Wow your guests with this Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board this year. I show you step-by step how to create the most impressive appetizer. It’s a show stopping board with the most adorable pear turkey body, thats packed with meats, cheese, nuts, fruit and more. Make it for a big or small Thanksgiving gathering.

 

Charcuterie Boards have become so popular in recent years. I think most are attracted to the presentation and “WOW factor” they bring to most any party or get-together. Meat and cheese appetizer boards are especially popular when entertaining for the holidays like Thanksgiving because they offer bite sized and hand held options and are great for “grazing”.
If you are looking for holiday appetizer ideas, consider some of these Thanksgiving Appetizers that I have shared.

This Turkey Charcuterie Board for Thanksgiving can be made as big as mine when serving a larger crowd. But, It could easily be scaled down into a small Thanksgiving charcuterie. If you have been intimidated by making a charcuterie in the past like I was, rest assured, I can walk you through with my step by step to make this board. I show you EVERYTHING I used and offer tips and suggestions for the BEST Thanksgiving appetizer anyone can make.

The hardest part of making this Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board is choosing and shopping for the ingredients. I always suggest choosing your favorite varieties of meats and cheeses, fruits, dips, nuts and snacks. Have fun with it, it will seem less stressful. Whatever your choices, know that it will be delicious, fun and easy to make.

Some will insist that you need to follow the 3 3 3 Rule when making a charcuterie board. This rule mentions needing 3 cheeses, 3 meats, 3 starches (crackers/bread) followed by 3 accomplishments (fruits, nuts, spreads) for a PERFECT Charcuterie Board. I say be a “rule breaker”, just have go with what you like.

Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board Ingredients

Of course, when you’re making a charcuterie board, you have tons of different options for meat, cheese, and sides. For our charcuterie ingredients list, we’re going to multi-task a little bit by telling you exactly what we picked and some possible alternatives. We’ll start with, arguably, the charcuterie star of the show:

Cheeses

• Cheddar – One of the easiest cheeses to pick for a charcuterie board is cheddar: it’s a light and just slightly tangy cheese. We went with this Vermont cheddar and this Vermont white cheddar from Boar’s Head, but you could go with any of your favorite aged cheddars or sharp cheddars. We used a lot of Boar’s Head cheese and meat for this board because it’s pretty popular and is showing up in a lot of grocery stores now- very easy to find!
• Gouda – With gouda, we’re stepping away from the easy, “popular” cheeses into stuff that seems like more “fancy cheese.” To go with crowd favorites like cheddar, you’ll want some of these more nutty and aged cheeses like this Boar’s Head Smoked Gouda. It’s just something that’s a little more complex- alternatives could be cheeses like gruyere or a mild aged cheddar.
• Pepperjack and Manchego – To really spice up charcuterie board, you’ll want to bring in some more weird and wild cheese picks- at least compared to the others. Spicy cheese, some funky smelly cheese- whatever you’re wanting to try! Even something as simple as pepperjack can work great paired with your cheddar cheese picks. Meanwhile, manchego can get all sorts of fun nutty flavors or interesting salty notes to it.

In short, try to get a little bit of everything going so that your party guests can try all sorts of classic or new flavors. But cheese is just one part of a charcuterie board– you also have to pick…

Meats

• Prosciutto – Prosciutto is a lovely soft meat that’s packaged in these thin slices. It’s always an easy default charcuterie meat pick for all your charcuterie board. Other options include stuff like speck or Spanish jamon.
• Pepperoni – Alongside thin muscle meats like prosciutto, you want hard cured meats like pepperoni as well. These tend to taste much spicier and saltier and make for a nice contrast.
• Salami – Salami is another good cured meat pick. Go with normal salami like from Boar’s Head or track down this peppered salami from Columbus instead. For other cured meats, look at stuff like chorizo as well.

With the charcuterie cheese and meat picked out, your pretty well set for a party. Still, you’ll want something to serve your meat and cheese on while providing a bit of crunch and texture. For that…

Bread and Crackers

• Cocktail Bread – For bread, you’ll want something a little denser that’s small enough to fit on the charcuterie board but big enough to fit your toppings. You can trim some bread like you would for a tea sandwich or buy something like this Cocktail Bread. This S. Rosen’s Cocktail Bread is a pretty popular choice if you can find it- we picked the Cocktail Rye Bread and pumpernickel bread for a bit of extra flavor. If you would like to add a touch of homemade, consider making my Parmesan Crostini, they would be a perfect addition.
• Crackers – These are the classic pick: who doesn’t love a bit of meat and cheese on a cracker, right? For something nice and plain, try to track down these round entertainer crackers. All else fails, buttery Ritz crackers are perfectly fine as well.

That covers the charcuterie essentials: meats and cheeses, plus some starchy stuff to serve them on. Still, there is one last category of things you can throw in with your charcuterie mix…

Sides

• Fruits – A little bit of fruity sweetness is a welcome addition to your board that can make for some interesting charcuterie toppings. One that a lot of folks love is some sliced apple: Pink Lady apples, Fuji apples, or whatever flavor you prefer. Other fruits that we picked out include green apple, grapes, dried cranberries (Craisins), dried or fresh oranges, figs and pomegranate arils.
• Nuts – A bit of extra crunch never hurt anyone. Throw on some pumpkin seeds, some slivered almonds, or shell out for something fancy like these cinnamon-coated almonds. At a minimum, try to throw a handful of salted almonds on there.
• Olives – Olives on charcuterie boards is another popular pick. Some sort of pickley or briney side is a nice change of pace. Go with stuffed olives like us or grab some mini pickle and cornichons.

Finally, if you want to copy our little (or big… some might say) Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board idea here, you’ll also need a few extra ingredients. Grab a red pear, a carrot, a stalk of celery, an orange, and a couple whole cloves to make a turkey body.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make a Charcuterie Board for Thanksgiving

Reading through all those Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board ingredients might’ve been a little daunting- it seems like a lot to work with. If you wanted to at this point, you could keep this as a simple charcuterie board and just set things out however you wanted. But, if you wanted to put together a Charcuterie Board for Thanksgiving that looked like ours, here’s what you need to do:

• To make our Thanksgiving turkey centerpiece, you have to prep a pear. Use either a mandoline slicer or a knife to shave a flat bottom into the side of the pear. This will make the turkey body stay flat.

• Next, slice a carrot in half lengthwise to get a long flat piece. Use a small knife to cut some decorative turkey feet into the carrot.

• Cut a short piece of your celery stalk to make a pumpkin stem. Grab your small knife and cut around the orange navel to make a small hole to insert your celery stem into a mini orange, I used a Cutie. This pumpkin orange added a bit of color to our board.

• Now we can start prepping the cheese. Use a cheese slicer or a knife to cut white cheddar into these long, thin slices.

• Cut half of the yellow cheddar into slices and cut the other half into cheese cubes. Follow up by cubing pepperjack cheese as well. Cheese slices and cheese cubes are great for variety and people who want more “toothpick appetizers” on the board.

• Use a knife to cut the gouda into equally-sized wedges. Finally, trim rind off manchego before cutting into long slices.

• To prep apple, remove the core, cut in half, and then cut into thin wedges or slices.

• Now it’s time to start assembling the Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board. Set up the base of the turkey with the carrot legs and shaved pear at the end of the board and set “orange pumpkin” off on the side of the board. Follow up by setting out cheeses, apple slices, crackers, and then the small nuts, olives, grapes, crasins, and pomegranate arils to fill in the gaps. Leave space for meats in the middle.

• For meats, start with prosciutto. Fold pieces in half lengthwise with the fat side upwards and then roll up. Start setting up in a semi-circle around the pear.

• After prosciutto layer is done, move on to salami. Roll up and start forming another semi-circle outside the prosciutto layer. Repeat with a pepperoni layer and then repeat with another prosciutto layer.

• After the second prosciutto layer, do a second pepperoni layer before finishing up with a layer of peppered salami. Once finished rolling up charcuterie meats, double-check our example image below to compare with your own Charcuterie Turkey.

• To give your turkey eyes and a beak, use a tooth pick to poke holes for cloves for eyes and cut a small slit for a slivered almond for a beak. Set up bread and extra crackers on a seperate serving tray before serving.

Storage / Freezing

Storage: Since our Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board is made up of a lot of cured meats and cheeses, it holds up really well in the fridge. For best results, put meats, cheeses, olives, and fruits in airtight containers or ziploc bags and keep in the fridge. Charcuterie in the fridge will last a while- meats will last 5-7 days, most cheeses will last 7-14 days, olives tend to last up to a week, and fruits will last a couple days.

Freezing: Freezing charcuterie is possible but not really recommended unless you know what you’re doing. While stuff like salami and pepperoni freeze okay, meats like prosciutto and most cheeses don’t freeze well. To avoid flavor and texture changes, seal charcuterie ingredients tightly in plastic wrap or bags and keep frozen for 3-6 months.

You May Like These Thanksgiving Appetizer Recipes

Christmas

Cranberry Brie Bites

Appetizers

Cranberry Salsa Dip

Beverage

Thanksgiving Punch

Appetizers

Slow Cooker Cranberry Meatballs