By now I bet you’ve all seen these types of party trays, aka Charcuterie Boards, at parties or on the Food Network, right? A charcuterie board is just a fancy term for a food arrangement on boards. Kinda like a small buffet of meat and cheese. 

These boards mostly consist of a variety of meats and cheeses and sometimes fruit or nuts. I usually skip the fruit and add things like olives or pickles to keep it in low carb mode. And if I’m feeling really fancy I may whip up some low carb crackers or bread that can use as vessels for the other items. 

Meat and cheese boards like these are my go-to for special occasions when I need a no-stress idea for entertaining. The boards you’ll see in this post are some I’ve made for our Christmas Eve celebrations and I’ll do another version for our New Year’s Eve party as well. 

What foods typically go on a charcuterie board?

You know some will tell you that there is an art to making these fancy mouth-watering platters. I’ve often heard the chefs on Food Network say that you need to make sure you’re using varying colors and textures, a variety of meat and cheese options, and lots of fresh items to make the perfect photo-worthy food tray.

That may be true in their world, but this busy momma needs simplicity and ease when it comes to entertaining. Of course, I want my food boards to look nice for my pictures here or for my guest’s enjoyment don’t get me wrong. 

But mostly I need to be able to find all my components at my local grocery store and I need it to all come together as quick as possible so I can move onto another task. 

So today I’m sharing some simple ideas that will help you make an easy yet tasty charcuterie board.  And guess what? I found all of my items at my local Aldi so everything you see here was affordable and easy to locate. So let’s take a look, shall we?

Easy Items for Your Charcuterie Board:

Here’s a quick look at some types of items you’ll need to get started building your Easy Low Carb Charcuterie Boards. but don’t limit yourself to these!

Let Talk Assembling Your Boards!

The first step to putting one of these together is finding the right boards to build your snack trays on. I have a large cutting board that I use just for these types of party boards, but you can use a marble slab,  a simple slate board or even ceramic serving platters. If you do not have any of these options then you can just use a baking sheet lined with wax paper or normal dinner plates for that matter. 

As we move on to the second step, the food choices, this is where your imagination and taste preferences come into play. You’ll just need to pick up a few of your favorite meats and cheeses along with some other types of things to fill in the spaces on your board.

To change it up some add some hard and soft cheeses mixed with some spicy and mild meats. There really is no way to go wrong with meat and cheese after all! Then after you have the meets and cheeses grab a few salty or crunchy items to fill in spaces on your board like olives and pickles. 

Just know that these Charcuterie Boards can be as fancy or as simple as you have time to make. Here’s a look at a very easy and fast one below!

                                                              Need an extra simple board?  Here you go!

The third and final step is to arrange all the items you’ve purchased onto your board.  Here are some tips for doing just that:

1. Add your cheeses spaced around your board.
2. Add your cured meats to a few different places.
3. Place bowls of olives or pickles open spots.
4. Add low carb crackers and cooked pinwheels in the large open spaces.
5. For children, you could also place bunches of grapes, fruits, or nuts in all the cracks.
6. Keep the charcuterie board chilling until ready to serve and add cooked items last.

And that is it folks, your quick and super easy look at creating your fancy charcuterie boards for your next party. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look into one of my favorite ways to feed and entertain my guests and family. Let me know if you’ve made these types of boards before and what you’re favorite items to use are.

Oh yeah, I’ve provided a recipe card below just to guide you through the processes again but don’t like these food choices of mine or the instructions limit your imagination here!