Create an easy fall appetizer for Thanksgiving with a beautiful fall harvest cheese board. This epic charcuterie board is filled with a variety of fall flavors, seasonal fruits, and meats. I also have tips on how to create a stunning food-stylist-worthy board.
They say we millennials are obsessed with charcuterie board because we grew up on Lunchables. Do I agree? Oh, wholeheartedly.
I, as a latchkey kid, grew up on lunchables so I love a good grazing board as an adult. I will inhale all the snacks gleefully while sipping on mimosas. Yes, I did drink a lot of Sunny D during my summers at my grandma's house, why?
Anyway, this right here is the perfect fall charcuterie board! Made with seasonal produce and a variety of meats and cheeses that are easily found at your local grocery store.
So if you were looking for the best seasonal charcuterie board for your next autumn gathering, you've definitely found it!
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Must Haves for a Fall Charcuterie Board
Charcuterie is the French term for specially cured meat and the shops they're sold at in France. We've seen the word go through a semantic shift here in the United States to basically mean a cheese platter or snack board, sometimes with meat and sometimes without.
I personally am a firm believer that it can't be a charcuterie board without the charcuterie, otherwise it's just a cheese board/snack platter, but a charcuterie board can be called a cheese board/snack platter.
The main components of the charcuterie board are the meats and the cheeses. Make sense?
Here are my top three must haves for a Fall Snack Board:
Fall Inspired Colors - a charcuterie board is all about visual appeal, and a festive board has to give off autumnal vibes.
Those rich, muted colors like rustic dark wood, deep green, shades of orange, beautiful jewel tones, all bring a fall feeling to your themed board.
Fall Flavors - this may be more difficult to find when it comes to the meat, but you can definitely find fall flavors in seasonal fruits like persimmons or pears, crisps and crackers in fall shapes and flavors, and special cheeses.
Sage Derby from Trader Joes, Cranberry White Cheddar from ALDI (along with a ton of other interesting cheeses like truffle cheddar, jalapeño havarti, and gingerbread goat cheese), are great additions to bring a festive flavor to your board.
Add Festive Touches - put in a mini pumpkin or two, add maple leaf cookies, cut out shapes in your brie (like I did!).
Equipment
Large board -I love wood boards with handles and sides so it's easy to move around when I make the board in the kitchen and take it to another room without everything spilling over the sides.
Small bowls - these are must haves for your brined olives or cornichons, as well as any spreads, dips, or small nibbles like nuts, chocolate, etc.
Small spoons and serving ware- how else will you scoop up your spreads and sauces? And a honey dipper is always good to have, most people won't even think of having one around it's an interesting piece!
Cheese knives/spreaders - have them correlate to your cheeses! Each cheese knife has a different job, so get to know which ones you need.
Ingredients
Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Cheeses
I really love having different types of cheeses on my charcuterie boards, but I usually follow this: 2 ounces of cheese per person, and the categories are 'familiar cheese, interesting cheese, soft cheese/creamy cheese, hard cheese, and a crumbly cheese'.
Now, you don't need to use all of these types at once, I would have 2-3 cheeses if it's just a couple of people eating, 4-5 for a larger crowd.
In this shoot, I have a sea salt and honey aged cheddar (hard/interesting cheese), a honey goat cheese (crumbly), a young gouda (a familiar fave), and a triple cream brie (soft/creamy cheese).
These are all 'comfortable' cheeses that would go great at a Thanksgiving get-together. Remember, Thanksgiving is not a time to experiment unless you want to be demoted to bringing the soda and plastic forks next year.
Use ingredients that you know will work for you and your guests. Cheddar, goat, gouda, and brie are all charcuterie classics.
Meats
These aren't deli meats, so don't go run to the deli aisle.
Most likely your grocery store has a charcuterie meats section (if you have a Wegmans you definitely do!), and you'll be looking at things like speck, prosciutto, jamon Iberico, different types of salami, and other dried, cured, or fresh meats and patés.
The protocol for this is 2-3 ounces of meat per person, and we want a hard variety like salami, a cured meat like the party-fave prosciutto, and (possibly) something funky, unique, or interesting like nduja, a rich paté, saucisson sec (a French sausage that develops a rind much like cheeses do as it dries), or sopressata.
Crackers and Breads
Are there rules to this part? Yes. Do we follow any of them? No. I like crostinis, classic crackers, breadsticks, you name it. Have some harder crackers, some delicate ones, maybe some different flavors like rosemary crackers, parmesan crackers, garlic herb crostinis.
Fruit
I used a lot of fall-focused fruit for this board. You can use apples and pears, I used red grapes, pomegranate arils, mandarins, candied cranberries, and some fresh blackberries since I couldn't find fresh figs. If you find them, grab them!
Finishing Touches
These are the fun little things sprinkled throughout the board. I like a very abundant board, especially since I made this one with Thanksgiving and fall harvest in mind, so any little nooks and crannies get filled with bits of nibbles and this is where I add more special seasonal touches.
On this board, I used a maple leaf and an acorn cutters to cut shapes into the wheel of brie. I filled them with fig spread and homemade apple butter. The cut out shapes are placed onto the board to be taken. Speaking of shapes, I also have maple leaf cookies scattered around.
We have homemade cranberry sauce in a small cocotte for those Thanksgiving vibes, and have roasted almonds and cashews sprinkled around. There's also a jar of local honey with a honey dipper.
I have some cornichons as a briny addition in a bowl, and you'll also notice I have chunks of dark chocolate and fruit covered in dark chocolate darted around the board.
Instructions for an Epic Fall Charcuterie and Cheese Board
First, choose what type of board you want to use. I really love trays I can move around, but you may want one that fits your theme and is shaped differently. Make sure you are using one that is large enough to feed your guests.
Next, place the big items. The cheeses, the bowls of olives and fruit jams, the jar of honey, things that take up a lot of space. If you have a large bunch of grapes you don't want to break up, this is the time to place it. Oh, and don't forget your pumpkins!
Now add the meats. I like ruffling up prosciutto and making it wave around round bowls and cheeses. The salami can be turned into rose-shaped centerpieces or you can fold them and layer them, they are very maneuverable. Hard sticks of sausage, nduja, or salami can be cut on biases. Paté should be on a small plate.
Now add your fruit and crackers. I usually layer them amongst one another, with clusters of fruit here and there and waves of crackers or bread around them.
Now add your nibbles. The stuff you sprinkle around, like the chunks of dark chocolate, the roasted nuts, the little cookies. Fill up any empty spaces for that abundant look.
Now garnish. I love using fresh herbs especially during this time of year, since many edible flowers aren't blooming in fall and winter. Rosemary, sage, and thyme are very on theme here and they add a nice pop of color!
And there you have it: a beautiful fall inspired charcuterie board!
Frequently Asked Questions
When it comes to a great snacking board you want to remember to have enough meats and cheese for everyone, have savory and sweet accompaniments, and crackers/bread to eat the meats and cheeses on.
You can put together your fall charcuterie board 24 hours in advance, just leave the crackers off since they can get soggy in the fridge. Cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate, then take it out 30 minutes before you serve so the cheeses have time to warm up slightly and place your crackers.
I keep to the thought of 2 ounces of meat and 2 ounces of cheeses per person, and 2-5 different meats/cheeses depending on how many people are being served.
More Fall Recipes for Entertaining
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Epic Fall Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
Cheeses
- White Cheddar, sliced
- Goat Cheese
- Gouda Cheese
- Wheel of Brie
Meats
- Prosciutto
- Salami
- Speck
Fruit
- Pomegranate Arils
- Blackberries
- Red Grapes
- Mandarins
Accompaniments
- Crackers and Crisps
- Breadsticks
- Crostini
- Cornichons
- Dark Chocolate
- Nuts
- Maple Leaf Cookies
Spreads
- Fig Spread
- Apple Butter
- Cranberry Sauce
- Honey
Garnish
- Fresh herbs of your choosing
Instructions
- First, choose what type of board you want to use. I really love trays I can move around, but you may want one that fits your theme and is shaped differently. Make sure you are using one that is large enough to feed your guests.
- Next, place the big items. The cheeses, the bowls of olives and fruit jams, the jar of honey, things that take up a lot of space. If you have a large bunch of grapes you don't want to break up, this is the time to place it. Oh, and don't forget your pumpkins!
- Now add the meats. I like ruffling up prosciutto and making it wave around round bowls and cheeses. The salami can be turned into rose-shaped centerpieces or you can fold them and layer them, they are very maneuverable. Hard sticks of sausage, nduja, or salami can be cut on biases. Paté should be on a small plate.
- Now add your fruit and crackers. I usually layer them amongst one another, with clusters of fruit here and there and waves of crackers or bread around them.
- Now add your nibbles. The stuff you sprinkle around, like the chunks of dark chocolate, the roasted nuts, the little cookies. Fill up any empty spaces for that abundant look.
- Now garnish. I love using fresh herbs especially during this time of year, since many edible flowers aren't blooming in fall and winter. Rosemary, sage, and thyme are very on theme here and they add a nice pop of color!
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