This guide will help you choose cheeses, meats, fruits, and more in the right quantities to make a Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board that you and your guests will love. Plus, it’s an easy Thanksgiving appetizer that you can easily put together in just 5-10 minutes.
Themed charcuterie boards are a fun way to display all of the fall flavors the season has to offer. In addition to this Thanksgiving charcuterie board, you should also check out my Christmas Wreath Charcuterie Board or Individual Charcuterie Cups.
If you’re also looking for wine or a cocktail to serve with the charcuterie, you’ll want to check out my Best Charcuterie Board and Wine Pairings for all my best wine tips for charcuterie or my guide on Easy Wine Pairings for Thanksgiving. You can also browse my cocktails page.
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Why You’ll Love This Guide
- It’s EASY and QUICK – you can easily put this board together in 10 minutes or less.
- It gives you measurements and directions that are adaptable for any sized Thanksgiving gathering.
- A Thanksgiving charcuterie board is an absolute must. If you are a guest, a beautiful charcuterie board is an excellent addition to bring for Thanksgiving. If you are hosting and cooking the thanksgiving meal, it keeps your hungry guests at bay while you finish up the last-minute details of the big meal ahead.
Ingredient Notes
I have a few suggestions if you looking for specific items for your Thanksgiving charcuterie board, but as always, I encourage everyone to ultimately pick your favorite things, no matter what. My list is not comprehensive, but it will get you started.
- Cheese – choose types of cheeses that vary in texture and flavor. If you want 3 cheeses on the board, you can pick a fresh, soft, and hard cheese. An example of this would be gruyere cheese (hard), brie (soft), and goat cheese (fresh).
- Meat – I often will buy the variety pack of charcuterie meats at Costco. It’s a great value and the easiest option, but if you want 3 charcuterie meats to pick out individually, you could pick mild, medium-bold, and bold flavored cured meats. This might look like prosciutto (mild), coppa (medium-bold), spicy salami (bold).
- Fruit and vegetables – this offers a nice refreshing palate cleanser and contrasts the flavor of the cheeses and meats. Dried and fresh seasonal produce are both a good idea. For this fall board, I used dried citrus, but sugared or dried cranberries would also be a perfect addition. Fresh pear slices, red grapes, apple slices, and/or pomegranate seeds would also be a natural choice for a fall charcuterie board with their vibrant fall colors and flavors.
- Nuts – this offers a nice crunch to your grazing board. Roasted, salted, and/or flavored nuts of all types are great ideas. Candied pecans are a great option for a Thanksgiving charcuterie board.
- Pickles and condiments – cornichon pickles, cranberry sauce, olives, and other pickled vegetables (I love peppadew and sweety drop peppers) help round off the flavors of your board.
- Bread and crackers – some fresh baguette slices or a seed/nutty cracker are my top choices. I love the Raincoast Cranberry and Hazelnut Crisps for my charcuterie boards.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Start with a festive board (optional) and a mini pumpkin or squash for decoration. This was a beautiful board shaped like a leaf that I found on a whim from Aldi. I couldn’t find anything similar on Amazon, but I did find this pumpkin shaped charcuterie board that would be equally aesthetic, in my opinion.
Step 2: Add the larger items such as bowls with condiments, large cheese hunks, and larger decorations like the mini pumpkins. You can also add larger fresh fruits here like clusters of grapes.
Step 3: Add slices of cheese, meats, and fruit/veggies in a pleasing manner of various patterns, working around the larger items. You can fan the slices in various directions. You can also make a charcuterie rose with thin slices of salami (details below).
Step 4: Tuck smaller fruits, nuts, crackers, and fall-inspired herbs in the remaining gaps.
Provide spread knives, cheese knives, and cocktail picks with the plates for easy serving.
How to Make a Salami Rose for Your Board
This isn’t a requirement by any means, but it does elevate the board and doesn’t take any extra time.
To make a salami rose, take a wine glass and fold thin slices of salami in half around the rim of the glass. When you can’t add anymore slices, invert the glass onto the charcuterie board and voila! A beautiful salami rose for your Thanksgiving charcuterie board.
Top Tips
- Always have extra bread and crackers, those are typically the first thing to run out. You can also save some real estate on your board and have the bread/crackers in a basket or container on the side instead of on the acutal board.
- Wine is an excellent choice for a beverage to go with charcuterie. For more details, check out my Best Wines for Charcuterie Guide.
Recipe FAQ
Yes, you can make your board the day before and cover in plastic wrap to store in the fridge. Keep the crackers, bread, and nuts separate and out of the fridge so that they don’t get soggy.
What other appetizers go well with charcuterie?
For a Thanksgiving charcuterie board, my Spicy Cranberry Shrimp are the perfect appetizer to go with your board. My pretzel encrusted Air Fryer Calamari is another good seafood option. There is also my Tomato Bruschetta with Whipped Feta, Chicken Marsala Meatballs, or Hummus Pumpkin Dip.
If you want gussy up your brie or goat cheese options a little bit, you can try my Baked Brie with Fig Jam or Whipped Goat Cheese Crostini – they are both easy fall appetizers.
Related Recipes
Did you love this charcuterie guide?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section below.
Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 or more different types of cheeses (2-3 ounces per person for all cheeses combined)
- 3 or more different types of meat (2-3 ounces per person for all meats combined)
- 2 or more types of fruit and/or vegetables (fresh or dried)
- Condiments of choice (grainy mustard and cranberry sauce are good ones for Thanksgiving)
- Bread and/or crackers of choice
- Nuts of choice (optional)
- Pickled vegetables (optional)
- Fresh fall seasonal herbs (like rosemary or sage)
Instructions
- Add larger items (bowls with condiments, larger decorations, large cheese hunks) to the board first.
- Add sliced cheeses, meats, and fruit/veggies fanned out in various patterns, working around the larger items.
- Add remaining smaller items such as nuts, crackers, and fall-inspired herbs in the remaining gaps.
Notes
- Aim for 2-3 oz. of meat per person and 2-3 oz. cheese per person. There are 16 ounces in a pound, so for an 8-person board, you would need 1 – 1 ½ pounds of meat and 1 – 1 ½ pounds of cheese.
- Pro tip: Always have extra bread and crackers, those are typically the first thing to go. You can also save some real estate on your board and have the bread/crackers in a basket or container next to the board instead of on the board.
- For wine pairings for your Thanksgiving charcuterie board, check out my Best Wines for Charcuterie Guide.
- You can make your board the day before and cover in plastic wrap to store in the fridge. Keep the crackers, bread, and nuts separate and out of the fridge so that they don’t get soggy.
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