one area.
• Lastly, literally fill in the gaps with different snacks, like dried fruits, nuts, olives, etc.

Surprise Ingredient:

I love featuring at least one interesting ingredient besides cheeses and meats. And this beautiful raw honeycomb makes it the best charcuterie board, in my opinion.

Yes, the whole honeycomb (wax and all) is entirely edible!

Remember, rules are meant to be broken! Get inspired by rules, then do it your way, however makes sense to you! I promise it’ll delicious and fun no matter what!

Cheese Board Inspirations:

Check out my other cheese boards:

• Charcuterie and Cheese Board – This is indepth tutorial on how to build an epic charcuterie and cheese board. A must read!
• Summer Cheese Board – A great inspiration for summer cheese platter featuring summer’s best fruits!
• Cheese Platter for Two – Learn my go-to 8 cheese platter tips!