How to Build a Cheese Board
How to Build a Cheese Board is an easy how-to on assembling the perfect cheese plate for a crowd. This makes the easiest, crowd-pleasing appetizer. This step by step guide will show you how to do it!
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Assembling Time10 minutes mins
Total Time20 minutes mins
Course: Appetizer, Holiday
Cuisine: American, French
Diet: Vegetarian
Servings: 6 people
Cost: $25
Cheeses To Serve:
- 12 ounces hard cheeses such as gouda, havarti, comté or sharp cheddar
- 12 ounces soft cheeses such as brie, camembert, tallegio or goat cheese
Meats to Serve:
- 1 pound cured meats (such as sliced salami, prosciutto or chorizo)
Nuts to Serve:
- 6 ounces nuts (such as marcona almonds, caramelized pecans, pistachios, walnuts, pecans)
Fruit to Serve:
- 1 pound fresh fruit (such as sliced figs, pears, applies, grapes)
- 4 ounces dried fruit (such as crystallized mango, ginger, cranberries, cherries or golden raisins)
Fun Additions:
- 4 ounces carb (such as bread, crackers, mini toasts)
- 4 ounces something briny (such as olives, peppadews, cornichons)
- 1/4 cup jam or honey
To Assemble the Cheese Board:
Place your board close to the area in which you're going to set it out. Traveling with this entire board can be heavy and scary (especially if you have a dog waiting for anything to drop). There's no wrong way to do this!
I like to add all of the cheeses and carbs to the board FIRST, this way I can arrange around them. Then I add the dried fruit, nuts, meats, briny things, etc. Don't be shy to divide each category in two, adding multiple piles of each group.
Garnish with flowers, if you like and serve.
Tips and Tricks:
- Repeat ingredients on the board - For instance, I have two groups of the same olives, two groups of dried apricots and two groups of prosciutto. I think it looks pretty! And it also offers a practicability factor. If two or three people are reaching for the board, they have options as to where they can grab for the ingredients.
- Get cute with it! Non-edible garnishes are very controversial but I’m down for it. I am pro-non-edible garnishes. I do go with organic flowers as garnish just in case someone decides they want to eat a flower (I dunno). You can also add little ornaments or tinsel around the cutting board.
Calories: 312kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 133mg | Potassium: 365mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 382IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 113mg | Iron: 2mg