If you're looking for Halloween charcuterie board ideas, look no further! This fall, assemble this easy Halloween Charcuterie Board that's sure to be a hit at the office, Halloween party, or at home! You may also want to add these adorable Halloween Chocolate-Covered Oreos to your board!
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This spooky Halloween board features Halloween candy, cookies, popcorn, cheese, fruit, and seed crackers.
What would a Halloween snack board be without spooky accents, am I right? We'll add some spiders, skeletons, and candy eyes that are sure to delight kids and adults alike! You can even try making individual charcuterie cups!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Assembling a Halloween charcuterie board, pronounced "Sharkootery," doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. You can easily make a charcuterie board on a budget, especially for Halloween!
- The best thing about making a Halloween cheeseboard is that there is no wrong way of doing it. You don't have to include everything that I have on my board, but you do want to have different textures and salty and sweet options.
- You can find almost everything you need at any Dollar Store, making this a budget-friendly board.
What You Need For This Recipe
Ingredient & Substitutions
- Meat: I added pepperoni, but salami, prosciutto, basturma, and smoked pork jerky are great options. You can even make a salami rose or two!
- Cheese: There are so many cheese options that you can incorporate! I used cheddar, pepper jack, and Swiss. Brie, cheese spread, Asiago, mozzarella balls, Gouda, blue cheese, Havarti, and goat cheese can also be used.
- Candy: When choosing candy, think candy corn, candy pumpkins, red hots, Reese's pieces, jelly fruit slices, chocolates, M&M's, lollipops, and gummy worms! You can even add freeze-dried candy!
- Cookies and Crackers: Select a variety of cookies and crackers. I added Oreos, whole-grain crackers, and Cheez-Its. I also added some chocolate-dipped pretzels. Nutter Butter cookies are also often included in Halloween Charcuterie boards, especially dipped in white chocolate to resemble little ghosties.
- Vegetables/fruit: You can include some healthy options on your board, too. I added dried apricots, dates, grapes, and baby carrots. You can substitute with what's in your fridge. How about mini peppers, sliced apples, prunes, blackberries, and pineapple chips? I was going to use cuties as tiny pumpkins, but I ran out of room.
- Other: Popcorn, refrigerator pickles, olives, jams, and jelly are often included.
Other Halloween Charcuterie Board Ideas
Here's what you can pick up at the dollar store:
- Candy, including freeze dried skittles
- Cookies
- Crackers
- Pretzels
- Popcorn
- Dried fruit or dehydrated apple chips
- Veggies, (baby carrots, olives, and pickles)
- Nuts and seeds, including walnuts, almonds, and peanuts (nut clusters)
- Salami, pepperoni, or other sliced meats
If you do your shopping at the Dollar Store, make sure to pick up a platter, bowls, and lots of Halloween decorations to accent your charcuterie board. So, what can you use to accent your creation?
- plastic spiders
- skeletons & skeleton hands
- ghosts
- gummy worms
- pumpkins
- candy eyeballs
When you're trying to come up with Halloween charcuterie board ideas, think of these accents as the finishing touches that will create interest and make your Halloween charcuterie board extra spooky!
How to Make A Halloween Charcuterie Board
First, gather all your ingredients. Assess what you have and make sure you have a variety of ingredients. You will also need ramekins, napkins, and small bowls to separate the food items.
Step 1 | Assemble Props and Bowls
First, assemble the larger props on your platter. It's ok if you don't know exactly where to put them. You can move them around as you need to. This includes bowls and accents like pumpkins. Save some accents to add at the end.
Step 2 | Add Cheese, Crackers, and Fruit
Start filling your bowls with hard and soft cheese (sliced and cubed), berries such as blueberries and strawberries, popcorn, etc.
Step 3 | Fill Gaps
Fill the gaps with candy, fruit, pretzels, or whatever else you have. If you have decorative napkins, add them as well. You can make interesting wavy shapes with the crackers, stack them, or place them in a small bowl.
Step 4 | Add Spooky Accents
You've added your treats, now finish your Halloween Charcuterie board with some tricks! Accents like spiders, skeletons, candy eyes, skulls, and other spooky items are all perfect!
Other Snack Tray Ideas
- When making a DIY Charcuterie Board, you'll want to include lots of various flavors, textures, and colors. If you're making a fall charcuterie board or Halloween-themed snack board, you'll want to make sure you include lots of fall colors (think orange, black, brown, and red. Black also works for a Halloween-themed board.
- You can save a lot of money and put together a beautiful charcuterie board on a dime! Start by looking in the refrigerator maybe you have some baby pickles, kalamata olives, or jam?
- Before running to the store to buy a bunch of treats for your snack board, check your pantry. Here's what I found in mine: dates, dried apricots, nuts, Cheetos, popcorn, jams, and crackers. You can make a charcuterie board and clean out your pantry at the same time! I'm sure your guests won't mind.
Recipe FAQs
The word Charcuterie refers to a French style of cooking, devoted specifically to preserving meat to make bacon, sausage, ham, and the like.
According to Wikipedia, "chair" means 'flesh', and "cuit" means "cooked." So the literal translation of charcuterie is cooked or preserved meat.
A traditional charcuterie board consists of lots of cured meats like salami, pâté, ham, prosciutto, salami, and sausage. However, it has since expanded to include a variety of sliced and cubed cheeses, crackers, fruit, and nuts.
Preparing a Charcuterie board ahead of time doesn't always work. Especially when you have perishables or items that will go stale, sweat, or dry out. Yes, even when stored in the refrigerator.
A better idea is to plan out the board in advance and place the board's ingredients in ziplock baggies, ready to go when it's time to assemble your board.
You can even practice assembling the board ahead of time and take a picture of it to refer back to when you are ready to reassemble the platter.
If you still prefer to assemble the platter ahead of time, make sure that it's well-wrapped and refrigerated (up to 24 hours) before you plan on serving it.
Pro Tips
- Don't forget to add a few cheese knives and a spoon or two for the jam!
- When including items from your pantry, for example, crackers, chips, and nuts taste them first to make sure they're not stale. Why go to all that trouble of making the perfect charcuterie board if the items are stale or expired?
- Don't forget to look in the fridge for berries, Lebanese Hummus, and cheese! Might as well make good use of your leftovers!
- Look around your house. Do you have some decorations out that you can use? For example, a pumpkin plate? A ghost dish? Or small plastic or fabric pumpkins? I can't stress enough the idea of using what you have to make this Halloween charcuterie board instead of spending extra money.
- When planning your snack board think about incorporating items of various heights and colors to make the board visually appealing.
- Store any leftovers in small Ziploc bags. You can also assemble a smaller Halloween cheese board or a charcuterie board for two and enjoy it while you have a scary movie night.
Related Recipes
If you've found these Halloween Charcuterie board ideas helpful, you may like these related Halloween recipes!
Did you make this recipe?
Easy Halloween Charcuterie Board
Equipment
- large platter, bowls, ramekins
- accents like spiders, skeletons, and candy eyes
Ingredients
Fruits & Vegetables
- grapes
- dates
- dried apricots
- baby carrots
Cheese & Meat
- cheddar cheese
- pepper jack cheese
- Swiss cheese
- pepperoni
Cookies & Crackers
- Oreos
- whole-grain crackers
- Cheez-Its
- pretzels
Candy
- candy corn/pumpkins
- lollipops
- fruit jellies
- gummy worms
- Red Hots
- Reese's Pieces
Other
- olives
- popcorn
Instructions
- First, gather all your ingredients. Assess what you have and make sure you have a variety of ingredients. You will also need ramekins, napkins, small bowls to separate the food items.
- Start filling your bowls with hard and soft cheese (sliced and cubed), berries such as blueberries and strawberries, popcorn, etc.
- Fill the gaps with candy, fruit, pretzels, or whatever else you have. If you have decorative napkins, add them as well. You can make interesting wavy shapes with the crackers, stack them, or place them in a small bowl.
- You've added your treats, now finish your Halloween Charcuterie board with some tricks! Accents like spiders, skeletons, candy eyes, skulls, and other spooky items are all perfect!
Notes
- Don't forget to add a few cheese knives and a spoon or two for the jam!
- When including items from your pantry, for example, crackers, chips, and nuts taste them first to make sure they're not stale. Why go to all that trouble of making the perfect charcuterie board if the items are stale or expired?
- Don't forget to look in the fridge for berries, hummus, and cheese! Might as well make good use of your leftovers!
- Look around your house. Do you have some decorations out that you can use? For example, a pumpkin plate? A ghost dish? Or small plastic or fabric pumpkins? I can't stress enough the idea of using what you have to make this Halloween charcuterie board instead of spending extra money.
- When planning your snack board think about incorporating items of various heights and colors to make the board visually appealing.
- Store any leftovers in small Ziploc bags. You can also assemble a smaller Halloween cheese board or a charcuterie board for two and enjoy it while you have a scary movie night.
Anita says
Such a gorgeous charcuterie. I love how it has something for all ages.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Anita, I did try to sneak in some healthy options. 😘
Kim says
Great job Hilda. Looks fantastic. I bet it would taste good too!
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Kim! The boys polished it off, as usual! 😉