A festive Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board is an amazing way to adorn your holiday table. Fresh “boughs” of rosemary and thyme support an array of meats, cheeses, fruit, and nuts. Serve with your favorite crackers and jam!
Table of Contents
Christmas Tree Shaped Charcuterie Board
This Christmas tree charcuterie board is the most gorgeous appetizer for your holiday parties! It has a seasonal blend of flavors that are perfect for this time of year, like smoked gouda, cranberry cheddar, a variety of ruby red fruits and more.
Your guests will absolutely love it! Better yet, this charcuterie tree looks fancy but is so simple to assemble!
Why We Love This Christmas Tree Cheese Board
- Such a festive display: This charcuterie board is in the shape of a Christmas tree with a star-shaped pretzel on top and realistic boughs made from fresh herbs. It’s the perfect fit for any holiday party!
- Easy to make: The best part about this festive Christmas charcuterie board is that you don’t have to cook a thing! Well, except for the sugared cranberries, but those are so easy it almost doesn’t count. It’s more about arranging than cooking (perfect for those frantic holiday mornings).
- Filling & fun: The sliced meats and cheeses will tide your guests over before the big meal, and it’s so much fun to try each of the different flavors together. You might want to have extra supplies on hand for backup! You’ll need to replenish this festive charcuterie board after it gets picked over.
What to Put on a Christmas Charcuterie Board
- Herbs: Use large sprigs of rosemary and fresh thyme to replicate the branches of the tree.
- Cheeses: I like to use hearty cheeses like smoked gouda, cranberry cheddar cheese, and various hard cheeses.
- Cured meats: Charcuterie literally means “cured meats” in French, so it’s truly not a charcuterie board without a variety of meats! We used some pepperoni and salami, but you can sub in your favorites.
- Fresh fruits: Think of the fruits as ornaments to adorn the tree. I like to use pomegranate seeds cut into clusters or washed raspberries.
- Sugared cranberries: These add a bit of sparkle to this charcuterie Christmas tree! It’s a great addition and easy to make at home. You could sub in dried cranberries if you don’t have time to prepare the sparkling cranberries.
- Marcona almonds: I love the nutty crunch of almonds with the meats and cheeses. If you can’t find Marcona, you can sub in regular or roasted almonds. Try these cinnamon honey roasted almonds for a sweeter twist!
- Strawberry jam: This has a beautiful red color that pairs well with the festive tree design and has a nice pop of flavor. You can even use some of this strawberry chia jam for a healthier twist!
- Star-shaped pretzels: The star shape is perfect to add on top of the tree or to add as a decoration. Plus, they’re a nice sweet treat to balance the savory snacks.
- Meringues: Mini star meringues add a pop of white color and give this fun appetizer a little extra dimension. Meringues could be substituted for any small cookie like these healthy shortbread cookies, candy, or even macarons would be adorable. Basically, anything tiny and cute that would add a pop of sweetness to the board.
- Breadsticks: Use breadsticks or pretzel rods (cut into thirds) to form a tree trunk.
- Assorted crackers: Choose 2-3 different types for a few textures.
How to Make a Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board
- On a rectangular wooden board, make a rough Christmas tree shape with the rosemary and thyme sprigs, saving some room at the bottom for a trunk. This tree shape will be your outline for where to lay the ingredients. You will want to make sure the layers get wider as you progress towards the bottom of the board, to keep the tree shape.
- Lay out your cheeses across the inside area of the Christmas tree shape you made with the herbs. Continue to fill up the spaces with the largest items, such as the pomegranate clusters, jam jar, clusters of meats and pickles. Then use the smaller items like the nuts, cranberries and raspberries to fill in the smaller spaces and create pops of color among the board.
- Finish by strategically placing the star shaped pretzels and meringues around the tree like ornaments, placing a star on top. Place the breadsticks or pretzel rods at the bottom of the tree to create a trunk.
Keep scrolling to the recipe card below for the full printable recipe!
Tips & Tricks:
- Store any leftovers separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. Discard any items that sat out for more than 4 hours.
- This charcuterie board used a 13” x 18” wooden cutting board.
- These cheeses were all found at the local Aldi.
- You will have extra ingredients, as not everything will fit on the board at once. Use the extras to restock the board as it gets low.
- Charcuterie boards are best served at room temperature. Boards can be made a few hours ahead of time and covered and kept in the fridge. Set out 30 minutes before serving to allow ingredients to come up to room temperature.
- Use your favorite meats, cheeses, jams and accouterments. This board was created with the idea there would be lots of red and white colors to keep with the holiday theme.
- If you use blue cheese, keep it wrapped separately until you are ready to serve, as the strong aromas can permeate the other cheeses.
- Plan to budget $65-$90 for a board for a party of 10-12 people. You can save money by using less expensive fruits, nuts, and cheeses. As well as shopping at discount stores like Aldi that have a great selection of charcuterie board friendly foods during the holiday season.
Recipe FAQs
Nope! You can use any sort of surface to make a charcuterie board, including marble or stone slabs, a serving platter, or even a piece of parchment paper. Some people like to use a festive board in a specific shape, especially for the holidays, but it’s not necessary. You can use any clean, sanitized surface and just arrange your appetizers in a unique shape.
Although charcuterie boards are a must-have year-round, they’re especially wonderful during the Christmas season! This is a great opportunity to introduce some holiday flavors, like winter fruits, smoked or flavored cheeses, and more.
But not everything has to be winter-themed. For this winter charcuterie board, we often use some of the same ingredients we add to all of our charcuterie boards, like pepperoni, salami, crackers, and almonds, but vary at least a few of the ingredients to add some seasonal flair.
Believe it or not, there are several great ways to make a charcuterie board in the shape of a Christmas tree! I like to artfully arrange my ingredients in the shape of a tree, but you could also lay down horizontal layers in gradually decreasing widths to create a banded tree shape.
Another option is to stack a tower of skewered meats and cheeses for a three-dimensional tree! There are plenty of Christmas tree charcuterie board ideas to consider, but keep it simple. Use what you have, arrange it in a festive way, and add some seasonal ingredients for a little fun!
These were both found at Home Goods. You can often find more of these holiday-themed type goodies around the holidays. You can also find similar items on Amazon. You could use these holiday-shaped pretzels and dip them in melted white chocolate, purchase these mini meringue drops or make your own!
Storage Guidelines
Instead of leaving this easy Christmas charcuterie board out all day, it’s better to display it for just a few hours. The perishable items can sit out for two hours, but then they should be refrigerated.
Or, you can leave everything out for a maximum of 4 hours and then discard the leftovers. The longer food sits out, the faster the bacteria will multiply. It’s really important to consider food safety to avoid food poisoning.
Serving Suggestions
This holiday charcuterie board is the perfect appetizer to serve at your holiday gatherings, like a Christmas Eve dinner, a festive party, or the big day itself. Serve it on its own (with backups) to feed a crowd, or pair it with these other delicious holiday appetizers:
- Watermelon Christmas Trees
- Easy Christmas Fruit Salad
- Christmas Fruit Wreath
- Grape and Cheese Skewers
- Olive Penguins
- Easy Cucumber Appetizers
- Non Alcoholic Christmas Punch
- Spiced Pomegranate Sparkler
Recipe Variations
- Add more savory ingredients: I love a balance of sweet and savory, but feel free to lean into the savory side a little harder by adding green olives, black olives, cherry tomatoes, and more.
- Adjust the size: This cheese tray can easily be scaled up into a giant tree that fills a tabletop, or you can make several smaller trays of these tree themed charcuterie boards to display for your Christmas party.
- Add more fruit: Feel free to add even more fruit! These trees would be beautiful with red or green grapes or even dried fruit, like dried apricots, cherries, etc. Some chocolate-covered dried fruits would be especially lovely too.
More Entertaining Ideas
- How to Make the Ultimate Charcuterie Board
- Thanksgiving Turkey Charcuterie Board
- Christmas Fruit Tree Centerpiece
- Football Charcuterie Board
- Easter Bunny Charcuterie Board
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a star rating and review!
Festive Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
- 12-15 large sprigs of rosemary and thyme
- 6 ounces smoked Gouda
- 8 ounces cranberry cheddar
- 6 ounces hard cheese we used a marinara flavored cheese
- 6 ounces pepperoni sliced and rolled into roses
- 8 ounces mini salami sliced
- 1 large pomegranate cut into clusters
- 1 pint fresh raspberries washed
- 1 cup reduced-sodium pickles
- 1 cup sugared cranberries
- 1/2 cup marcona almonds
- 1/4 cup strawberry jam
- 8-10 star-shaped pretzels
- 8-10 mini star meringues
- 2 bread sticks or pretzel rods cut into thirds
- Assorted crackers
Instructions
- On a rectangular wooden board, make a rough Christmas tree shape with the rosemary and thyme sprigs, saving some room at the bottom for a trunk. This tree shape will be your outline for where to lay the ingredients. You will want to make sure the layers get wider as you progress towards the bottom of the board, to keep the tree shape.
- Lay out your cheeses across the inside area of the Christmas tree shape you made with the herbs. Continue to fill up the spaces with the largest items, such as the pomegranate clusters, jam jar, clusters of meats and pickles. Then use the smaller items like the nuts, cranberries and raspberries to fill in the smaller spaces and create pops of color among the board.
- Finish by strategically placing the star shaped pretzels and meringues around the tree like ornaments, placing a star on top. Place the breadsticks or pretzel rods at the bottom of the tree to create a trunk.
Notes
-
- The nutritional information provided is a very rough estimate based on dividing the quantities outlined by 15 servings. It may vary depending on how much you choose to eat of each item.
- Store any leftovers separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. Discard any items that sat out for more than 4 hours.
- This charcuterie board used a 13” x 18” wooden cutting board.
- These cheeses were all found at the local Aldi.
- You will have extra ingredients, as not everything will fit on the board at once. Use the extras to restock the board as it gets low.
- Charcuterie boards are best served at room temperature. Boards can be made a few hours ahead of time and covered and kept in the fridge. Set out 30 minutes before serving to allow ingredients to come up to room temperature.
- Use your favorite meats, cheeses, jams and accouterments. This board was created with the idea there would be lots of red and white colors to keep with the holiday theme.
- If you use blue cheese, keep it wrapped separately until you are ready to serve, as the strong aromas can permeate the other cheeses.
- Plan to budget $65-$90 for a board for a party of 10-12 people. You can save money by using less expensive fruits, nuts, and cheeses. As well as shopping at discount stores like Aldi or Costco that have a great selection of charcuterie board friendly foods during the holiday season.
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