Halloween Charcuterie Board

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Discover how to make an easy Halloween charcuterie board, filled with eerie cheeses, spooky snacks, and creative decorations. Get ready to impress your guests with a ghoulishly delicious spread for a hauntingly good time!

Some of our other favorite Halloween food ideas include; Halloween Feet Loaf, Toxic Waster Mac and Cheese, Spooky Halloween Chili.

Halloween themed charcuterie board with meats, cheeses, crackers, and fruits.

Creating a Halloween snack board can be a fun and creative way to celebrate this spooky season, and is the perfect way to serve Halloween party snacks like Monster Mash Popcorn, Monster Cookies, and Caramel Apples.

What you’ll need

Try to choose a wide variety of different textures, colors, and flavors to appeal to the greatest amount of people, keeping the tastebuds in mind; salty, savory, sweet, and spicy.

Keep things simple and choose your favorite meats and assortment of cheeses at the deli counter in your local grocery store.

Assorted Cheeses: Select a variety of cheeses in different shapes and colors, like gorgonzola wedge or mini brie rounds. You can use a mini cookie cutter to create Halloween-themed cheese shapes like bats, pumpkins, or ghosts.
Cured Meats: Include an assortment of cured meats such as ham, salami, and pepperoni. Roll or fold them for an appealing presentation.
Crackers and Bread: Offer a variety of crackers and bread slices for pairing with the cheeses and meats. You can use bat-shaped or pumpkin-shaped crackers for a festive touch.
Fruit: Add fresh fruit like grapes, blackberries, or raspberries for a burst of color. You can also create mini pumpkins by using small clementine oranges with rosemary stems.
Vegetables: Include colorful vegetables like orange bell pepper slices, cherry tomatoes, mini peppers, and baby carrots.
Dips and Spreads: Offer various dips like hummus, guacamole, or spinach and artichoke dip. Place them in small bowls or hollowed-out mini pumpkins.
Nuts: Fill small bowls with a mix of roasted nuts like almonds, cashews, or walnuts. Chocolate covered almonds make great cockroaches!
Jams and Preserves: Blood red cherry or raspberry jam dripping down the side of a cut brie round adds a spooky touch to the board.
Olives: Serve an assortment of olives, including black and green varieties. They can resemble eerie eyeballs when stuffed with pimentos.
Pickles and Pickled Vegetables: Add some pickles, pickled onions, or pickled peppers for a tangy and crunchy element.
Dried Fruits: Include dried apricots, figs, or cranberries for a sweet and chewy contrast.
Candies: Scatter some of your favorite Halloween candy like candy corn, gummy worms, or candy eyeballs throughout the board.
Halloween-Themed Cookies: Bake or buy Halloween-shaped cookies, such as witches’ hats, ghosts, or tombstones, and arrange them on the board.
Decorative Elements: Don’t forget to add some spooky decorations like plastic spiders, fake cobwebs, or skeleton hands to give your charcuterie board that spooky vibe.

Be sure to check out the detailed printable recipe card below

Meat and cheese board with a Halloween theme.

What to put on a spooky Halloween Charcuterie Board

First you need to decide on a board. It can be as simple as a large cutting board or baking sheet out of your kitchen, or a serving tray that you have stashed away for special occasions. You can go really fancy and order a custom wood board online, or pick one up in a local shop.

Think about how many people you are serving and the Halloween theme that you have planned and let that be your guide. A coffin shaped board add a spooky twist!

A larger board allows for more variety and creativity, while a smaller one may be suitable for a more intimate gathering.

Utensils

If you are serving condiments, you will need small bowls or ramekins, spreaders and serving utensils. If you are buying blocks of cheese, don’t forget the cheese slicer or a sharp knife.

The cheeses

Meats, cheeses, fruits, and nuts on a wood board.

You want to choose a rounded out selection of 2 to 3 types of cheese (hard, semi-hard & soft cheeses).
2 ounces per guest as an appetizer, or 3 ounces per guest as a main course.
I chose Pepper Jack that I cut into cubes and orange sharp cheddar that I broke off in chunks. In the upper left corner we have a wedge of blue cheese, wedge of brie in the bottom left drizzled with jam and stabbed with a cheese knife, and a half-round of Gouda over on the right hand side topped with a spider.

The meats

Halloween charcuterie board with meats, cheeses, and other snacks.

Add 3 types of various cured meats & a meat spread such as pâté. For visual appeal leave some meats whole, slice others, loosely pile sliced meats & fold others into halves & quarters.
2 ounces per guest as an appetizer, or 4 ounces per guest as a main course.
In the upper left corner we have sliced Genoa salami and black forest ham to the right. On the left side of the board we have thin slices of spicy capicola that are folded into quarters.

Crackers and breads

Add a variety of delicious breads and crackers to your board. These will make for the perfect bites of food & will add a variety of textures and flavor to your appetizer board.
4 ounces per guest for an appetizer, 7 ounces per guest as a main course.

Fruits and vegetables

Add a selection of nuts, dried & fresh fruits, fresh & pickled vegetables to help balance out the richness of the meats & cheeses. They also add a bit of palate cleansing for your guests.
2 pieces / 2 ounces per guest as an appetizer. 4 pieces / 3 ounces per guest as a main course.
Roasted cashews are used to fill in gaps between items, chocolate covered almonds are in the center to add some chocolate to the board.
There are fresh blackberries up at the top under the skeleton hand, black grapes at the bottom, and a clementine orange with rosemary stem on the right side.
Dried apricots are near the bottom and dried cherries are used to fill in blank spaces.
Pimento stuffed olives and cornichons are in a small bowls on either side of the board, and mini orange peppers are stacked in the center.

Condiments

Add a variety of good-quality spreads, oils, mustards, flavored butters, fruit preserves & dips to your appetizer board.
Popular options are whole-grain mustard, guacamole, fig spread, and cherry or berry preserves to add a bit of bloody gore.

How to assemble a Halloween themed charcuterie board

Start with the bowls first, then layer and arrange around the bowls. The meats and cheeses come next, then the crackers and breads.
Fill in the gaps with your fruits and nuts, trying to spread the colors and textures around the board. Finish with decorative elements like spiders or small snakes, and make any small adjustments that might be needed.

Beverages to serve with your charcuterie board

Wine is a classic choice to serve with meat and cheese boards, but feel free to add some fun Halloween-inspired cocktails to your your spooky and tasty Halloween celebration!

For white wine lovers a lighter-bodied white wines like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio pair nicely with savory meats.

For red wine lovers a nice Pinot Noir or Merlot goes perfectly with a soft-ripe cheese like brie, or semi-hard cheese like gouda. It is also the perfect pairing for pork selections like prosciutto and salami. Le Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is my personal favorite in case you were wondering.

A Poisoned Apple Cocktail is a light and refreshing choice, Sorcerer’s Stone is a whimsical Harry Potter cocktail, and Polyjuice Potion Punch is perfect for larger gatherings.

Tools used to create the perfect charcuterie board

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Chefs Knife and Cutting Board for slicing salami, cheeses, and vegetables.
Large Wood Board – this coffin shaped board would be fun too!
Small Wood Serving Bowls
Cheese Knives Set
Bamboo Appetizer Forks – an easy way for your guests to eat their small bites.
My appetizer plates came from Crate & Barrel.
Assorted Crackers – the brand that I like best, but cannot find in town.

Party tips

One of the first things to remember, is to have fun! There are no strict rules for creating a spooky charcuterie board for your next Halloween party. It can be as simple or elaborate as you like.

Make sure you have appetizer sized plates and lots of wine glasses ready.
Place your Chardonnay in the refrigerator when you walk through the door.
Don’t forget the bamboo forks or large toothpicks so your guests can pick-up their meats and cheeses.
Have tongs available for picking up crackers, nuts, and dried fruits.
Cheese knives to slice the different types of cheeses, unless you pre-cut them yourself.
Allow the brie to sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
Serving spoons for the guacamole and a knife for spreading the mustard.
Wash and dry the grapes, or any fresh fruits that you will be serving.
Napkins, lots of napkins!!
Most importantly, a cork screw to open your bottles of wine!

FAQ’s

How far in advance can I prepare a Halloween charcuterie board?

You can prepare many components of your Halloween charcuterie board in advance, such as cutting cheeses, slicing vegetables, and baking cookies. However, it’s best to assemble the board closer to the time you plan to serve it to ensure freshness.

Are there any food safety concerns with charcuterie boards?

Yes, it’s important to keep perishable items like cheeses and meats at a safe temperature, especially if you’re serving the charcuterie board outdoors. Use ice packs or a chilled platter to keep these items cool and prevent food borne illness.

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Enjoy!!