How To Make A Fall Harvest Charcuterie Board

If you’ve ever wondered how to make a fall harvest charcuterie board that’s perfect for the holidays, look no further! Cranberries, pumpkin, figs, and apples lend a fall touch to any charcuterie and cheese board. Charcuterie boards are such a crowd-pleaser and so simple to make for fall entertaining. They’re easy to make ahead, too which is why they’re always a favorite of mine for every party. Plus, using gluten-free crackers makes this whole charcuterie board gluten-free, too!

Entertaining is one of my favorite things to do during the holiday season. Bringing my closest friends and family together, sharing good food and drinks, and lots of fun memories. While planning may be stressful, I just love creating a menu and new recipes with a cohesive theme.

My go-to for any get together is always a charcuterie and cheese board. It feels so fancy, elegant and festive. Plus, the communal feel a cheese board can bring is just what a party needs! The best part is that you can cater your charcuterie and cheese board to easily fit your theme or to the season. This fall harvest charcuterie and cheese board is perfect for fall entertaining, especially Thanksgiving!

I served this fall inspired cheese board at my 30th birthday party a few weeks ago and it was a guest favorite! In fact, everyone thought I bought it from the store! They couldn’t believe how beautiful it was and almost didn’t want to eat it. I assured them that many pictures were taken and that they should dig in, which they did to my delight.

What makes a charcuterie and cheese board fall inspired? Well, it’s mostly the accompaniments, like mini pumpkins for decoration, fresh rosemary, pears or apples, etc. However, you can add a bit of autumnal fun into the cheeses themselves, too!

How to Make A Fall Inspired Charcuterie Board

Pick Your Cheeses

Type and Texture

I LOVE to mix and match on my cheese boards and pick a cheese of each type. At least one cow, one sheep and one goat. It’s really more fun this way if you ask me! Plus, if anyone has a cows’ milk intolerance or sensitivity, they may be able to enjoy the other types of cheeses!

I typically like to do 4-5 different types of cheeses for my cheese board. I always like to do some sort of cheese dip or spread. In this case it was Merkt’s port wine cheese spread. I like to use an ice cream scoop to get the perfect round portion of it onto the board.

Then, I also like to get another soft cheese on the table. This time, I went with two – brie and my cranberry goat cheese log. Brie is ultra creamy and decadent, whereas the goat cheese log is a bit more substantial and firmer.

For my other cheeses, I went with a cranberry white cheddar and a Spanish manchego, which is made from sheep’s milk.

Colors and Shapes

I also think of color and shapes when I’m selecting my cheese. I chose to cut the brie into wedges to get some geometric shapes going on the board. The cranberry cheddar cheese I left in block form and broke off some jagged pieces for a rustic look.

I cut the manchego cheese into small squares for easy grabbing with a cracker. Plus, I love the way I was able to create a wavy line with the manchego squares.

The cranberry goat cheese log had such a nice pop of color and looked great in it’s log shape. I decided to cut it in half for a 4oz portion so that I was ready to go with back-up in the refrigerator if we ran out. While you can buy a cranberry goat cheese log at the store, I thought it was a nice personal touch to make it on my own and it only took me about 5 minutes.

Not to mention, it was cheaper this way! You can learn how to make your own cranberry goat cheese log here.

Pick Your Meats

For this board, I went with a mix of cured meats – prosciutto, coppa, and genoa salami. I either rolled or bunched them up on the tray for different looks and textures.

I also went with a dried salami that I sliced for easy grabbing. Obviously, if you’re vegetarian, you can leave the meat out all together and just have an epic cheese board. It will still be quite delicious!

To make a fall impact, you could always choose meats that have fall herbs, spices, or flavors. Think cinnamon, maple glazed, thyme.

Accompaniments with a Fall Touch

I really think the accompaniments are where the fall harvest inspiration is at. Anything from fresh fruit to candied nuts to seasonal dips will make a fall inspired charcuterie and cheese board feel like… well fall.

For my fall harvest board, I wanted to add a few fresh product items to round out my cheeses and meats. I chose to serve crisp granny smith apples for a tart crunch and fresh figs because they are absolutely gorgeous and they’re sweet, too! I love pairing the figs with goat cheese and honey.

I highly recommend adding in the figs if you can find them in season. Some other fall inspired fruits that would work well are pears and pomegranate arils. While not edible, I added some mini pumpkins to the board for decoration.

For the nuts and seeds, I thought cinnamon candied almonds would be the perfect sweet treat on my cheese board. I couldn’t believe it, but everyone went nuts for these! No pun intended. You can purchase already made candied nuts at the store, or make your own candied almonds!

They’re so easy to do and you can make them a few days ahead of time. You can also add roasted almonds, roasted pumpkin seeds (because we all know you did some pumpkin carving this year), some green pepitas for some color, or maybe some maple glazed pecans. SO MANY OPTIONS FRIENDS!!

Next, think dips. First off, jam. There is nothing better than cheese and jam. Hands down. This time around, I went with a orange fig jam that was everything I’ve ever wanted and more. I keep finding myself just sneaking a little spoonful from the refrigerator. No regrets here. I found it at my local grocery store, but you can also find it at Thrive Market here.

I also went with a store bought artichoke dip that was bonkers good. Artichokes main season is March through May but they do have a small resurgence during October so I went with it on my fall cheese board. However, if you want to get even more fall harvesty, think pumpkin hummus, apple butter and even pumpkin seed pesto.

Cracker Time

Since this is a gluten-free harvest fall charcuterie cheese board (this is a gluten-free food blog after all), we’re using a combination of gluten-free crackers. Obviously, if you’re not gluten-free then a combination of your favorite crackers and bread would work well here (pumpernickel bread would be aaaaamazing!).

Some of my favorite gluten-free crackers for this spread are:

• Crunchmaster Pumpkin Harvest Crackers for a fall touch
• Simple Mills Almond Flour Crackers for a basic, salty cracker that seriously everyone loves
• Mary’s Gone Crackers Original Crackers for a super seedy cracker
• Schar Gluten-Free Table Crackers for the closest version to a regular table cracker you’ll EVER find!

I won’t lie to you guys… I bought all of these crackers and MORE to put on my fall harvest cheese board and then realized only a few would fit. But I’ve been happily eating the rest ever since! Depending on what types of cheeses and meats you choose, you can choose your crackers accordingly.

The Board and Serving Pieces

A cheese board isn’t a cheese board without the board. I recently purchased this large wooden board from Target and I am SO SO SO in love with it. It’s about the size of a cookie sheet and fits all of my cheeses, meats, nuts, fruit and crackers on it without a problem. Plus I love that it is easy to carry and move around. It has edging too so that nothing falls off, which is essential.

You can also go with multiple platters or boards to create a display. Go with wood, marble, slate, whatever you like. I have boards of all of these materials and love them all depending on the occasion. For fall, I really like wood because it has a warm feel which is great for fall.

You’ll also want to consider some small bowls for dips and jams. They also create some height which helps vary up the look of your cheese board. Small spoons and knives are also a must have. Nothing is worse than not being able to slice a piece of cheese or spoon some fig jam onto a cracker!

Fall Harvest Charcuterie Board Recipe

That’s it! That’s all you need to make a fall harvest charcuterie board perfect for any fall event!

Super simple right? Just remember, to have fun with it. Mixing and matching is the best part. You really can’t go wrong with whatever you choose, but if you want some guidance, you can follow my recipe below for an easy Fall Harvest Charcuterie and Cheese Board that is amazing for fall entertaining.