Spooky Halloween charcuterie board (super easy)

If this board is visually incredible, it's also super fun to prepare, on your own or with your kids. From a family Halloween party to a spooky movie night with friends, it's perfect for any occasion! 

And if you want a dessert to complete this beautiful Halloween-themed board, this Halloween apple pie with a Jack O Lantern face will be great! 

💙 Why you'll love it

• So fun to make - I really don't know if the best thing to do is to prepare this board as it's so much fun to assemble all those ingredients together...or to eat it?
• Really easy to prepare - you're worried about screwing up your charcuterie board? I suggest all the ingredients you can use, so all you have to do is choose what you like! In addition, I'll take you step-by-step through the process, with photos. Believe me, making a charcuterie board has never been easier!
• Customizable - basically, you can put anything you like on it! And there are so many possible options (regarding cheeses, meats, fruit, breads, side dishes, etc...) that the choice is almost infinite!
• Small or large? Whether you're having a dinner party with dozens of children or an overnight party with 2-3 friends, the size of this board is completely adaptable!

🧀 Ingredients

You'll need the following ingredients to make this delicious board.

Cheeses 

Use an assortment of cheeses with different textures:

• Hard cheeses such as Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese (its orange color is perfect for Halloween) or Brie cheese.
• Semi-soft cheeses such as goat cheese, blue cheese or mozzarella mini balls. 
• Cream cheese in a small container can also be a great addition!

Breads

Don't forget to add ingredients that will allow your guests to enjoy their cheeses or have something hard to put into dips or jams.

• Slices of bread or baguette (that's the French in me!)
• Mini bretzels
• Savory cookies
• Crackers

Charcuterie

Having a good variety of meats is important for the perfect charcuterie board. Here are great options:

• Classic ham or smoked ham
• Prosciutto
• Chorizo
• Salami

Fruits

​I recommend to use a mix of fresh and dried fruits to have a very complete board:

• Fresh fruit - blueberries, blackberries, oranges, or black grapes.
• Dried fruits - almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc...

Other options

I like to add other items to my spooky Charcuterie Board, such as:

• Jams to go with meats: fig jam, apricot jam or even strawberry jam/red berries jam to look like false blood.
• Olives: you can use black or green olives.
• Pickles
• Butternut squash hummus, as perfect for autumn as it is for Halloween, and really delicious!
• Candies or chocolate: Halloween candy, Oreos with candy eyes or chocolate squares for a little touch of sweetness.

🍴Utensils

Spiders

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Mini cauldrons

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Skeleton hands

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Pumpkin serving ramekins

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Halloween cookie cutters

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For the board

If you're wondering which board you should use for this Halloween themed-board, I recommend a large cutting board. Mine is 10.6 inch x 14,.5 inch, which is quite large.

But you can use anything that you have at home: wooden board, metal board, stone board, pizza board, etc... And if you have a smaller board or larger one, no problem, just adapt the quantities of ingredients.

And a cheese knife would be a real bonus!

For a spooky effect

• Spiders
• Mini cauldrons to replace traditional bowls
• Skeleton hands
• Pumpkin serving ramekins
• False eyes
• Skulls
• Halloween cookie cutters if you want to make funny shapes

✨How to make the perfect Halloween charcuterie board?

• Start by placing the containers (small bowls, small plates, etc.).
• Then add large decoration items (such as mini pumpkins or Jack B Little pumpkins) on your board. It's what will take up the most space and begin to create the structure of your board.

• For the cheese coffin: use a triangle of Brie cheese and cut the two edges of the widest part, to have a coffin shape. Then you can add a bit of strawberry jam on top to make fake blood and stick a knife in it for a scary effect.

• For the cheese pumpkins: use slices of cheese and press a pumpkin-shaped (or other shaped) Halloween cookie cutter onto them.

• Then place the cheeses on the board, starting with the large ones, as the smaller ones can be used to fill any gaps. Try varying sizes and shapes.
• Then you can move on to slices of bread, bretzels, savory cookies, crackers, etc...

• Next, add the charcuterie, always trying to vary shapes and sizes: slices of ham, roses of chorizo, etc...
• It's almost over: go on with fresh fruit (blueberries or black grapes, for example) and dried fruit (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc.).

• Fill containers with butternut squash hummus or any other dip you like, jam, black or green olives, mozzarella balls, etc... 
• Fill the gaps if needed and finish with the decoration to give your Charcuterie board a spooky twist: candy eyeballs (or fake small eyes), spiders, skeleton hands, etc... let your creativity run wild!

👩🏻‍🍳 Chef's Tips

1. Give room to your creativity and adapt according to your tastes - the best part of this festive Halloween Charcuterie board is that there's no strict rules about how you should make it and which ingredients to use.
2. It's Halloween season so feel free to add scary things and stick to orange, black, white or even red for blood.
3. Variety is crucial - cut hard cheeses in different ways, shape charcuterie in different ways too, try to use different textures of ingredients, etc...
4. Using small cookie cutters in Halloween themed shapes is a fun way to make your Halloween board even greater! 
5. Cut the cheeses you plan to cut while they're still cold, as they'll cut more easily.
6. Don't forget to place a few knives next to it, to spread jams, hummus or cheeses.

🍸What to drink with it?

If you want a traditional drink, I really recommend white or red wine. It's what goes best with cheese and charcuterie.

And if you want something more in the spirit of Halloween, you can find more than 20 drinks, with or without alcohol, for Halloween just here.

🤔How much food per person?

My motto: better too much than not enough! And if there's too much, we don't throw anything away and enjoy the leftovers the next day. It also depends on whether you want to use this board as an appetizer or as a main course.

I used this recipe as a main course for 6 people.

But if it's an appetizer, allow 2-3 oz. cheese per person and 2-3 oz. of charcuterie per person. And don't forget the bread!

If you're eating this board as a main course, just like me, go for 5-5.5 oz. cheese per person and 5-5.5 oz. charcuterie per person (or 10-11 oz., divided as you wish). For the rest of the ingredients, adapt according to your preferences (more fruit than bread or vice versa, more dips than olives, a little sweet, etc.).

❄️Make ahead and storage

Make ahead - if you want to prepare this board the day before, put most of the ingredients in it, cover it with cling film so the ingredients don't dry out and leave it in the fridge. I'd simply recommend putting in the bread slices and crackers at the last minute.

Storage - if you have leftovers, put them in airtight containers and refrigerate. Eat within 2 days.