A simple picnic charcuterie board is made with fresh seasonal produce and quality protein. Whether you are planning a meal for dining in the backyard, or packing for the park, the freshness and nutrition of this simple picnic charcuterie board makes for the perfect summer picnic!
Traditional Charcuterie Board Components
Traditionally, charcuterie boards include meats, cheeses, sweet and savory components, and starches such as crackers. When making a simple picnic charcuterie board I like to include a variety of textures, flavors, and colors that complement one another.
When preparing a charcuterie board that is going to be our main meal or a hearty appetizer, I make sure to include a balanced variety of healthy fats, protein, and carbohydrates. Pairing a meal this way helps to stabilize blood sugars and help everyone to feel satisfied after a meal.
Here is a fancy wedding charcuterie I helped cater for for an example:
Preparing your board
I like to use platters, cutting boards and tea trays for most of the charcuterie boards that I make. Another nice and affordable option is to place down a large piece of butcher paper on the table for your “board”. This option is a little more rustic but can be oh so elegant!
When using a wooden tea tray like the one I have here, I first line it with parchment paper to save the wood from any berry or oil stains. This makes for a quick, simple clean up as well.
Bowls and jars
Little bowls or mason jars are nice addition to hold dips, nuts and seeds or any other component that would be a little too messy to place right on your board. Sometimes there are components that I do not want going next to a meat that I just stick in a bowl to prevent them from touching.
Keeping dips, jams and honeys in their glass jars is a great idea if you don’t want to dirty another dish.
Serving ware
In each dish, cheese and meat, I like to add a spoon, tongs, or toothpicks. When everyone is sharing a board like this it is nice to have utensils to avoid everyone touching the food with their hands. Depending on who and where you are serving, it may be more appropriate to have extra serving utensils to avoid mixing everything up.
With our simple picnic charcuterie board made just for my children, it was a big free for all. It is important to know who you are serving and consider having a variety of serving utensils for each component of your board.
Some Favorite Simple Picnic Charcuterie Board Pairings
I want to make a note here that building a charcuterie board can get expensive very quickly but it doesn’t have to. It can be very cost effective and beautiful with a little creativity and thought.
I find it best to use primarily ingredients you have readily available in your kitchen and garden. No matter how simple or fancy you would like to make a charcuterie board, I hope these ideas give you some inspiration to use what you have to make a beautiful, nourishing charcuterie picnic board for whomever you will be serving.
Meats
- Salami
- Chomps beef sticks (can be sliced into smaller sections)
- Prosciutto
- Smoked salmon
- Pepperoni
As always, I make sure that my meat sources are quality. I prefer pasture-raised, no added sugar meats. Even little bowls of tuna or chicken salad can pair nicely as a protein component on a charcuterie board. For our picnic board here, I chose the salami that we had ready to go in the fridge, skewered on little toothpicks. It’s amazing how delicious food can look to children when stuck on a toothpick!
Cheeses
- Boursin rounds of soft, herb cheese spread
- Sharp cheddar cheese
- Goat cheese
- Brie
- Cream cheese ball
- Mozarella balls
There are many other options of cheese and meats. My recommendation would be to pick options that you and your family will actually eat. Depending on the size of crowd you are feeding, 1-3 varieties is enough. For this simple picnic board for our family of six, I chose one meat and one cheese variety which was plenty for our lunch.
Incorporating wedges, rounds, cubes, or balls add variety to the shapes and textures you are plating.
Starches
- Herb infused crackers
- Pita bread
- French baguette
- Pretzels
- So many more!
When choosing a starch, I like to pick a soft texture as well as a crunchy component. Sliced bread and a pretzel for example. I like the soft texture of the bread and the salty yet crunchy component of the pretzel. The great thing is that both of these options are great for dipping and spreading on cheeses, jams and honey that you may enjoy adding to your board!
For our simple picnic charcuterie board today, I skipped the starches since we had so much fresh produce in the fridge. Adding a starch is a nice way to stretch a board when feeding a larger crowd as well.
Dips & spreads
- Raw honey
- Infused honey
- Cream cheese
- Mustards
- Fruit spread
- Jams
- Jelly
Using dips and spreads is a wonderful way to add in a variety of flavors to complement your board depending on what you enjoy. Based on your other components, dips and spreads can help add that sweet, savory, herbal or creamy touch that your board needs.
For my simple picnic charcuterie board, I mixed up some whole milk yogurt with spices to dip our carrots. This could easily have been adapted into a fruit dip if I wanted another sweet component.
Adding texture to your simple picnic charcuterie board
Nuts and seeds
Incorporating a small bowl of candied or roasted nuts adds a nice texture to the visual aspect of a charcuterie board as well as some crunch. Another option for adding texture with seeds is to sprinkle seeds onto a cheese spread or roll a goat cheese log in some crushed pistachios. Very tasty!
Pickles and olives
Adding in the crunchy and tangy flavor of pickles or artichokes can pair nicely with a bowl of olives on a charcuterie board. The bumpy texture of the pickles and the smooth roundness of the olives add a nice variety of textures.
Dress it up
- Kale
- Fresh herbs
- Edible flowers such as pansies
- Leaving greens on a few pieces of produce
Once I have put all of the components on my simple picnic charcuterie board that we plan on eating, I like to fill in the gaps with edible foliage and greenery. It’s important to make sure that these components can be eaten and not toxic. I love the look of eucalyptus but this is not a green that should go around food since it should not be consumed.
Kale and our home grown herbs add a nice touch since they are very affordable and right outside our door or easily available in the refrigerator. The most simple charcuterie board can really be the most aesthetically pleasing with a little creativity and using what is readily available to you.
What order to build a simple picnic charcuterie board?
A little tip for taking your charcuterie board on the road: pack the components in separate containers in a lunch box to assemble when you get to where you are going. Another option is to assemble before you leave and cover with plastic or beeswax wrap keeping the lids on your dips and spreads. Place on a layer of ice bags in a cooler if you do not have a far drive. Too far of a drive or if the commute is bumpy, I recommend assembling after arriving at your destination.
First, pick your board.
A cutting board, tea tray, platter, large plate all make for nice options when building a simple picnic charcuterie board. If I am taking the board outside or moving it around, I like to opt for something with a nice edge to keep anything from falling off.
Next, line your board with a butcher or parchment paper.
This step makes for easy clean up and protecting your board.
Then, lay out and fill jars and bowls.
Determining where your bowls and jars are going to go gives a nice framework for placing other components of your picnic board.
Place cheeses and meats.
I like to place cheeses and meats close to each other and around bowls and jars or in corners. I like to ensure that the moisture from these ingredients is not going to spoil my starches or leech into other components.
Next, place starches.
One trick I like for laying out my crackers is to open the sleeve and gently place out the crackers in a layered fashion. Essentially they go right from the sleeve to my platter, being slightly fanned out. If I have a soft bread that is going to easily soak up moisture, I like to put this in a bowl or at the opposite end of the platter from soft cheeses and meats. These softer starches do OK next to harder cheeses.
Then, add fresh produce.
Wash your produce well and lay out to dry on a towel. When placing, again, I want to make sure that soft berries are not touching meats or juicy melons are not leaving my cheeses in a puddle of juice. Carrots and other veggies go nicely next to meats and cheeses. If I must place something next to my meats because of space, I like to try to separate this with some of my garnishes as a barrier.
Finally, add in garnishes.
Where there are empty areas of my board, I add in my greenery and garnishes. This touch really helps to make a charcuterie board look more filled out and aesthetically pleasing.
I would love to see your simple picnic charcuterie boards!
Please share with me in the comments or tag me on Instagram with your picnic charcuterie boards. (@_anourishedlife_)
I look forward to making many more of these this summer.
What are your favorite pairings for a simple picnic charcuterie board? I’d love to hear down below!
Until next time,
Amanda
