This Christmas Charcuterie Board is the perfect thing to bring to the holiday party! It’s packed with all the typical charcuterie fixings, including cheese, olives, and a salami rose. Even better, we’re arranging the board to look like a holiday wreath. It’s almost too pretty to eat!
Charcuterie boards have been all the rage for a while now, right? I just love them. The extra bit of creativity that goes into this Christmas Charcuterie Board makes a platter of meat and cheese a festive event rather than a boring appetizer.
Christmas-themed appetizers generally follow a color theme to include red, white, and green so that they match the decor and the feelings of the season. This Christmas Charcuterie board pulls in all of these colors. White comes from the cheeses, and red comes from bright tomatoes and smoky meats. The green is in the form of olives and grapes, and there are some blacks and yellows around to balance everything out.
Love a red, white, and green appetizer? Try this Burrata Caprese Salad too.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- It’s Impressive. Whether you’re hosting Christmas or visiting with friends and family, everyone is going to ooh and ahh over this Christmas Themed Appetizer. Have you been searching for Christmas platter ideas? You can stop now. This is the one.
- Simple Ingredients. No need to get super fancy with the types of meat cheese on this board, the design is fancy enough. We’re using mild cheeses, grapes, olives, and a pretty salami rose. These things appeal to everyone, young or old.
Charcuterie Board Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Cheese: I’m using fresh mozzarella balls, cheddar, colby jack, and pepper jack cheese. You can adjust these to your own preferences, but I think the fresh mozz is key because it’s so bright white.
- Meat: Simple pepperoni slices and thin sliced salami are perfect for this appetizer. I added a few slices of prosciutto too.
- Olives: Some black and some green give a variety of colors and flavors. You could add kalamata or your own favorite type of olive as well.
- Cherry Tomatoes: Christmas themed appetizers need to have all of the christmas colors, right? Cherry tomatoes are the perfect bright red shade
- Grapes: A little bit of fruit on a holiday charcuterie board makes it a versatile appetizer that everyone can graze from.
- Garnishes: To create the “greens” of the wreath, you’ll need some greenery. Go with edible leafy herbs like rosemary or sage, or choose a floral foliage option such as eucalyptus like you see here. Curly kale or green leaf lettuce could be used as well.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Eucalyptus is not edible, and can be harmful (and not very tasty) if ingested. If you decide to use eucalyptus, be sure to tell your guests not to eat it.
Tip!
To keep your greenery fresh and unwilted, be sure to hydrate it before putting it out. For most things, popping the stems in water in the fridge should do the trick.
How to Make a Christmas Cheese Board
- Find a Board: Choose a large, flat, wooden cutting board to create your wreath on. A round board will be easiest, but you can use a rectangle as well.
Tip!
Don’t have a board? No problem! Use a large platter, or even a flipped over baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Plan your design: I like to take a look at my ingredients, then make a mental note of where each should go. For this wreath design, you’ll want to be sure that there is a good mix of colors and that the items are alternating in some way.
- Place the Cheese: Start by putting the 4 different types of cheeses down, one in each corner of the wreath.
- Add the olives, tomatoes, and grapes: Again, keep in mind the arrangement as you place piles of each ingredient down.
- Add the Meat Last: We do this because we want to arrange the pepperoni and salami in nice fluffy arrangements, and the other ingredients will help keep the meat upright. You can turn the sliced meats into rosettes (I’ll tell you how in a minute) or simply fold each piece in half and then in half again and stick them in between the other ingredients.
- Final Touches: Gently move around any ingredients that aren’t where they should be, and make sure that your wreath is round. Then take your greenery and decorate around the outside and inside of the circle. Serve your charcuterie with sides of crackers or chips.
Tips and Tricks
Use two kinds of greenery. Using two different green things will make a big difference and add a ton of visual interest to your charcuterie board. Head to the grocery store and look around. See what looks like leaves to you! Dill flowers, fennel fronds, rosemary stalks, carrot tops – the possibilities are endless.
Change things up. The fun part about this type of appetizer is that there really are no rules. You can leave out the olives and add wrapped chocolates instead, or use raspberries or red bell pepper slices in place of the tomatoes. Go nuts! Just try to keep to the general red, green, and white color palette.
Don’t stress. It can be very easy to get stressed about making the perfect, gorgeous charcuterie board. Don’t get upset if it’s not perfect, just remember that it will all be eaten soon.
How to Make a Salami Rose
You can turn any type of thinly sliced meat into a pretty rose to decorate your charcuterie wreath. It’s so simple!
To create this small rose, start with a fluted champagne glass. You can use a larger glass to make larger roses. A champagne glass works best for pepperoni, while a wine glass should be used with salami.
Fold one slice of meat at a time over the edge of the wine glass, layering around and around until you’ve used enough to make a rose.
Carefully flip the glass over onto the board and remove the glass, leaving the salami rose behind.
What to Serve with a Christmas Themed Charcuterie Board
This board is going to look beautiful on an appetizer table on Christmas eve or the next big holiday party.
Serve it with hot dips like Cheesy Crab Dip and Sausage Dip.
Serve it with finger foods such as Sardines on Toast, Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms and Shrimp Cocktail.
Make some snacks too, like Pasta Chips, Honey Mustard Pretzels, or Ranch Oyster Crackers.
Christmas desserts including this amazing Christmas Crack, or sweet Ricotta Cookies should also be nearby.
FAQs
This one is about 14 inches across. You can make it slightly larger or smaller if you like. It will really depend on the size of your board, so try to use a big one.
It’s hard to say why a thing is popular or not, but I think it has a lot to do with how visually appealing charcuterie is, and that it’s a simple way for people to express themselves with food that doesn’t involve cooking.
Try Amazon! This large round wooden board will be perfect for making this large wreath.
You can assemble the Christmas wreath charcuterie up to a day ahead of time. Wrap the whole board very well with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to eat. Be sure that your board will fit in your fridge and that you can set it in there flat for storage.
For food safety reasons, you shouldn’t leave it out for more than two hours at room temperature.
Make sure to have plenty of napkins, toothpicks, and small plates nearby so that people can easily pick up the food and have somewhere to set it.
Eucalyptus is a beautiful plant, often seen on charcuterie boards, but it’s not meant to be eaten. It can be toxic to humans and animals if ingested. It doesn’t taste very good, so it’s not likely that you’ll eat it accidentally, but if you’re concerned, please use another edible green to make your charcuterie wreath.
Have a Merry Christmas with this super fun and gorgeous Christmas Charcuterie board! Make sure to pin it so you’ll have the recipe every year.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Christmas Wreath Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
- Fresh greenery like eucalyptus sprigs, rosemary, or curly kale
- 8 ounces (225g) cheddar cheese cubed
- 8 ounces (225g) pepper jack cheese cubed
- 8 ounces (225g) Colby cheese cubed
- 8 ounces (225g) fresh mozzarella balls
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup black olives cured and pitted
- 1 cup green olives cured and pitted
- 8 ounces (225g) pepperoni sliced
- 8 ounces (225g) salami sliced
- 8 ounces (225g) green and/or purple seedless grapes about 1 ½ cups
Instructions
- Choose a large, flat, wooden cutting board to create your wreath on. A round board will be easiest, but you can use a rectangle as well.
- Take a look at your ingredients, then make a mental note of where each should go. For this wreath design, you’ll want to be sure that there is a good mix of colors and that the items are alternating in some way.
- Start by putting the 4 different types of cheeses down, one in each corner of the wreath.
- Add the olives, tomatoes, and grapes: Again, keep in mind the arrangement as you place piles of each ingredient down.
- Add the Meat Last. We do this because we want to arrange the pepperoni and salami in nice fluffy arrangements, and the other ingredients will help keep the meat upright. You can turn the sliced meats into rosettes (see notes to learn how to make them) or simply fold each piece in half and then in half again and stick them in between the other ingredients.
- Gently move around any ingredients that aren’t where they should be, and make sure that your wreath is round. Then take your greenery and decorate around the outside and inside of the circle. Serve your charcuterie with sides of crackers or chips.
Notes:
- Start with a fluted champagne glass. You can use a larger glass to make larger roses. A champagne glass works best for pepperoni, while a wine glass should be used with salami.
- Fold one slice of meat at a time over the edge of the wine glass, layering around and around until you’ve used enough to make a rose.
- Carefully flip the glass over onto the board and remove the glass, leaving the salami rose behind.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Laurfa says
Loved making this! Super simple, and not too cluttered which meant people actually ate it because they weren’t afraid that they were going to mess it up. I have found that sometimes when you do a charcuterie board that is PACKED, people are hesitant to eat it because they are fearful they will mess it up.
Linda says
I did make a board very similar to yours for my book club Christmas party! Great success; people ate it and it looked so festive!
Judee says
It looks wonderful what about this seeded eucalyptus is it safe to put with the food touching
Vinny says
Yummy tray of food