Charcuterie boards are one of my favorite things to throw together for a light lunch or to snack on for an appetizer. They’re quick, easy to assemble, and unless you’re making something special, typically require zero cooking on your part. Today I’m sharing a simple Valentine’s Day charcuterie board; it’s filled with something sweet, savory, fruity, and chocolatey and it’s perfect for date night, kids, or a night with your best gals.
How to Make a Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board
For this Valentine’s Day board, I decided to focus on the classic colors of the holiday: pink and red. One easy way to throw together a themed board for any holiday without having to stick to special holiday food is to pick a color scheme and purchase ingredients in those colors.
I picked up classics like conversation hearts and traditional Valentine’s Day chocolates but tried to incorporate whatever else I could find that was pink or red. By a happy coincidence, the crackers, sugar cookies, and heart-shaped shortbread cookies were also a similar color.
What You Need
Here’s what went onto my board:
- Conversation Hearts
- Valentine’s Day M&Ms
- Valentine’s Hershey’s Kisses
- Brie cheese with a red berry jam
- Frosted sugar cookies
- Heart-shaped shortbread cookies
- Valentine’s Day chocolates
- Raspberries
- Salami
- Macarons (in coordinating pink and red colors)
Other items you could include in your Valentine’s Day board:
- Strawberries (bonus points if they are dipped in chocolate)
- Pomegranate arils
- Marshmallows
- Pink taffy
- Pink or red jellybeans
- Pink or red gummy candy
- White chocolate covered pretzels
- Circus cookies
- Pink wafer cookies
- Red licorice
- Jami-filled cookies
- Prosciutto
- Chocolate syrup
Instructions
I always start by placing any small bowls on my board first. I reserve bowls for anything that can run, like honey, jams, or sauces. But you can also put tiny things in your bowls, like the conversation hearts or M&Ms.
Anchor your board with 1-3 bowls, then place any ingredients that take up the most space. For this board, I wanted to showcase a ton of raspberries. Even though individual raspberries aren’t big, I wanted them to be the star of the board, along with the Brie cheese.
Continue filling in your board, making sure to overlap items. For meats, they always look more appetizing when they’re rolled or folded. The secret to any great grazing board is the stuffed appearance of abundance, especially since we all know that people tend to eat with their eyes.
If you have any gaps, fill them with smaller items like berries or candy. Here’s to a sweet (or savory, or fruity, or chocolatey) Valentine’s Day wherever you are!
