What kind of board should I use?

Any kind you have! If you have a charcuterie or cheese board, then this is the perfect opportunity to use it but you don't need one. You can use a wooden cutting board, serving platter, tray, baking sheet, pizza pan or even just place some parchment paper or butcher paper down the center of your table as a base. Use what you have! However, if you are looking for a board, then you might like some of these options on Amazon and Etsy .

Can you make it ahead of time?

You can assemble your board up to 8 hours ahead of time if you have the space in your fridge. Just cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. I recommend leaving off crackers until right before serving since they can get stale and soggy in the fridge. But what if you don’t have the fridge space for an assembled board? Another option is to prepare all the components ahead of time, store in separate containers in the fridge and then quickly assemble the board before your guests arrive.

In what order should you place items on the board?

There is no “right way” to do this. My preference is to work from large to small items. I start off by placing any small bowls I might be using and larger ingredients like wedges or rounds of cheese left whole. Then I start filling in the spaces with the remaining ingredients and fill any gaps at the end with small items like nuts/seeds, berries, etc.

Spooky Halloween Charcuterie Board

Description

This spooky Halloween charcuterie board is the perfect choice if you are looking for a simple yet impressive Halloween appetizer or snack. It’s super easy to assemble – no cooking, just arranging! Use this simply as a guideline and have fun with it. For more inspiration, take a look at all the Halloween charcuterie board ideas in the post.

Ingredients

Choose a variety of your favorite charcuterie board ingredients and a few spooky additions. Choose foods with Halloween colors (orange, black, red, purple, green, white). Here are some ideas:

Cheese: Choose an assortment of your favorite cheeses including both hard, firm varieties and softer ones. Try to incorporate some different Halloween colors as well by including an orange cheese, white and perhaps even something purple or speckled (so many fun options out there!).
Cured Meats: Prosciutto, salami, chorizo and bresaola are all great options with their deep colors.
Crackers: Choose a variety of interesting crackers with different textures or colors. Slices of baguette are another option.
Fruit: Grapes, blackberries, figs, dried apricots, blueberries, pomegranate, passion fruit, orange slices or segments are all great options that fit with the Halloween color scheme.
Veggies: Olives, cornichon pickles, roasted red peppers, carrots and sliced bell peppers, etc.
Nuts & Seeds: Walnuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds, pistachios, etc.
Preserves, Condiments & Spreads: You can include small bowls of preserves, honey, mustard, olive tapenade or anything else that you feel will help accent the flavors of the cheeses or meats.
Some Spooky Additions: Edible spooky touches like candy eyeballs, fruit or cheese cut into Halloween shapes with cookie cutters, Halloween shaped crackers or cookies or Halloween candy (candy corn, mini pumpkins, gummy worms, chocolate pumpkins). You could even include some homemade Halloween treats like these Halloween Chocolate Covered Strawberries.
Halloween Decorations: The perfect finishing touch! Finish things off with some skeleton hands, plastic spiders, fake cobwebs underneath the board or any other fun Halloween decorations you find.

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Instructions

Place large items first: Start off by placing the larger items on first such as any small bowls of ingredients like olives and larger wedges of cheese. Working from large to small items, makes the board much easier to assemble since you can fill in the gaps with the small items at the end.
Fill in spaces: Next, start filling in the spaces with crackers, cured meats, cut up cheeses, fruit, Halloween treats, etc.
Fill in remaining small gaps: Fill in the remaining gaps with small items such as nuts/seeds and berries.
Add spooky touches: Finally, finish by adding in some spooky Halloween touches like skeleton hands, candy eyeballs, plastic spiders, etc.

Notes

There are no rules! Don’t worry about making your charcuterie board look the exact same as the photos! Use them for inspiration, purchase foods that you enjoy and have fun with it! Just focus on ingredients in Halloween colors and a few fun spooky touches!
What kind of board do I need? If you have a charcuterie or cheeseboard, then this is the perfect time to pull it out. If not, no worries! You can use a wooden cutting board, serving platter, tray, baking sheet, pizza pan or even just place some parchment paper or butcher paper down the center of your table to use as a base. Use what you have!
Tip: Cutting and arranging meats and cheeses in different shapes and sizes creates a more interesting visual effect. For example, cured meats can be cut into thicker slices, cubes or thinly sliced and folded in various ways. Cheese can be left whole in a large wedge or round or it can be sliced, cut into cubes or crumbled. You can even cut some cheese into Halloween shapes with a cookie cutter.
Prep time and yield will vary depending on the types of foods you are including and the size of board you are assembling. It can be simple or elaborate, small or large. So versatile and customizable!