Build a fall charcuterie board that is perfect for game days, Thanksgiving, or as a simple happy hour appetizer. This elegant cheese board is vibrant and delicious yet surprisingly simple to make.
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Embrace the changes of the fall with a beautifully elegant autumn charcuterie board. From the changing colors to the different scents in the air, it’s hard to ignore how infectious the fall can be.
Using these sensory triggers as inspiration, create a charcuterie board that embodies the season. From pumpkins to figs, use my step-by-step guide to navigate your way through prepping and plating this fall charcuterie board.
With a shopping list included, dealing with the grocery store will be a breeze and, it will allow you to get your board plated up in no time.
Feel free to use my board as a guide, or copy it exactly. Either way, in this post I will walk you through the ‘must-have’ charcuterie board items, break down the best way to design your board, and provide practical tips for serving.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- How to properly plate a cheese board, so it's aesthetically pleasing.
- Tips for serving sizes and wine pairing ideas.
- How to store and make this charcuterie board ahead of time.
Check you my charcuterie board shopping list with over 100 food ideas to inspire your next cheese board or platter.
Ingredients You Need
Mini pumpkins: While they aren’t edible as is, nothing screams fall more than pumpkins. Throwing a couple of these mini pumpkins onto your charcuterie board is great for filling space and capturing the feeling of autumn.
Blueberry goat cheese: Blueberry goat cheese is a beautiful addition to any cheese board with its vibrant violet exterior.
Mild cheddar cheese: Mild cheddar is a great cheese for this autumn board because of its orange color and its popularity. You can also use another variety of cheddar, if preferred.
Pecorino cheese: Adding an intense Italian cheese to the board helps contrast the lighter flavors of the other cheese used.
White Stilton with apricots: Trader Joe’s has an amazing white Stilton with apricot cheese that is perfect for highlighting the white, yellow, and orange fall colors.
Cornichons: I believe that a charcuterie board is incomplete without some form of pickled item. Cornichons are great, bite-sized pickles that are super tasty. Serve these in serving bowls to avoid the pickle juice spreading around the board.
Blueberry Jam: Keeping the theme of blueberries, blueberry jam pairs wonderfully with the different cheeses.
Peppered salami: Peppered salami is the item that takes this from a cheese board to a charcuterie board. The pepper works beautifully with the different cheeses and provides a pleasing visual aesthetic as well.
Dried mangos: While mangos are a summer fruit, dried mangos are enjoyed year-round. Add some fall orange to your board with a few pieces of this dried fruit.
Yogurt-covered pretzels: These chocolate yogurt-covered pretzels are great for color contrast on your board in addition to how tasty they are.
Fresh blackberries: Fresh blackberries are a nice fresh fruit to pair with the different cheeses on the board. A little sweet and tangy bite cuts right through the rich and creamy cheeses.
Fresh blueberries: Fresh blueberries are a nice touch to the charcuterie board, providing a lovely blue color as well as being super convenient to pick up and eat. They also work perfectly with blueberry goat cheese.
Pecans: Pecans are the nuts of the fall. Whether you’re indulging in a pecan pie or coating your sweet potato casserole in caramelized pecans, these nuts definitely make their claim to fame in the autumn months.
Fresh figs: Adding a couple of fresh figs (sliced) to the board makes for a nice visual touch.
Black cracked pepper crackers: A cheese board isn’t complete without some form of cracker to put the cheeses and meats on. Black cracked pepper crackers pair beautifully with the different cheeses and the peppered salami.
For this recipe, you can download this shopping guide for all the items I used on my fall board.
How To Make This Recipe
There are no set rules for making this charcuterie board. Feel free to let your creative spirit fly, and have fun with it.
To begin, I use the large items as an anchor point. For this board, that means placing the pumpkins in the middle of the serving board.
After those are set where I want them, I move on to my cheeses: Blueberry goat cheese, mild cheddar, pecorino, and white Stilton with apricots. I try to place these as spaced out as possible, to avoid confusion and allow me to surround each with smaller items.
For the best visuals, place contrasting colors next to one another so each ingredient can stand out. Along those same lines, try and place items of different textures next to one another to express further contrast.
Lastly, an often overlooked feature to have in your charcuterie board is to have a change in height between items on the board (i.e. the pumpkins will be higher and taller than the berries).
With the cheeses in place, place the cornichons and blueberry jam into small serving bowls, and place them anywhere you please.
Then place the thinly sliced salami and dried mangos against the cheeses or the serving bowls.
With your large components all in place, fill in the gaps with handfuls of blackberries, blueberries, pecans, and crackers. Place the sliced figs into place to finish it off. Some other fun and exciting finishing touches would be the use of some fresh herb sprigs such as mint or rosemary.
The flavor and texture of cheeses are best at room temperature. When making your fall cheeseboard, remove the cheese from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving to allow it to reach room temperature.
Expert Tips
- Want to make this charcuterie board ahead of time? This cheese board can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve. Wrap the entire cheese board in plastic wrap before placing it in the refrigerator to store. You should wait to add the crackers on the board until you're ready to serve, as they will quickly become stale in the refrigerator.
- To serve the cheese:
- The flavor and texture of cheeses are best at room temperature. When making your fall cheeseboard, remove the cheese from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving to allow it to reach room temperature.
- If you wish to make this charcuterie platter ahead of time, avoid pre-cutting the cheese which will cause it to become dry.
- For any unused cheese that is not placed on the charcuterie board, wrap it well and keep it in the refrigerator. Most hard and firm cheeses should last for several weeks. Fresh cheeses such as feta, mascarpone, or mozzarella last around 7-10 days.
- This board is best paired with a nice Cabernet or even a Cabernet sangria.
Recipe FAQs
Make sure you have a platter that is large enough to hold all your food items. For a 4 - 6 person charcuterie board like this one, I suggest around a 14” x 10” board, platter, or plate.
You can safely leave the cheese board out at room temperature for 1-2 hours. After this, you should discard the leftovers.
I'd say plan on spending around $50 on your board. Cheese is typically the most expensive item, ranging from $3 - $8 per block depending on the variety.
Although you'll likely spend around $50, you will have leftover items to use on future boards. This is more of an initial investment if you are starting from nothing.
On average, provide 2-3 ounces of cheese per person, and 4-6 slices of meat per person.
Yes, cheese knives are very helpful for serving. These are some of the most popular knives and what they are used for:
- Chisel Knife: Used for semi-soft (fontina, gouda, havarti) to semi-hard (cheddar, manchego) cheeses. It helps divide soft cheese or shave down hard cheese.
- Open Work Blade Knife: Used for soft, sticky cheeses (brie, boursin, taleggio). The holes help prevent the cheese from sticking to the blade.
- Narrow Plane Knife: Used for mainly semi-hard cheeses (cheddar, manchego). However, this is a fairly versatile knife that can cut on the long or short end.
- Small Spade Knife: Used for hard cheeses (asiago, parmigiano-reggiano, pecorino romano). The point of the knife makes it easy to cut the cheese into wedges.
More Charcuterie Board Recipes
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Easy Fall Charcuterie Board
Equipment
- serving tray
Ingredients
- mini pumpkins for decoration
- 3 ounces blueberry goat cheese
- 3 ounces mild cheddar thinly sliced
- 3 ounces pecorino cheese cut into small wedge
- 3 ounces white stilton with apricots cut into small wedge
- ½ cup cornichons
- ⅛ cup blueberry jam
- ¾ cup black pepper salami thinly sliced
- ½ cup dried mangos
- 1 cup chocolate covered yogurt pretzels
- ½ pint fresh blackberries
- ½ pint fresh blueberries
- ¼ cup pecans
- 2 fresh figs
- black cracked pepper crackers as needed
Instructions
- Place the mini pumpkins in the middle of the serving board.
- Place blueberry goat cheese, mild cheddar, pecorino, and white stilton cheese spaced out on four corners of the serving board.
- Add the cornichons and blueberry jam into small serving bowls. Place in any open space on the cheese board.
- Pile salami and dried mangos next to the cheese or small serving bowls.
- Fill in the remaining spaces with blackberries, blueberries, pecans, figs, and crackers.
- Once cheese has come to room temperature (about 30 minutes), serve.
Mary Gillespie
I have made at least 3-4 Chartuttere Boards since I've been following Homebodyeats. They are so easy to follow and it looks like I've been creating for years. I get so many wonderful compliments. Big 5 star for me
Jessica Mode
This makes me so happy to hear 🙂