Impress Your Sweetie with a Valentine's Day Charcuterie Board (2024)

This playful Valentine's Day charcuterie board full of red, pink and heart-shaped treats is the perfect way to celebrate.

Charcuterie boards and other festive spreads are a great way to make a holiday feel extra special—Valentine’s Day included! Especially on a day meant to celebrate love, taking the time to prep and assemble a board with foods that you know your loved ones will appreciate is a gesture that won’t go unnoticed.

While a traditional charcuterie board includescured meats and cheese pairings, our Valentine’s Day charcuterie-style board focuses on some of our favorite picks from the candy aisle, with plenty of red, pink and heart-shaped treats for good measure. Whether you’re hosting a Galentine’s Day party or a cozy night in with your significant other, here’s how to make a Valentine’s Day charcuterie board everyone will love.

How to Make the Most Tempting Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board

Tools You’ll Need

Foods to Include

Impress Your Sweetie with a Valentine's Day Charcuterie Board (3)TMB Studio

Candy: What would Valentine’s Day be without candy? Remind your sweetie how you feel about them with heart-shaped gummies and conversation hearts.Or, if chocolate is their true love, go for an assortment of heart-shaped chocolates, Hershey kisses and chocolate-covered pretzels. You can even pick V-day themed candy like the strawberry and dark chocolate Kit Kats.

Cheese: When it comes to cheeses, we can’t think of any more romantic than a wheel of Brie. It’s pretty on all kinds of boards and its buttery flavor pairs nicely with most crackers. To incorporate more red on the board, we also included a wedge of cheese with cranberries.

Fruits:Strawberries are an absolute must on a Valentine’s Day board, especially when you cut halves to look like hearts. Raspberries, blueberries and bunches of red grapes go well with the other foods, and dragon fruit is a colorful and unexpected pick.

Assorted sweets:Because we can’t get enough heart-shaped recipeson this board, we picked up some Palmiers and heart-shaped crackers. Whimsical marbled meringue hearts add a homemade touch to the spread, while kettle corn adds a little saltiness to balance out all that sweet.

Dips: The strawberry preserves, cream cheese, whipped topping and marshmallow creme in fluffy strawberry fruit dip come together as a delicious accompaniment to both the fruit on the board and the pastry-like Palmier cookies.

How to Build a Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board

Impress Your Sweetie with a Valentine's Day Charcuterie Board (4)TMB Studio

Step 1: Put the fruit dip on the board

Because the strawberry fruit dip is one of the biggest items on the board, make room for it right away so you don’t have to rearrange things later.

Step 2: Set the fruit and Palmiers around the dip

The fruits and cookies pair perfectly with the dip—put them next to the bowl so people know they go together.

Step 3: Arrange the cheeses and crackers

Cut some slices into the wheel of Brie to get your guests started with the cheese and sprinkle some raspberries on top for a pop of red. Place the wedge of cranberry cheese close to the crackers, too.

Step 4: Place the popcorn box and the conversation hearts

We put our kettle corn in a single pink popcorn box on the board, but if you’re serving a crowd you can fill additional popcorn boxes and set them next to your Valentine’s Day board.

Step 5: Fill in the gaps

Fill in empty spaces on the board with small piles of chocolate-covered pretzels, marbled meringue hearts and heart-shaped chocolates. Place a few Hershey kisses in different spots to give the whole board a little shimmer.

Step 6: Garnish, serve and enjoy!

Skewer a strawberry half with an arrow pick and place it on top of the fruit dip as a finishing touch.Have a spoon handy for the dip, plus the right cheese knives for the Brie and cranberry cheese.

Tips for Making a Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board

What else can you put on a Valentine’s Day board?

First things first: Think about all the Valentine’s Day candies you can put on a dessert board like this! Start with pink and red M&Ms, Ferrero Rocher truffles, red licorice, chocolate roses, or even red, pink and white candy corn.

If you have time to go the homemade route, you could whip up a batch of homemade fudge orconversation cupcakes, or upgrade the popcorn by drizzling it with melted ruby chocolate or colored white chocolate. Consider making baked goods you can adorn with red, white and pink sprinkles, like copycat Lofthouse cookies, chocolate-covered pretzel rods or these Valentine’s cupcakes.

If you want to add more savory options to your Valentine’s Day charcuterie-style board, use cookie cutters to cut hearts out of tea sandwiches or slices of cheese or meat (and don’t forget the salami roses!). You can even cut a heart shape from a wheel of cheese and fill it with jam.

Here are more cheese board ideas from our Test Kitchen. Check out some of our favorite charcuterie board booksfor extra inspiration.

What drinks should you serve with a Valentine’s Day board?

Stay on theme by pouring sparkling wine, rosé or sangria. If you’re looking for something bubbly without the booze, go for sparkling ciders, sparkling grape juice or sparkling water with a few raspberries tossed in.

If you can never get enough chocolate, serve your Valentine’s Day charcuterie board with creamy hot cocoa—or serve it alongside a hot chocolate board!

Impress Your Sweetie with a Valentine's Day Charcuterie Board (2024)

FAQs

How do you compliment a charcuterie board? ›

Spicy or peppery meats: complement cornichons, anti-pasti (olives, artichokes), apples, and baguettes. Mild salami: pair perfectly with seasonal berries, soft cheese, and pomegranates. Prosciutto: this charcuterie board favorite pairs with soft cheese, honey, and blackberries.

What is the 3-3-3 rule for charcuterie board? ›

Creating Interest with the 3-3-3-3 Rule

Choose three cheeses, three meats, three starches, and three accompaniments for a perfect and balanced board, every time!

How do you use charcuterie board in a sentence? ›

Plus, there was a balloon arch to build and a charcuterie board to set up. The charcuterie will come, of course, from Schaller & Weber.

Why do you love charcuterie board? ›

One of the coolest things about a charcuterie board, in our opinion, is that it is a very tactile eating experience. Aside from the spoons or spatulas you may use to apply spreads and items to your plate, utensils aren't necessary for eating items from a charcuterie board!

What is the secret to a great charcuterie board? ›

In general, a good charcuterie board will have 2-3 types of meat, 2-3 cheeses, 1-2 fruits, 1-2 crackers, nuts, bread, pickles, mustard and a dip or spread. The deliciousness of your board depends on the quality of your ingredients. Buy USDA Organic when possible and look for meats that are free from nitrates.

What goes first on a charcuterie board? ›

Wheels of cheese or small bowls that hold condiments should be placed first. Start with your largest piece near the center and place all other vessels evenly around the board. - Place cheeses and meats down next. After placing your anchors, arrange sliced cheeses and meats in the spaces in between.

What finger foods go on a charcuterie board? ›

Briny, pickled or marinated: olives, co*cktail onions, cornichons, dill pickles, pepperoncini. We love green olives stuffed with garlic or feta, and I also like including olive tapenade and bruschetta. Savory Dips and spreads: Whole ground mustard, hummus, ranch, balsamic dip. Veggies – cold cut, if desired.

What are two main charcuterie items? ›

Charcuterie Made Simple: 5 Components You Need For Your Board
  • Cheeses.
  • Meats.
  • Fruits and/or veggies.
  • Crackers and/or bread.
  • Spreads.

What is the fancy way to say cheese board? ›

Charcuterie has become a catchall for anything that is served on a board. But the word “charcuterie” is a French term, from the words char (flesh) + cuit (cooked).

What do Americans call charcuterie? ›

Charcuterie is just a fancy word for cured meat. The word derives from French origins in the 15th century, when people used every last bit of the meat and left nothing to waste.

What else can you call a charcuterie board? ›

No matter what you call it, meat and cheese tray, cheese platter, charcuterie board or even the silly moniker 'shark-cuterie', the fact remains it's a delicious snack, appetizer or gift.

What is the English word for charcuterie? ›

Technically, the word charcuterie refers just to the meat; in French, the word literally means "pork-butcher's shop," from char cuite, "cooked flesh." Definitions of charcuterie. noun. a delicatessen that specializes in meats. type of: deli, delicatessen, food shop.

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