How to Build a Cheese Board for Beginners

The basics of shopping for, arranging, and styling the best easy cheese board from a seasoned hostess with the mostest.

Building beautiful appetizer boards is one of my favorite parts of entertaining. There's just something I found so soothing about arranging all the components for my guests to dive into. And after several years, I've learned a thing or to. So let's get into my pro tips for making a beautiful cheese plate!

Jump to:

• Difference Between a Cheese Board and Charcuterie Board
• How to Structure a Cheese Board
• The Best Cheeses
• What Should be on a Cheese Board?
• Easy Charcuterie Shopping List
• Other Dishes to Include
• More Simple Cheese Plate Ideas
• How to Build a Cheese Board
• 📖 Recipe

If you enjoy easy appetizer ideas, check these out, too!

• Goat Cheese & Cherry Bites
• Grilled Corn Guacamole
• Pumpkin & Hatch Chili Salsa

Difference Between a Cheese Board and Charcuterie Board

Charcuterie is a French term that refers to preserved (think smoked or dry aged) and processed meats served cold, including salami, pates, and sausages. It can also refer to the professionals and shops that prepare them. What should be on a charcuterie board? So a charcuterie board consists of an assortment of these meats, usually with some kind of bread, spread, vegetable, and, yes, cheese.

Cheese boards, on the other hand, typically have all the same elements, charcuterie optional. People tend to use the terms interchangeably, and the styled cheese board we're talking about today actually does have everything!

How to Structure a Cheese Board

1. Prep the ingredients: Slice or chop large whole fruits, as well as the hard cheeses.
2. Assemble your tools. In addition to the actual board, you will need small dishes like ramekins for any small items like nuts or liquid items like sauces or spreads. Grab spoons, too, and cheese knives if you want to get fancy.
3. Fill the ramekins and position them on the board. These will be the anchors for the other cheese board ingredients.
4. Place each cheese on the board, in order of flavor strength--least to most pungent.
5. Arrange items as they will likely be eaten. For example, blue cheese taste great with a drizzle of honey, so I position them nearby, along with crackers, of course.
6. When it comes to styling a cheese board, have fun with the presentation and make it your own!

Pro tip: Grasp the number of crackers you want to include as a single stack between your thumb and pointer/middle finger. Put the stack (sideways) into place on the cheese board and the crackers will fan out easily.

The Best Cheeses

Which cheeses to put on a board? A combination of hard, soft, and pungent cheeses is best to provide a variety of flavors and textures that pair with the other bites. Ideally, you want a cheese you can slice as well as one you can spread. As far as how many cheeses to include on a cheese plate, aim for at least two to three.

Hard cheeses include cheddar, mimolette, gruyere, etc. Cut hard cheeses into slices to serve them on a board or serve them with a cheese knife to let everyone slice their own.

Semi-soft cheeses like gouda (I love it smoked!) and manchego are great to include on cheese boards, too, and taste great with fresh and dried fruits.

Soft cheeses include goat, brie, camembert, ricotta, and more. You can serve them as is, whipped or baked. And blue cheese is great crumbled! Soft cheeses also turn into great dips. Goat has tangy flavor and creamy texture that pairs well with sweet chutneys, honeys, and jams.

How much cheese do I need per person on a cheese platter? Include one to two ounces of cheese for each expected party guest to enjoy as appetizers. When making a meal out of a cheese plate, increase it to up to 8 ounces per person.

What Should be on a Cheese Board?

Basic cheese board ingredients include an assortment of the following. Check off as many as you need depending on the size of the crowd. You can even create a cheese board for just two people.

• Hard Cheese
• Soft Cheese
• Sliced Bread, Crackers, or Crisps
• Sweet Dip or Spread
• Savory Dip or Spread
• Nuts
• Fresh or Dried Fruit
• Fresh or Pickled Vegetables

Pro tip: Include one of each flavor to balance your guests' palates: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savory). Switch things up with a flavored cheese, infused honey, seeded crackers, or chocolate covered nuts.

Easy Charcuterie Shopping List

• Bourbon Barrel Honey
• Buttery Crackers
• Chocolate with Caramel
• Cinnamon Sugar Almonds
• Goat Cheese
• Goji Berries
• Hazelnut Dark Chocolate
• Honeycrisp Apples
• Peppered Salami
• Smoked Gouda
• Sweet Plantain Chips

Where to buy the best cheese board ingredients? When shopping at a grocery store, start in the deli section then hit up the adjacent area or cookies and crackers section for the crisps. Don't forget to check out the condiments and bulk or canned fruits areas for things like olives, gherkins, dried apricots, etc.

Other Dishes to Include

Once you get the basics of making a cheese platter down, you can expand this process and scale the elements out to a full grazing table setup! I highly recommend including my praline & brie cheese dip for sweet and savory vibes. Salsa is another good idea. Try this pumpkin & hatch chili version. And sweetly spiced buttery popcorn will add easy variety to a grazing board. Last but not least, consider this deviled egg dip!

More Simple Cheese Plate Ideas

Cheese plates can be a full meal all by themselves in France. Although there are rules to making a good cheese board, the options are endless. And I ran with that to create several simple cheese board ideas.

• Cheese Board with only Trader Joe's Ingredients
• Christmas Season Board
• Date Night Plate for Two
• Festive Red White & Blue Cheese Board
• Thanksgiving Grazing Board

I hope these simple cheese board ideas, charcuterie tools, and tips are helpful for your next spread. And sharing is caring, so be sure to pin cheese plate 101 for later and follow me over on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!

How to Build a Cheese Board

📖 Recipe