Are you looking for a spring-inspired appetizer idea for your next party? If so, I’ve created a simple spring charcuterie board that’s quick and easy to assemble. All you need is an assortment of cured meats, cheeses, fruit, and vegetables that represent the colors and flavors of spring.
Ok, I’m sure you’ve seen beautiful images of charcuterie boards on the web and wondered if you could make one yourself, right? The charcuterie boards always look amazing, but putting one together can be intimidating. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s easier than you think. YOU CAN DO IT! And to make things easier, I’ve created a free printable shopping list of items used in this spring charcuterie board.
What is a Charcuterie Board?
A charcuterie board is typically an appetizer spread that is served on a wooden board or stone slab. It can feature a variety of cured meats, crackers, fruits, breads, cheeses, vegetables, and more.
Spring Charcuterie Board Serving Ware
You don’t need fancy tools or knives to create a charcuterie board. While it’s nice to have specific cheese tools, it’s not impossible to create a charcuterie board without them. However, if you do want to add a few items to your presentation, here’s a list of a few items to consider with ‘no buy’ alternative suggestions.
- Honey dipper or small spoon – Used to drizzle honey over meats and crackers, but a small spoon can be used too.
- Cheese slicer or heavy-duty/thin wire thread – If you want to slice your own cheese from blocks, a cheese slicer makes easier work of slicing cheese into uniform pieces. That being said, heavy-duty thread can be used to slice cheese or even better…buy the cheese already sliced from the deli department.
- Cheese knives or small fruit knives – There are various cheese knives (soft cheese knives, spade knives, slim-blade knives, flat knives, and pronged knives), but a regular fruit knife can also be used too. Note: If serving kids, I would NOT recommend using knives and having everything finger-ready.
- Boards or plates/platters – Use wood boards, marble, slate, or even large plates/platters. It’s up to you! Just keep in mind the size of the crowd. A smaller 13″ round board is suited for small parties and a larger 12″x36″ rectangular board will serve larger crowds. Tip: If you don’t have a large board, use multiple smaller ones to feed a large crowd. If using plates/platters, one or several plates can be decorated and spread around for a large crowd. Note: wood boards and slate should be sealed with food-safe conditioner oil.
- Bowls/Ramekins or containers – To add visual interest to the charcuterie board, use small bowls, mini ramekins, mini jars, and other vessels. Use these to add liquids (honey, jam, or dressing) or small items (raisins, cranberries, etc…). Of course, honey, jams, and dressing can be kept off to the side in their existing containers if you choose not to place these on the board.
- Bunny cookie cutter – To drive the spring theme of this board, I used a bunny cookie cutter in the Brie cheese. Of course, use whatever shape you want to fit the theme of your board.
- Toothpicks – These can be used to make small meat kabobs or left on the side for guests to use to pick up items.
Spring Charcuterie Board Produce
When creating a charcuterie board for each season, try to keep in mind the colors and produce items of the season. For spring, I like to use bright and light colors of fruits and vegetables. Note: This list focuses on produce that are spring colors and may not be a spring crop.
- Baby carrots – great finger food and can be eaten as-is or served with a side of dressing. I used baby carrots to keep with the spring bunny theme.
- Celery – cut celery into small sticks for another great easy to pick-up finger food.
- Broccoli/Cauliflower florets – these look like flowers or trees and make a good vegetable addition to a charcuterie board.
- Sugar snap peas – this late winter or early spring veggie is sweet and crisp for a nice contrast to softer items on a charcuterie board.
- Kiwi – sliced green or golden kiwi make for a nice light spring vibe.
- Strawberries – leave strawberry whole or slice them lengthwise to create pink heart shapes. I chose to use strawberries to add a bit of color.
- Cherries – adds a nice pop of bright color.
- Grapes – Green grapes are a great way to fill large portions of a charcuterie board with minimal effort. To add some green to the board, I used green grapes.
- Oranges/Madarin organges – while oranges are best from December through March, they make great spring/Easter charcuterie board addtions due to their color.
- Optional – Fresh herbs
Spring Charcuterie Board Meats & Crackers
Meats
This list doesn’t include all the meats that can be used on a charcuterie board, but are the most common in grocery store delis. For my board, I only used Prosciutto and salami.
- Prosciutto – uncooked dry Italian ham from the hind leg of a pig.
- Salami – made from a combination of ground beef and pork that is mixed with various seasonings. The longer it’s aged, the drier/harder it gets.
- Pepperoni – created by American-Italian immigrants, this salty and spicy meat is not only great on pizza, it works on a charcuterie board too!
- Uncured Soppressata – depending on the region in Italy, this salami can be made from pork or beef with black pepper, garlic, and various spices.
- Mortadella – Italian bologna that has pork fat and pistachio throughout.
Crackers
Try to have at least 2 crackers on a charcuterie board. One should be be a more basic flavor to pair with flavored cheeses and the other can be a salty flavored cracker for plain cheeses. For this board, I used Triscuit triangle crackers and Milton’s multi-grain crackers.
Spring Charcuterie Board Cheeses
Like the meats list, this isn’t a list of every cheese that can be used on a charcuterie board, but rather the most common and easiest to find. It’s also a personal preference thing, so use what you like. I only used two types of cheese for this spring charcuterie board, Brie and cheddar, but use what you prefer.
- Brie (soft cheese)- For this board, I used Brie cheese for it’s smooth creamy texture. I used a bunny cookie cutter to remove the center and fill it with Apricot preserves to create a spring-themed look. This allowed me to use the cut-out as a ‘serving bowl’ for the preserves. Of course, dried golden raisins could be used in the center as well. Other soft cheese are Chamembert (earthy taste), Chevre (salty and tart goat’s milk cheese), Mozzarella (mild taste made from water buffalo or cow’s milk) , Feta (tangy and salty goat’s milk).
- Cheddar (hard cheese)- This was also used in this spring charcuterie board. It was bought in a cheese assortment pack with Pepper Jack (variant of semi-hard Monterey Jack), Swiss, and Colby Jack (mild and creamy combo of Colby and Monterey cheese). I like using cheddar as it appeals to most people. Other hard cheeses to consider are Havarti (sharp and sweet cow’s milk), Parmigiano-Reggiano, Smoked Gouda (mild and creamy), and Monchego (rich, buttery and made with sheep’s milk).
- Blue Cheeses – Unless you are serving hardcore cheese lovers, I tend to stay away from blue cheese as these tend to be more intense in flavor. However, if you would like to add it, try Stilton (rich and mellow), Roquefort (sweet and sharp sheep’s milk), or Gorgonzola (buttery, salty, and slightly sweet).
Miscellaneous Accoutrements
- Dried Fruits – I used dried apricots. Golden raisins, dried cherries, dates, raisins, etc…
- Honey – Gives a nice contrast to the salty meats and cheeses.
- Dressings/Dips – Ranch, Italian, Dill, etc…
- Nuts – almonds, walnuts, pistachios, etc…
- Candies – Since this is a spring charcuterie board, Easter chocolate dipped almonds, Peeps, yogurt pretzels, jelly beans, and other various spring candies would make a nice addition.
- Olives
How to Make a Spring Charcuterie Board
Step 1: Now that the basics are out of the way, let’s get to putting together this super simple spring charcuterie board! To make assemly quick and easy, gather and prep all your ingredients and serving ware before starting. This means washing and cutting any fruits or vegetables, cutting any cheese, gathering bowls, and any other items being used on the charcuterie board.
Step 2. Since I used Brie cheese, I used a bunny cookie cutter to cut out the center of the cheese. Note: My cheese broke by the ear, but I just pushed it back together and it wasn’t noticeable.
Step 3: Place the Brie cheese and bowls onto the charcuterie board. I chose to place the Brie in the upper left corner, a small bowl for honey in the lower middle, and a medium bowl in the upper right corner. Note: Don’t overthink this part. Just try to space out the main pieces throughout the board. Remember, everything can always be moved if needed.
Step 4: Try to balance the placement of colors and items on the charcuterie board. For example, don’t place all the cheese in oneside or all the green colors to oneside. Try to spread different items across the board to make it visually appealing.
Step 5: This step can be skipped and the meats can be placed as-is onto the charcuterie board. However, if you want to create more visual interest, fold salami into quarters to create ruffles. Note: If the salami is on the thicker side, it might be necessary to use toothpicks to string a few together to keep the shape. Thinner salami will hold their shape easier. Gather Prosciutto to create rosettes.
Step 6: Starting filling the board with crackers, deli meats, and misc. dried fruits/nuts.
Step 7: Fill in the bowls with honey, dips, or sauces. Add Apricot preserves to the bunny cut-out in the Brie cheese. Note: For the kids, I created a small spring charcuterie board using the Brie bunny cut-out with Easter candy and yogurt pretzels. Tip: Keep leftover cheese, crackers, and vegetables ready to refill the board when needed.
Spring Charcuterie Board Shopping Checklist
Free printable spring charcuterie board shopping checklist. One has the items used in the images in bold and the other is a blank checklist to create your own list. Click on the image to print.
