Making a festive (and healthy) Christmas charcuterie board is actually not that difficult. Today, I’m sharing my tips for creating a beautiful board, along with a list of groceries you’ll need.

I love making healthy Christmas charcuterie boards for parties and gatherings during the holidays. It gives me a chance to enjoy a festive treat, while still getting in some healthy fruits and veggies. Note: This post contains affiliate links. As Amazon Influencers, we earn from qualifying purchases. As always, all opinions expressed are our own.

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First, select your charcuterie board

We have several boards we love to use, including one made from olive wood we got on a visit to Italy. For this Christmas charcuterie board, I used a round board with a bit of a rim that will hold everything tightly together. We found this one at Home Goods, but there are lots of other similar choices. I especially like THESE BOARDS from House of Hyacinth and Reluctant Entertainer.

Next, add bowls and dishes

The first things I usually place on my boards are any bowls or serving dishes. I start with something that I want to be a focal point and place that toward the middle. For my Christmas charcuterie board, I selected the sugared cranberries and cranberry sauce (made with Swerve to cut down on calorie). I thought they were so pretty and a good way to draw the eye to the center of the board.

For these sugared cranberries, I just mixed equal parts (1 cup each) of sugar and water and heated it on the stove until the sugar dissolved (but not to boiling). I let the mixture cool a bit and then poured it over a bowl of washed cranberries. Then, I let the berries soak for 1-2 hours. Next, I lifted them out of the bowl with a slotted spoon and placed them on a baking rack to dry.

After about an hour, I removed them from a rack and tossed them in a bowl of white sugar. Finally, I used the dry slotted spoon to remove them from the bowl and place them in my serving dish. So easy and so delicious!

Choosing a color scheme

Sometimes, I choose a color scheme for my board to represent a holiday or special occasion. For Christmastime this year, I decided to use red and green and include lots of fruits and raw vegetables. Before I did my online grocery order, I wrote out a list of potential red and green foods I could use. If you order your groceries online, some stores let you search for foods by color. I just typed in “red” and “green” foods and it gave me all sorts of possibilities.

First, I added all of the red foods, trying my best to not put them all too close together.

Here are a few ideas for red foods on your Christmas charcuterie board:

• Sugared cranberries
• Cranberry sauce
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Red grapes
• Pomegranate (and/or seeds)
• Dried cranberries
• Peppermints
• Tomato based spreads
• Baby Bel cheese wheels
• Salami
• Pepperoni
• Red pears
• Prosciutto
• Red apples
• White chocolate w/peppermint
• Red cake balls
• Red frosted cookies

One of my favorite red-ish foods is the crostini with sun-dried tomato jam.  We had this delicious appetizer at a friend’s house recently. It is recipe from Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis and it is sure to be a hit on your Christmas charcuterie board. Cured meats are also great additions. Read more about cured meat at Carnivore Style in this article that featured Postcard Jar.

After that, add your green foods to the holiday charcuterie board

Then, I just filled in the empty spaces with my green foods. I like to use a mixture of fruits and vegetables on my boards. For this one, I added cucumber slices, green grapes, a green apple, sugar snap peas, and a starred kiwi. (Learn how to make the starred kiwi HERE.)

Here are a few ideas for green foods on your Christmas charcuterie board:

• Green apple
• Cucumber slices
• Green grapes
• Sugar snap peas
• Green pear
• Green peppers
• Kiwi
• Wasabi peas
• Broccoli
• Blanched and chilled asparagus
• Basil leaves
• Lettuce wraps
• Spinach tortilla rollups
• Haricot verts

Finally, fill in all the empty spaces with bread or crackers

For this board, I used a variety of round crackers and some toasted crostini. To make the crostini, I just sliced pieces of a French baguette, coated them lightly with olive oil spray, then toasted them on a stove top grill pan. You could also use pita bread, pretzels, breadsticks or melba toast.

Lastly, add the garnishes and finishing touches

I like to add fresh rosemary at the end for my healthy Christmas charcuterie board, as well as a few pieces of dark or peppermint chocolate. I couldn’t resist adding a few more of those gorgeous sugared cranberries. Once all of the spaces are filled in, you’re done! It really isn’t too difficult because anything goes.

This healthy Christmas charcuterie board is one of my favorites. I especially love the festive goat cheese log, rolled in chopped pistachios, dried cranberries and fresh mint. The recipe is quick and easy and provided for you below.

Holiday goat cheese log

This is a holiday favorite as an appetizer or on a charcuterie board

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 0 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Servings 5 people

Equipment

• Chopping knife
• Cutting board

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 5 oz Goat cheese
• 3 tbsp Roasted and shelled pistachios
• 3 tbsp Craisins
• 3 tbsp Fresh mint
• 1 tsp honey

Instructions

 

• Chop pistachios, craisins, and fresh mint. Combine on a shallow plate
• Roll goat cheese in the mixture until coated on all sides
• Place cheese roll on serving dish and drizzle with honey
• Sprinkle any of the remaining mixture on the plate
• Serve with toasted crostini, melba toast, or your favorite cracker

Notes

This is always a hit at holiday gatherings and we hope you'll like it, too. If you make this dish, be sure to take a picture, post to social media, and tag us @postcardjar.

Keyword charcuterie, Christmas, goat cheese, holiday

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

A few more holiday charcuterie board tips

1. Be sure to include the necessary serving utensils on your board to make things safe and easy to pick up. I love tiny wooden spoons, tongs, and holiday cheese knives.

2. Place a lazy susan underneath your board to easily turn the board around as you’re assembling it and at the table.

3. Don’t forget to snap a few photos of your Christmas charcuterie board to use as a reference next year. And if you post your board on social media, be sure to tag us @postcardjar! We’d love to see it.

Grocery list for my Christmas charcuterie board

Most importantly, if you’d like to duplicate this Christmas charcuterie board, you can find the grocery list below. I tried to have a good mix of meats and cheeses but also lower-calorie fruits and veggies.

• pomegranate
• green grapes
• salami
• French baguette
• fresh thyme
• 5 oz. goat cheese
• fresh thyme
• red grapes
• fresh mint
• red pear
• kiwi
• cranberries (sugar)
• English cucumber
• pistachios
• sun-dried tomatoes
• dried cranberries
• white cheese
• strawberries
• snap peas
• green apple
• honeycomb
• crackers
• Baby Bel cheese wheels
• peppermint chocolate

Any questions? Just let us know in the comments below and we’ll do our best to answer them. And don’t forget, if you make this Christmas charcuterie board, post a pic and tag us on social media @postcardjar. YOU CAN DO IT!