Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board

This tasty Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board features the best fall appetizers with mini sandwiches, fruit, cheese, and sweet treats to create the perfect snack or a light lunch. Best of all, nearly everything here can be prepared in advance, freeing you up to focus on the family dinner (or the Friendsgiving feast).

If you’re a foodie, a food-lover, or just someone who loves the flavors of fall, then Thanksgiving is the most wonderful time of the year.

It’s perhaps the most food-focused holiday on the calendar. Sure, other holidays involve food, but Thanksgiving centers around it. It has no special songs, no special clothes, and only 1 real tradition: To eat. 

When you’re hosting Thanksgiving it’s easy to lose yourself in the cooking and preparation. But at some point during the day you realize…everyone is hungry. And that means the everyone will soon shuffle into the kitchen in search of food. Your best defense is this Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board. This sweet & savory platter of appetizers for Thanksgiving is filled with a half-dozen different finger foods that will delight your guests while helping bridge the gap until dinner is served.

CHARCUTERIE BOARD – WHAT YOU NEED

Sweet Potato Souffle Puff Pastry

Cream Cheese Apple Dip (with apples and pear slices for dipping)

Mini-Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwiches on Homemade Rolls 

Cream Cheese Acorn with finely chopped pecans and pepper jelly (with crackers)

Prosciutto wrapped pickled asparagus

Cinnamon candied pecans

HOW TO ARRANGE A CHARCUTERIE BOARD

So much about entertaining relies on the visual aspect of food. A napkin folded into the shape of a swan doesn’t make your dinner taste any better. But it surprises and delights your guests, letting them know the occasion is special and fun. A well-designed charcuterie board has the same effect. 

At first glance, it just looks like food has been casually piled into sections across the board. In reality, it’s organized chaos. Like a beautiful barn wedding, or an outdoor banquet in a field with rustic benches and tables. The variety of foods on the charcuterie board symbolize the bounty of the season. And the act of preparing 6 different foods to ensure everyone gets something they like is how we demonstrate love through cooking.

ASSEMBLING THE CHARCUTERIE BOARD

1. Assemble all the items that will go on your charcuterie board. Start to add structure to the board by filling in the edges with bigger items like the rolls, crackers and decorations. Cut out the cream cheese with a cookie cutter. I love to use my acorn for the fall but a pumpkin or leaf would be cute on the board. Add pecans to garnish.
2. Mix up the apple dip.
3. Place the apple dip into a small container on the board.
4. Add in the sweet potato souffle puff pastries.
5. Make up the turkey sandwiches with the homemade rolls.
6. Fill in with the rest of the food. Add garnishes, fruits, nuts, cheese or anything else you have on hand. This is the time to let your creativity shine!

WHAT GOES ON A CHARCUTERIE BOARD?

While the French word charcuterie technically refers to a cooking specialty involving prepared meats, today’s American charcuterie board typically features a variety of meats, cheeses, fruits, nuts, and garnishes. 

For this recipe, we’ve changed things up to include different flavors of the holidays. What makes this board extra fun is the variety of tastes, textures, and temperatures. The goal when creating a great fall charcuterie board is not to make sure everyone likes everything, but rather that everyone finds something they enjoy.

WHAT GARNISHES DO I USE?

This is a fun opportunity to add a few creative touches to your charcuterie board. A mini-pumpkin, a sprig of thyme, or a whole pomegranate can be lovely garnishes There are no real rules – just a few guidelines:

1. Make it obvious what’s a garnish and what’s an item to be consumed. 
2. Anything you put on that board should be clean enough to touch the food around it. 
3. Avoid garnishes that might get into your food, like the tufts of a dandelion or the flakes of a dried leaf.

Food might touch, overlap, and mingle across the loosely defined borders on your board – and that’s OK. White gloves and polished silver trays are for hors d’oeuvres. This is about relaxed, casual noshing without any pretense. 

WHAT CAN I BRING TO THANKSGIVING DINNER?

Hosting Thanksgiving dinner is like conducting an orchestra. You’re in charge of every last note performed, including the song selection, tempo, and delivery. A perfect performance is achieved through a combination of skill and practice. And the easiest way to disrupt the performance is to add a new variable just before the start of the concert.

Offering to bring a side dish to someone’s house on Thanksgiving is courteous and polite, but it introduces that same type of variable that can disrupt things. You’re bringing the unknown into your host’s well-orchestrated dinner plans.

To avoid situations like these, offer instead to bring an appetizer (like this charcuterie board). It lets you contribute to the festivities in a way that won’t disrupt a well-planned dinner or steal the spotlight from the host.

PRO TIPS/NOTES

• Arrange generous portions of each component across a serving board, platter, or large plate. Make room for large and small garnishes.
• Don’t be afraid to let the items touch each other. A “crowded” board looks more full.
• If you have more food than can fit on your board, be sure to include at least some of each of the 6 components, and save the extra helpings to replenish your charcuterie board after 15 minutes.
• Bake the rolls a day or two in advance so they’re not competing for your time (or your oven space) on Thanksgiving day.
• Sweet Potato Filling can be made a day in advance as a terrific timesaver.
• Set a reminder on your phone for the time you wish to prep and serve the charcuterie board.

The next time you make this Thanksgiving charcuterie board, I would love to see it! Snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #happymoneysaver and tagging me @happymoneysaver!