Grazing Platter: How to Build the Ultimate Easy Sharing Board

 

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This is the ULTIMATE Grazing Platter that is so easy to put together, making it perfect for when you are entertaining. A variety of cheese, meats, crackers, fruit and deli items all loaded up on a board - sweet and savoury, there is something for everyone. This grazing board looks far fancier than it actually is and will really impress your guests. Learn how to make a grazing board and all the different ways you can adapt it!

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We all love a cheese board, but we have taken it to the next level. The charcuterie board and cheese board have had a serious upgrade to this grazing platter. It looks so impressive on a table, with no cooking needed.

A beautiful wooden board (a must for entertaining) piled high with lots of picky bits and this post has LOADS of grazing platter ideas. One of the best things about a grazing platter is that it does not need to be perfect. The more relaxed and abundant it looks, the better. A mix of cheeses, meats, fresh fruit, crunchy vegetables and little jars or bowls of dips creates a board that feels generous, inviting and ideal for sharing.

Sometimes when you are entertaining, you don't want to do a full sit down meal. You want something that you can serve up with drinks and everyone can just pick at and help themselves.

So simple to make, easy to scale up or down and can be customised to suit your guests and any preferences or allergies. We have given lots of variations so you can tailor this to exactly what you need. It is also a great make-ahead option. You can prepare most of the ingredients in advance, then arrange everything just before serving.

Looking for some other recipes that are perfect for when entertaining? Why not try our Cheese Straws or Ultimate Prawn Cocktail?

Jump to:

• How to Make a Grazing Platter
• Grazing Board Ideas
• Dannii's Top Tips
• Frequently Asked Questions
• More Party Food Recipes
• Recipe
• Feedback

How to Make a Grazing Platter

1. Step one: Put all the cheese, meat and crackers on the board.
2. Step two: Fill the spaces with the rest of the smaller ingredients.

Grazing Board Ideas

The best thing about this grazing board is that it is so easy to adapt. Use this post as a guide and change things up with your favourite meats and cheeses, and whatever crackers you have in your cupboard and fruit you have in your fridge.

It's so easy to just throw together with whatever you have and that means you can make it a different way every time. We have one of these every weekend in the summer and never have the same one twice. We have made this many times, and I think this is our favourite combination in these photos.

Meat - If you don't want to do a vegetarian grazing platter, then you have lots of options when it comes to meats. We prefer to stick to red meat like honey roast ham, prosciutto, salami and chorizo. However you could also add some slices of roast chicken and turkey to add some lean protein.

Vegetarian - Leave out the cured meats and add more cheeses, falafel, marinated mozzarella, roasted vegetables, extra dips, stuffed vine leaves or crisps for crunch.

Cheese - This is my favourite part of the grazing platter. We have gone with stilton, a garlic and herb cream cheese and Camembert. To make the Camembert really special, we drizzled it with honey and crumbled some pecans on top. The honey drizzled off the side of the cheese and on to some of the meat, which was an unexpected surprise. Honey chorizo is amazing!

Other cheeses that would work well are a mature cheddar, smoked cheeses, feta or Brie. We also love a Wensleydale that has some kind of fruit in it. Have a few different cheese knives on the board so they don't have to be mixed. Having a soft gooey Camembert spread all over a mature cheddar isn't going to look great after the first cut!

Fruit - This adds some real freshness to the grazing board, otherwise everything can feel a bit heavy. We added some grapes, tomatoes and strawberries as that is what we had. You could also add some dried apricots, figs, orange, apple slices or cranberries. Don't forget vegetables as well like carrots.

Crackers - We like crackers with lots of flavour, so we have added things like rosemary and sea salt cracker breads and sweet chilli cracker thins. You could just add some cheese crackers though if you prefer - have you tried our Homemade Crackers or Cheese Biscuits? We also added little melba toasts and mini breadsticks for extra crunch, but mini rice cakes work well too. If you wanted to add bread, then thin slices of small baguette or pitta strips would work.

Dip - We couldn't resist adding some dips to this platter. We added some homemade hummus and whipped feta, but something like Tzatziki, or a chutney would work well. We keep some spoons in them, so guests can spoon on to their plate and crackers rather than having loads of dipping and crumbs everywhere. This also helps with cross contamination if there are allergies too.

Extras - These are all the little bits that not only add lots of texture and flavour, but they fill in the gaps on the board so it looks fully loaded up. They are also cheaper ways to pack out the board and fill your guests up. Things like marinated olives, stuffed peppers, chillies, nuts, seeds, roasted chickpeas, wasabi peas, gherkins (pickles), artichokes, celery, bell peppers, cucumber, pretzels and roasted peppers. We like to serve some in little bowls and others stuffed into gaps. Keep some cocktail sticks near them too.

Dannii's Top Tips

• The key to the best grazing board is a mixture of textures and flavours.
• Take the cheeses out of the fridge around 30 minutes before serving if possible. Cheese at room temperature has much more flavour when it is not ice cold.
• Think about colour as you go. Try not to put all the reds or all the beige ingredients together. Spacing out the strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and meats helps the platter look vibrant and balanced.
• Make sure that everything can be eaten with your hands. This isn't a sit down meal with a knife and fork, so it needs to be things than can be picked up and stacked onto a cracker.
• Finish everything off and add some freshness with a few sprigs of rosemary on top of everything. It doesn't have to be eaten, but it looks amazing.
• To make a grazing platter look really special, as well as having the huge board that you serve it all on, try to use other small bowls, ramekins, shot glasses or plates on the board to serve things in. It will add layers to the board and stop all the ingredients just spreading into each other. Anything oily, like olives, should go into a bowl.
• If you are using store bought dip, spoon it out into a nice bowl to give it a homemade look. Keep the pot and lid to be able to put leftovers back in and keep it in the fridge.
• If you are adding grapes and olives, try to stick to seedless. It avoids your guests crunching into something unexpected and then having to find somewhere to put the stone.
• If you don't have a board big enough for all your ingredients, don't worry. You can add what you can and then replenish it as the night goes on.
• Nutritional information and calories will depend on the exact ingredients you have used and the amount per person.