A summer charcuterie board is the perfect for parties or picnics with friends. Full of summer fruits, meats with light summer side items.
Summer should be filled with light meals and full flavors. There’s a reason citrus and sweet fruits scream summer time. This summer charcuterie board is exactly what you need when you host your next party or picnic.
Light salads are great during the summer but for an appetizer where guest can just grab goodies is fun. Toothpicks where they can grab meats, cheese with sides of bread and jam are great.
I’m going to show you how to put together the best summer charcuterie board that just screams fresh ingredients!
How To Make A Summer Charcuterie Board
These are the ingredients needed
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Mint
- Dill
- White Wine Vinegar
- Balsamic Vineger
- Strawberries
- Pineapple
- Dried Fruit
- Brie
- Mozzarella Pearls
- Orange
- Apricot Presevers
- Honey
- Red & Green Grapes
- French Baguette or Crostini
Putting your summer charcuterie board together
- To start, prepping the ingredients is all of the presentation. You’ll want to have small bowls and a large board for serving to make things look the best.
- For the cucumbers, split down the middle the long way then split again down those halves. This is will give you four quarters. Slice the cucumbers up making them into little triangle. Chop dill finely then add into cucumber. Now, pour white wine vinegar over and give everything an even tossing.
- For the tomatoes, half the tomatoes and finely chop the mint. After, toss in balsamic vinegar. Note, for the cucumbers and tomatoes be sure to give them a quick toss before serving because the vinegar likes to settle to the bottom after some time.
- When preparing the strawberries you do not have to halve them. However, when serving they just look better when prepped that way. Plus, they will go further with how many people you can serve with one summer charcuterie board.
- You can cube the pineapple or if you have a core remover you can remove the core and make pineapple rings.
- For the meat, remove in slices and roll the meat into a cylinder. For the salami fold it in half.
- To lay everything out you want to build around the meat. Since there are three meats form them into a triangle and fill in the areas around. It’s very simple to build a nice charcuterie board. You can always refer to the photos and copy what you see. If using a square charcuterie board versus a circle you can still do the same methods.
What to do with leftovers? How to store them?
Because the meats are cured they will keep at least a week if not more in the refrigerator.
However, the fruits and vegetables will last about 3-4 days depending on how fresh they were when you purchased them from the store.
In a sealed storage container separate the meats from the fruits and veggies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What goes on a summer charcuterie board?
A classic charcuterie board will mainly be cheeses and cure meats. A summer charcuterie board can keep thing classic with the meats and cheeses but should bring in items that scream summer. Fresh fruits with sweet and citrus notes. Cucumbers, tomatoes and other crisp veggies are great.
Is a charcuterie board a meal or an appetizer?
Charcuterie boards are an appetizer or side dish. However, it could serve as a meal if you’re using the board to serve a light lunch with friends while discussing other matters. That would be the perfect refreshment and not too heavy on the stomach.
What is a charcuterie board?
Charcuterie is French* and means “cured meat”. Picking up European traditions we popularized charcuterie boards because they were so easy to make for gatherings. To add, they make such a nice layout when looking at the different arrangements of food.
Summer Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
Tomatoes
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 2 teaspoon fresh mint, minced
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Cucumbers
- 1 cucumber (English cucumber if available)
- 2 teaspoon fresh dill, chopped ()
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Meat
- 1/4 pound prosciutto
- 1/4 pound speck ham
- 1/4 pound soppressata dolche, salami
Fruit
- 2 navel oranges
- 1 cup strawberries, halved
- 1 cup pineapple, cubed
- 1 cup red grapes
- 1 cup green grapes
- 1 cup dried fruit of choice
Cheese
- 1 brie cheese wheel or wedge
- 1 cup mozzarella pearls
Miscellaneous
- French Baguette or Crostini
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup apricot preserves
Instructions
Tomatoes
- Cut tomatoes in half and finely chop the mint. After, toss in balsamic vinegar.
Cucumber
- split down the middle the long way then split again down those halves. This is will give you four quarters. Slice the cucumbers up making them into little triangles. Chop dill finely then add into cut cucumbers. Now, pour white wine vinegar over and give everything an even tossing.
- Note: for the cucumbers and tomatoes be sure to give them a quick toss before serving because the vinegar likes to settle to the bottom after some time.
Charcuterie board
- prepping the ingredients is all of the presentation. You'll want to have small bowls and a large board for serving to make things look the best.
- When preparing the strawberries you do not have to halve them. However, when serving they just look better when prepped that way. Plus, they will go further with how many people you can serve with one summer charcuterie board.
- You can cube the pineapple, buy it cubed or if you have a core remover you can remove the core and make pineapple rings.
- For the meat, remove in slices and roll the meat into a cylinder. For the salami fold it in half.
- To lay everything out you want to build around the meat. Since there are three meats form them into a triangle and fill in the areas around. It's very simple to build a nice charcuterie board. You can always refer to the photos and copy what you see. If using a square charcuterie board versus a circle you can still do the same methods.