Perfect Vegan Charcuterie Board In 10 Easy Steps

So What Is Charcuterie Anyways?

Traditionally, it’s a branch of French cooking that is devoted to prepared and cured meats. Today, many people have their own spin on a charcuterie. It can be sweet, savoury, cheesy, vegetarian, vegan, or anything really.

I personally love all charcuterie boards and I also love making them. As someone who likes showing her creativity, this is a perfect way to mix creativity and food. It’s also the perfect thing to serve at events both big and small.

I recently had an old friend visit to catch up, and I decided to make the perfect vegan charcuterie board since she’s a no meat/no dairy kinda girl.

Step 1 | Where to Start? Boards and Bowls

The first step is to choose your main serving board. The large on in the picture is from IKEA and only cost $10 for a solid bamboo board. Pick something that’s large enough to hold all the lovely ingredients you plan on using and something that can hold the weight of them.

I personally have more cutting boards than I can count, so I chose a medium size wood cutting board that measures about 16″x20″. If you plan on having a larger group, consider either a) a larger board or b) multiple boards.

Step 2 | Adding Height *Optional

This next step is option, but I love doing it.

If you’re like me and you have different size serving platters laying around, you might want to stack a smaller board on the main one. This will allow you to add some height and dimension to your charcuterie board.

I tried to find a board that matched the larger one and placed it right in the middle. You can experiment with where you put the second one or even what kind of shape it is.

Step 3 | Jams, Spreads, Preserves, Dips, etc.

No charcuterie board is complete without some dips and spreads. Here you can really start to play with different flavour profiles.

Find things that compliment the items you plan on having on the board. I added hummus, salsa and a sun dried bell pepper jam.

Fill small bowls and shallow dishes with your chosen items and place them around the board as you see fit. Try your best to not move them around later. This can sometimes lead to rearranging everything else.

Step 4 | Breads!

You guys… I’m not gonna lie to you…

I. Love. Bread. Probably almost as much as I love coffee. So, naturally, I always add bread to my charcuterie boards. And you should, too!

With so many amazing options to pick from, I think one of the most popular has to be fresh baguette slices. There’s really nothing better than a chewy, soft and crunchy piece of bread dipped into some olive oil and vinegar, or topped with a delicious jam.

If you choose baguette slices, have fun arranging them around your bowls or stacking them in interesting ways to add more depth to the overall board!

Step 5 | Crackers

Next on our list is picking a variety of crackers. There must be dozens if not hundreds of brands and types on the market so there’s no lack of choices.

There’s no right or wrong choice when it comes to crackers. If you like plain, get plain. If you like balsamic and rosemary flavoured, get balsamic and rosemary flavoured. It’s totally up to you!

I had chosen the Grissol Baguettes (plain), and two Triscuit flavours (balsamic & rosemary, and olive oil & garlic).

Arrange this how ever you’d like. I try to keep different varieties on different parts of the board so that there isn’t just a giant pile of crackers in one area.

Step 6 | Candied & Raw Nuts

Because I love to bake, we always have a variety of raw nuts in the house. If you or one of your guests are allergic, feel free to leave them out.

A quick way to fancy up your selection is to make a quick candied walnut (or pecans, etc). This way, you have both a sweet and raw variety on the board.

Place them near the bread and crackers, and have fun trailing them from the bottom board to the top board.

Notice how, at this point, the top board’s edges are starting to get covered up by things? Despite not being able to see it, you still get the sense of height because of how you placed your components.

Step 7 | Dried Fruit

Dried fruit is the perfect accompaniment to sweet and salty nuts. They’re also a fantastic textural component to any charcuterie.

If you were going for a more tropical charcuterie you could do dried mango, or if you were going for a more middle eastern charcuterie, you could add dates. You could also just add all of them to any charcuterie. The choice is yours.

For this vegan charcuterie, I chose dried apricots because I usually have them in the house (we had also just ran out of dried dates – oops).

Place them in smaller areas that you feel like you wouldn’t be able to fit vegetables or fruit. I put the majority of them on the lip of the bottom board and a few on top to add some colour in that area.

Step 8 | Fresh Vegetables

What’s a perfect vegan charcuterie board without some fresh vegetables (unless of course you’re doing a sweet charcuterie or a dessert charcuterie). When making a cheese or meat charcuterie board, this is even more important. Why? Because it adds freshness to the board.

Go for whatever vegetable you want. Tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, etc. I happened to choose cherry tomatoes and Lebanese cucumbers. I went with Lebanese cucumbers because they’re small and I can cut them a bit thicker without them looking silly and oversized.

I’m sure you can tell now that our board is getting quite full. I placed the cucumbers in two areas and the tomatoes in one just because I knew I still had to add some fruit to the mix.

Step 9 | Fresh Fruit

We’re nearly there! To add to our freshness, we want to go with some bright and juicy fruits that are easy to grab. Fruits like berries or grapes are perfect. Try to avoid fruit like fresh mango or pineapple as it’ll make a mess on your board. If you wanted to go with these, substitute some of your dip bowls for fruit bowls!

I ended up using strawberries, small red grapes, and large green grapes. What I love about using the grapes is the fact that they’re on a vine so you can have just a few in smaller area and tuck them in so they don’t move.

This is the last food component for your charcuterie board, so do your best to try to fill in any leftover gaps and hide any remainder of the boards.

Step 10 | Small Details to Make Your Board Pop *Optional

Now that your charcuterie is pieced together it’s time to add some details!

We have small serving spoons that I like to use, but you can use whatever spoons you have. Teaspoons will also work. Place them in your some of your dip bowls or gently on top of the pile of goodness.

If you’re looking to photograph your creation, add your plates into the shot and sprinkle some almonds or pistachios around the table.

That’s It!

And there you have it! A Beautiful vegan charcuterie board for you and your bestie.

Feel free to add different things like chocolate or scones for a sweeter board. Get creative with it! This is just my way of showing you how to put this board together, but really there’s no wrong way to do it.

Enjoy!

xo

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Perfect Vegan Charcuterie Board for Two