Spooky Charcuterie Board for Halloween

Delight all the goblins and ghouls with this Halloween Charcuterie Board, full of cheese, cured meat, crackers, fruit, nuts, and all kinds of little treats!

This Halloween Cheese Board is perfect for your Halloween Party

Halloween is definitely one of the most beloved holidays in our household. My husband goes all out with yard decorations, I plan our family Halloween costume months in advance, and our daughter is in it for the candy, of course.

I’ve already done an extensive post on Halloween food ideas (and Halloween deviled eggs, too!). But when you combine my love for Halloween with my love for fun charcuterie board ideas, I couldn’t resist a Halloween board dedicated to charcuterie and cheese.

And if breakfast charcuterie and charcuterie chalets are things, then a Halloween charcuterie board is also most definitely a thing.

I love a unique charcuterie board idea! Equal parts cute and creepy, let me walk you through how I built this spooky appetizer tray. And don’t forget a batch of Halloween bark or Halloween cake pops for dessert!

What is a Charcuterie Board?

The word “charcuterie” comes from French, referring to the art of preserving meats, especially pork, through techniques like smoking, curing and drying.

A charcuterie board is a visual appealing spread arranged on a serving board or platter, and it is a perfect centerpiece for parties and gatherings.

Modern day charcuterie boards have evolved to incorporate an array of ingredients, such as various types of cured meats, cheeses, crackers, breads, fruits, nuts, veggies, candies and other garnishes and condiments.

How to choose a board for your Halloween Charcuterie

First things first, you’re going to need to choose a tray or board for your Halloween themed charcuterie board. Choose an appropriate size for the gathering that you’re having, of course.

I really like a black or dark metal tray for a Halloween platter since it kind of sets the tone for a spooky vibe. I’ve had this feast platter for several years, and it was the perfect choice for a Thanksgiving charcuterie board or this Halloween charcuterie board. Halloween cupcakes look great on it, as well.

A dark wood cutting board or even a large black or gray ceramic platter would also be perfect.

What you need for this Halloween Meat and Cheese Tray

Meats for this Spooky Charcuterie Board

I’m always a big believer in choosing whatever meats your crowd will like best. If you’ve got a bunch of kids and what they really want is deli turkey on this Halloween charcuterie board, go for it!

One of my daughter’s favorite foods in the whole word is prosciutto, so I chose capicola, which is very similar, along with some other interesting cured meats:

• Coppa Italiana – dry cured pork shoulder, also known as capicola. I love this for an Easter charcuterie board, too.
• Chorizo Iberico – dry cured sausage made from the Iberian pig, imported from Spain. The dark red color added a creepy “bloody” look to this spooky charcuterie board, I think.
• Spianata Piccante – dry-cured salami seasoned with hot chili pepper, from Italy. This one was spicy, so probably for the adults only!

Cheeses for this Halloween Cheese Board

Again, choose whatever cheeses your crowd will like best for your Halloween platter. That being said, I did go to the store on a mission to find some weird looking or kind of spooky cheeses for this Halloween charcuterie board. I’m not sure I succeeded with that mission, but here’s what I chose:

• Blue Stilton – it’s moldy, which is kind of creepy, right? Buy a big hunk and use some to make blue cheese mashed potatoes next week!
• Cacio di Bosco – this is a sheep’s milk cheese with truffles, and it just sounded yummy (and it was!).
• Fresh mozzarella pearls – these were the perfect size to transform into “eyeballs” with decorative candies for this Halloween cheese board (I also love mozzarella pearls in jarcuterie and individual charcuterie cups, and made into skulls in my Halloween salad).
• Le Pico – A soft ripened cheese from France. This was similar to brie, but even more funky!
• Brie – Nothing fancy, just the standard 8 oz. brie round you can find in any grocery store (that I would also use to make savory baked brie). I used small cookie cutters to cut this into ghost and bat shapes for this easy charcuterie board. More on that later!

Other spooky ingredients for this Halloween Themed Charcuterie Board

• Fresh figs – these are in season in the fall! You could also make pickled figs or roasted grapes for your Halloween charcuterie board.
• Castelvetrano olives – I think their green color work really well here, and they’re my favorite olive anyway.
• Blackberries – the darkest and creepiest berry for a Halloween cheese board, right? Throw any extra into a tequila mojito or blackberry muffins.
• Raspberry preserves + pomegranate arils – I put these on top of the soft French cheese because the sweetness pairs well with the funkiness, and it also looks bloody and creepy. Raspberry preserves are also great in my heart jam cookies for a slightly different holiday.
• Walnuts – or any other nut you like! I had walnuts on hand because I recently made stuffed apples.
• Fall trail mix – I found this in the bulk foods section of my neighborhood grocery store. It includes golden raisins, Spanish peanuts, almonds and dried papaya, cranberries, pineapple. It’s very “fall” colored!
• Dried apricots – to add even more orange color to this Halloween cheese board.
• Candy corn – Absolutely essential for this easy charcuterie board, even if nobody eats it. Maybe my jello shots Halloween that just LOOK like candy corn would be fun, too!
• Caramel corn – pairs surprisingly well with funky cheese, and one of my favorite Halloween charcuterie board ideas.
• Water crackers – always a classic, perfect for spreading soft brie onto.
• Bruschettini – these are dried bruschetta toasts that are closer to a cracker than fresh bread.
• Cheez-It’s – they’re orange, making them perfect for a Halloween platter, and you always have them available when there’s a toddler in the house. Also a classic on a football themed charcuterie board.
• Ghosts & Bats crispy potato snacks – from Trader Joe’s.
• Pumpkin spice cookies – I also found these at Trader Joe’s, and they’re adorable on this spooky charcuterie board.

How to make a Halloween Charcuterie Board

1. Use small Halloween shaped cookie cutters to cut some shapes from the brie round.
2. Arrange all the cheeses and meats, and any larger items like pumpkins and plastic skulls on the platter.
3. Fill in the platter with smaller items like figs, olives, blackberries, caramel corn, trail mix, Cheez-Its, dried apricots, walnuts, candy corn, crackers and Bruschettini.
4. Spoon raspberry preserves over the soft French cheese, and sprinkle it with a few pomegranate arils.
5. Go wild with candy eyeballs on the mozzarella pearls!
6. Finish the platter with ghost and bat potato crispy snacks, any small Halloween decorations like fake spiders and bloody knives, and seasonal flowers.

How to decorate a Halloween Themed Charcuterie Board

Additional decorations certainly aren’t required, but they do make any Halloween charcuterie board more festive!

Fake plastic spiders come in several different sizes, and they’re easy to place wherever you want around the Halloween cheese board. I also bought a decoration set that included skulls and skeleton hands.

I couldn’t resist bloody knife cupcake toppers for this unique charcuterie board – I thought they were so cute. And then I had some candy eyeballs on hand (also great for Halloween dirt cups), so I placed a few of those on top of the mozzarella pearls.

I also bought a bouquet of seasonal flowers and plucked a few of them to decorate this easy charcuterie board.

What do you call a Halloween Charcuterie Board?

Bonus question, just for fun: what name do you like better for this Halloween platter – SPOOKcuterie or charBOOterie? Tell me in the comments below!