Description
Here’s how to make a cheese board! These ideas will help you to build the ultimate appetizer to impress everyone.
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 ounce soft cheese, such as a blue cheese or goat cheese
- 4 ounce aged cheese, such as English white cheddar or French blue cheese
- 4 ounce mild slicing cheese, such as Manchego
- 4 ounce wild card cheese (anything that looks interesting!)
- Bread and crackers: crostini, crackers, focaccia bread slices
- Spicy mustard
- Jellies or preserves: fig, blackberry, blueberry, apricot, lingonberry, peach, orange
- Seedless grapes
- Sliced apples, pears, peaches, plums
- Fresh berries: raspberries, blueberries or black berries
- Dried or fresh figs
- Mixed pickles
- Olives: ripe green or black olives, Castelvetrano olives, or other varieties
- Salted nuts: marcona almonds, pecans, walnuts, or pistachios
- Marinated artichokes
- Peppadews
- Cured meats like prosciutto, salami, chorizo, etc
- Fresh herbs, for garnish (rosemary or thyme sprigs, or other)
Instructions
- Start by placing the 4 types of cheese onto the board. Slice cheese that slices easily, and add a knife for more crumbly cheese. Place the cheese at angles that look pleasing on the board. (If you have them, cheese markers are nice to label the cheeses.)
- Place the ingredients that need bowls into small bowls on the board, like the mustard, olives, and jam or preserves. Make sure the bowls aren’t too large so they don’t crowd the board.
- Fill in the remainder of the space on the board with piles of fruit, crackers, breads and other items. Arrange the ingredients with variation in color and shape in mind. Apple slices look nice placed in a fan, and other fruits can be casually dropped in groups. Stems of grapes always make a nice statement. Start with the largest ingredients and gradually fill in the smaller items.
- Once the board is mostly complete, tuck in a few sprigs of fresh herbs to complete the tray (like rosemary or thyme sprigs).
- Serve immediately, with small plates, forks and toothpicks if desired. The cheese board can sit out for up to 2 hours at room temperature. Make the board up to 24 hours in advance, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate: allow to come to room temperature 30 minutes before serving.
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: Appetizer
- Diet: Vegetarian
Keywords: Cheese board, how to make a cheese board, cheese board ideas, cheese boards