How to Make a Grazing Board in 8 Steps
Written by Katie Workman
If you have dipped into Pinterest even briefly over the past several years, you know that Grazing Boards are A Thing. Beautiful boards or platters filled with all kinds of different foods ready to be sampled, snacked up, nibbled, and, ok, grazed.
And what started as a trend seems pretty locked into the foodie world at this point. It’s such a nice way to entertain, or even to offer up a room temperature meal for your family during game nights or movie nights or what have you. I’ve been making them for years, and they’ve always been one of my favorite ways to pull together a snacky meal, or on the more thoughtful
side, a beautiful way to start a meal with guests.
How to Make a Graze Board
Pick a board or platter that feels ample because the point of a grazing board is to feel abundant and filled with options. You should feel free to use whatever you have on hand with ample surface area. That might mean a large platter, a cutting board, a cheese tray, or a marble or stone slab. Wooden boards make a very pretty base for grazing boards, and you might find them by searching online for cheese boards, charcuterie boards or grazing trays. You can also find them in housewares stores, the kitchen sections of larger stores, and also at tag sales and flea markets.
Cheese
Cheese is a good place to start (cheese is never the wrong answer). It’s nice to offer a selection: hard cheeses (such as cheddar, Parmesan or Manchego), soft cheese (such as double or triple cremes, like brie camembert or goat cheese), and blue cheeses.
Meats
Cured meats, in particular, are great choices, all kinds of salumi (fancy word for the salami family) and hams (prosciutto, salami, speck, soppressata, sliced dried sausages like chorizo). Paté is another nice offering.
Small Things
This is a very broad category, I know, but basically, I’m thinking about everything from olives to pepperoncini to small pickled things to nuts (check for allergies) to marinated artichoke hearts to sundried tomatoes. Melissa’s has some great items to fill your plate (try the Hatch pecans for a bit of spice, or the Pesto Lovers Samplers featuring basil and sundried tomato pestos.)
Vegetables and Fruits
This is your chance to add all kinds of color and texture to your graze board: Cut up carrots (check out Melissa’s purple carrots!) and celery and cucumbers and peppers (such as stripey Enjoya peppers ). Multicolored cherry, cocktail, or grape tomatoes. Sliced apples and pears. Stone fruits (peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots), berries (have you seen kiwi berries yet? So cool!), cherries, and figs. And don’t forget about dried fruits: apricots, dates, cherries, figs, cranberries, plums…
Spreads and Drizzles
Don’t just think savory, sweet is really nice, especially when paired with cheeses. Mustards, pestos, mayonnaises and aioli are delicious. While jams, jellies, honey, and interesting syrups add the right touch of sweetness.
Dips
You might want to add a dip to the mix. Think about Green Goddess Dressing and Dip, Easiest Herb Dip Ever, Arugula-Basil Dipping Sauce, Tzatziki, hummus, or Harissa Dipping Sauce.
Bread and Crackers
Sliced baguette or other small pieces of good bread or toast, and any and all types of crackers.
And what started as a trend seems pretty locked into the foodie world at this point. It’s such a nice way to entertain, or even to offer up a room temperature meal for your family during game nights or movie nights or what have you. I’ve been making them for years, and they’ve always been one of my favorite ways to pull together a snacky meal, or on the more thoughtful
side, a beautiful way to start a meal with guests.
How to Make a Graze Board
Pick a board or platter that feels ample because the point of a grazing board is to feel abundant and filled with options. You should feel free to use whatever you have on hand with ample surface area. That might mean a large platter, a cutting board, a cheese tray, or a marble or stone slab. Wooden boards make a very pretty base for grazing boards, and you might find them by searching online for cheese boards, charcuterie boards or grazing trays. You can also find them in housewares stores, the kitchen sections of larger stores, and also at tag sales and flea markets.
Cheese
Cheese is a good place to start (cheese is never the wrong answer). It’s nice to offer a selection: hard cheeses (such as cheddar, Parmesan or Manchego), soft cheese (such as double or triple cremes, like brie camembert or goat cheese), and blue cheeses.
Meats
Cured meats, in particular, are great choices, all kinds of salumi (fancy word for the salami family) and hams (prosciutto, salami, speck, soppressata, sliced dried sausages like chorizo). Paté is another nice offering.
Small Things
This is a very broad category, I know, but basically, I’m thinking about everything from olives to pepperoncini to small pickled things to nuts (check for allergies) to marinated artichoke hearts to sundried tomatoes. Melissa’s has some great items to fill your plate (try the Hatch pecans for a bit of spice, or the Pesto Lovers Samplers featuring basil and sundried tomato pestos.)
Vegetables and Fruits
This is your chance to add all kinds of color and texture to your graze board: Cut up carrots (check out Melissa’s purple carrots!) and celery and cucumbers and peppers (such as stripey Enjoya peppers ). Multicolored cherry, cocktail, or grape tomatoes. Sliced apples and pears. Stone fruits (peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots), berries (have you seen kiwi berries yet? So cool!), cherries, and figs. And don’t forget about dried fruits: apricots, dates, cherries, figs, cranberries, plums…
Spreads and Drizzles
Don’t just think savory, sweet is really nice, especially when paired with cheeses. Mustards, pestos, mayonnaises and aioli are delicious. While jams, jellies, honey, and interesting syrups add the right touch of sweetness.
Dips
You might want to add a dip to the mix. Think about Green Goddess Dressing and Dip, Easiest Herb Dip Ever, Arugula-Basil Dipping Sauce, Tzatziki, hummus, or Harissa Dipping Sauce.
Bread and Crackers
Sliced baguette or other small pieces of good bread or toast, and any and all types of crackers.
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