How to Plan a Potluck Charcuterie Table & 50 Simple Charcuterie Boards (2024)

Charcuterie fans, unite! I have teamed up with a great group of bloggers to share more than 50 simple charcuterie boards for all occasions and seasons of the year. We have sweet grazing platters, vegetarian charcuterie boards, vegan charcuterie boards, Trader’s Joe’s charcuterie boards, ideas for a small charcuterie board for two or three, pancake charcuterie boards for breakfast or brunch – you name it! Additionally, I am featuring the cutest potluck charcuterie table idea from a friend of mine. If you are fan of grazing platters at parties, check out her idea!

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Charcuterie 101

What is Charcuterie?

Charcuterie is a modern take on the age-old finger foods served at parties. The foods are often displayed on a special wooden board in an artful arrangement. It is the modern day grazing platter.

How to Pronounce Charcuterie

Charcuterie board is pronounced shar-KOO-tree.

What does Charcuterie Mean?

Charcuterie is a French word connected to the cooking/preparation of meats and meat products.

What are the Typical Charcuterie Ingredients?

The charcuterie foods included are often nuts, cheeses, olives, special pickles, fruits, vegetables, bread bites, crackers, etc. It is typical to see beautiful fresh herbs adorned across the top or artfully tucked in. Typically, you will see some savory items along with spicy, sweet, salty, and even sour.

A board might boast tart blackberries, almonds, brie cheese, a block of cream cheese with pepper jelly over the top, sweet strawberries, antipasto, gourmet crackers, etc.

Why are Charcuterie Boards Expensive?

As mentioned above, preparing a DIY charcuterie board can become expensive. This is due to purchasing so many different items for the at home charcuterie. While these elevated snack trays can stretch to feed a crowd, it takes a lot of varied ingredients to fill it up.

Does the Charcuterie Table Display Have to Be Fancy?

For a conversation-worthy display, it can be time-consuming to get the presentation just right. Some people choose to go with a simple charcuterie board while others go all out with an elaborate display for charcuterie meats twisted and folded into floral shapes, etc.

Holiday or Seasonal Charcuterie Board Themes

Speaking of themes, part of the fun of creating a simple charcuterie board is establishing a theme and then curating your items around that central idea.

You can have a holiday charcuterie board for whichever season you are in at the time. Below you will find ideas for Valentine’s charcuterie boards (especially sweet grazing platters – loaded with all things SWEET), spring charcuterie table ideas, summer snack boards including Fourth of July, fall charcuterie boards (including Halloween charcuterie boards and Thanksgiving charcuterie boards), and Christmas charcuterie boards.

Other Simple Charcuterie Board Themes

No doubt, you can feature a charcuterie board theme around the food of a regional area. For example, have an Italian charcuterie board for a pasta dinner. Or how about a Mediterranean charcuterie board, Greek Charcuterie board, Mexican charcuterie board, Indian charcuterie board, or French charcuterie board? The sky is the limit when it comes to a cultural theme!

And while you are at it, you can also choose to narrow down your focus even more for dietary needs – a vegan charcuterie board, a Keto charcuterie board, vegetarian charcuterie boards, gluten free charcuterie boards, a low carb charcuterie board, a dairy free charcuterie board, etc.

For more fun charcuterie board themes, try bbq charcuterie board, nacho charcuterie board, dessert charcuterie boards, picnic charcuterie board, a breakfast charcuterie board (go even more narrow with a waffles board or a pancakes board).

You might want to feature a special charcuterie board for kids. For instance, you can make a sweet grazing platter made of sweet berries, cookies, and bite-sized candies. Or you can go with a combination of sweet and savory kid-friendly foods.

For game day, you could put together a football charcuterie board with all of the favorite things your family and friends enjoy for tailgating. (By the way, have you checked out my other round up post on best SEC tailgating foods?

How Much Meat is Needed for a Charcuterie Table or Simple Charcuterie Board?

According to Eat Cured Meat, six ounces of meat per person is sufficient if the charcuterie table is working as the full meal. If you plan for your guests to nibble on the charcuterie board as an appetizer before a larger meal, you can go down to three ounces of charcuterie meat per person.

Speaking of meat, check out tutorial on charcuterie board meat flowers! Such a cute touch to your snack board.

No meat? Plan a Sweet Grazing Platter

Traditionally, a charcuterie platter includes meat and cheese. However, in today’s society, you can make grazing platters out of whatever ingredients you wish. Below in the round up, you will see plenty of sweet grazing platters – made of cookies, candy, and other sweet treats.

Plan a Potluck Charcuterie Table!

If you love charcuterie boards but have realized already what many others have – that charcuterie boards are ex-pens-ive and not as easy to put together as they seem, you might benefit from this potluck charcuterie table idea! My friend’s Bunco group enjoys a ladies night once a month. Each lady takes turns hosting. My friend’s turn was February, and she typically goes with a Galentine’s theme. This is a picture of their simple Galentine’s charcuterie table.

However, this potluck charcuterie table idea can be used year round. There are so many ways it can be changed up. You can change up the themes to feature a winter charcuterie board or a summer charcuterie board. You can choose to just go with a dessert charcuterie or a simple veggie charcuterie board. The possibilities are endless.

But the best thing is that everyone pitches in! It is not just one person footing the expense. It’s amazing how one jar of those little olives and 30 of those special little crackers, etc., will spike a grocery bill! You can easily cross $75 in groceries. Even a simple charcuterie board can be pricey. If you have enough people involved, you will wind up with a whole potluck charcuterie table rather than a small charcuterie board.

Again, you can change the theme out as you wish and decorate to match the theme. Just save some space within your board or your charcuterie runner paper to pop in cute decor items for your theme.

Potluck Charcuterie Table with Bundle Assignments

I stole my friend’s idea this fall and planned a fall charcuterie table potluck style. Then, I planned another. After all, I bought the coolest bamboo charcuterie board and 2 ounce ramekins for olives and dips so I need to put them to use often, no? I love this board! Since had leftover charcuterie ingredients from the first potluck, it was just a no brainer to just plan another party!

Note: you don’t have to have a charcuterie board. You can do as my friend did in the image above and use brown butcher paper as a long table runner. Then just layer away with the food items. My charcuterie board comes with a cheese knife and spreader set stored on the inside. If you don’t a set of cheese knives, you might want to order one.

The key to pulling off the potluck charcuterie is to assign each person one item if you have a lot of people coming or a small bundle if you have a handful of people coming. My get together included six people. I tried to break down the potluck list so that each person would spend a similar amount of money. I, as the host, provided more items than the others. But you could easily divide things out more evenly if you wanted.

Here are the potluck bundle assignments I made:

• Person 1 (me, the host): pepperonis, fig spread, hummus, green olives, sliced cucumbers, baby carrots, turkey, Pepper Jack cheese, fall cookies, chocolate-covered pretzels
• Person 2: 2 varieties of special crackers, Manchego cheese wedge
• Person 3: blueberries, raspberries, green grapes
• Person 4: salted almonds, Gouda cheese wedge
• Person 5: bottle of wine, jam
• Person 6: bottle of wine, special pickles

How To Plan an Organized Potluck Charcuterie Table

Obviously, the more people you have, the more items you could and should put on your snack board.

I suggest making a list of basic charcuterie table potluck bundles. In your digital communication to your guests (text thread, Facebook invitation thread, etc.), have them each sign up for a bundle. Notice, the items on this list would be for a non-theme charcuterie board. If you wish to go by a theme, you will need to think out different items for your potluck assignments.

Example for 12 Guests:

• Bundle 1: 2 types of special crackers, one package of crusty bread
• Bundle 2: One Gouda cheese wedge, 1 bundle of red grapes
• Bundle 3: One Manchego cheese wedge, 1 bundle of green grapes
• Bundle 4: Salted nuts, sliced cucumbers, baby carrots
• Bundle 5: Rolled deli turkey, 1 special sweet jam
• Bundle 6: 1 package of pita chips, rolled deli ham
• Bundle 7: 1 package of crusty bread (cut into smaller pieces), 1 special savory dip
• Bundle 8: 1 special cream cheese spread/dip, 1 bottle of wine
• Bundle 9: 1 savory dip, 1 bottle of wine
• Bundle 10: 1 package of blackberries (or raspberries), 1 bottle of wine
• Bundle 11: 1 jar of special olives, 1 bottle of wine
• Bundle 12: 2 types of special cookies

More Tips on Planning a Potluck Charcuterie Board

Typically, 2-3 hard cheeses (Gouda, aged cheddar, Manchego) plus one cream cheese spread are included. Additionally, it is great to include 2-3 savory dips plus one sweet jam or dip. As you are thinking out crackers for charcuturie boards, don’t forget to add a gluten-free cracker option. I like the Good Thins Crackers in sea salt and jalapeno and lime flavors.

You will need to play around with your bundle options, depending on how many people you expect and what your theme or non-theme is!

Pop in cute seasonal or holiday decorations to fill empty space on your charcuterie board (pumpkins for fall, small trees at Christmas, etc.)

Speaking of themes, are you ready to check out some of the best charcuterie board items on the web? Check out the submissions from some of my fellow bloggers! There are some amazing ideas – from simple charcuterie boards to colorful summer charcuterie boards to vegetarian charcuterie boards to Christmas tree charcuterie board ideas, etc. I don’t think you will find a cuter collection of charcuterie board themes or grazing platter ideas anywhere! These ideas are great to customize and use year round! You can customize them to be birthday charcuterie boards or anything else you need.

I hope you find something here that can help you plan your next grazing platter!