DIY Charcuterie Board from Trader Joe’s Ingredients

Sharing the simple steps for assembling this beautiful and delicious DIY Charcuterie Board all made with ingredients found at Trader Joe’s. Perfect for Mother’s Day, graduations, baby showers or in my case, a Sunday afternoon.

Charcuterie and Grazing Boards are Trending

Check out social media or Pinterest and you’ll find some pretty epic charcuterie style cheese boards. Widely used to describe an assortment of meats and cheeses, it’s also currently referred to as grazing board and cheese trays.

Fun fact – the word “charcuterie” is a French term that translates into ‘chair cuite’, which means cooked meat. Loosely translated to refer to smoked or processed meats like ham, bacon and salami.

Whatever it’s called, we are fans. Huge fans. In fact, growing up we had a favorite dinner that my mom simply called “Cheese & Crackers”. It consisted of sliced cheddar and Monterey Jack, Pepperridge Farm Butterfly crackers, shaved deli salami, Ruffles potato chips with French Onion Dip, grapes, strawberries and typically fresh bread with butter.

We’ve shared our love of cheese and cracker style boards many times here –

• This Autumn Cheese Board recipe
• In this Easy Entertaining Idea post for creating a last minute appetizer

DIY Charcuterie Board Using Trader Joe’s Ingredients

We thought it would be fun to share an easy grazing board you can make using items available at Trader Joe’s. It’s one of our favorite places to shop and we find ourselves there weekly.

Check out 14 Items to Buy at Trader Joe’s for some of our regular favorites.

Now we know some people don’t live near a Trader Joe’s and we apologize. However, we are pretty sure comparable items can be found at other grocery stores as well.

What We Purchased

• A French baguette to lightly toast and slice
• Raisin Rosemary Crisps
• Savory Thin Crackers (which are gluten free)
• Candied Pecans
• Marcona Almonds with Rosemary

• Fresh Strawberries
• Fresh Rapsberries

• Marin French Cheese (petit breakfast blend)
• Spanish Cheese Tapas Sampler
• Herbed Chèvre Cheese
• Unexpected Cheddar Cheese

• Sliced Salami (reduced sodium version)
• Chocolate Covered Pretzels

• Hot and Sweet Pepper Jelly
• Aioli Garlic Mustard Sauce
• Cornichons

And a nice bottle of wine to serve with it.

Tips for Putting Together Your Own Charcuterie Board

Start with deciding what size board/plate/platter you will need. For this specific board, I went to the local craft store and purchased this cardboard Cake Board. I didn’t want to have to worry about remembering to bring home a platter.

From there, it’s simply a matter of figuring out where everything will go. Here are some of our tips for board layout.

1. I like to keep my cheeses in the package and place them on the board simply for a space marker. Any cheese that isn’t going to be sliced (the soft goat cheese and brie cheese) should be placed near a side of the platter so people can easily reach it
2. Once I figure out where everything else goes, I remove my cheese and place it in the fridge until it’s time to serve
3. Place the jelly and mustard sauce in little bowls and place on opposite ends. We typically put them near the crackers or bread so people remember to use them
4. Keep in mind color and try to equally space out the colorful items like berries or cornichons. You don’t want too many beige crackers/nuts next to each other or it will look muted
5. Spread out different shapes and textures so there is a mixture across the board. We kept some strawberries whole and them halved others for a mixture of size.
6. Layer smaller items like pecans and almonds on top of a base layer of crackers to help them be seen. Otherwise they can get lost at the bottom of the board
7. Balance it out by placing items in multiple spots. For example we had our little salami slices in multiple areas on the board
8. Garnish with chocolate covered pretzels and greenery/flowers for a pop of color