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Spice up your celebration with my holiday charcuterie board recipe! I will show you How to Make a Holiday Charcuterie Board, with beautiful (but super easy to make!) meat roses made from Salame and Pepperoni. Your guests will be totally blown away by this grazing board!
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Christmas Charcuterie Board
My favorite part of the holiday season, aside from extra time spent with my family, is entertaining guests. I love having friends over for the holidays and preparing food for them. There is no greater joy than hosting the people you love!
One of my favorite easy recipes for entertaining is my holiday meat and cheese board. Friends and family can graze while we watch holiday specials and enjoy each others’ time is a tradition I treasure.
This is the perfect charcuterie recipe for sharing, and it’s my all-time favorite holiday charcuterie board. Complete with cheese, nuts, berries, Pepperoni, and Salame, this board is not only tasty but budget-friendly and beautiful.
And don’t worry – I’ll show you how to make meat roses for this board, and how easy it is. They’re super simple to make using a glass, paper towel, and rubber band. That’s all you need!
This was such a fun idea. Thank you for the inspiration. I loved making the roses.
Teresa
Charcuterie Board Ideas
Charcuterie boards should have a little bit of everything for your guests to enjoy. On my homemade charcuterie board for the holidays, I like to include a mixture of cheeses, dipping sauce options, berries, nuts, olives, and (best of all!) meats. This gives everyone a variety of options to graze from and build their own little snack plate.
Although I will share with you my favorite unique charcuterie board ideas, you can vary the ingredients based on your own personal preferences and what your guests would enjoy most. Try different cheeses or snacking options, like white cheddar popcorn or candied pecans instead of the nuts listed, for example.
Because this is an Italian charcuterie board recipe, the best flavors to include with it are Italian. You could even add Italian peppers if you like – those would pair deliciously with the charcuterie board meats.
Holiday Charcuterie Board Ingredients
- Olives
- Cheeses
- Mustard for dipping
- Dried cranberries
- Nuts
- Maraschino cherries
- And, most importantly, the charcuterie board meats, pepperoni, and salame
How to Make Salami Roses
I will show you how to make salami roses – and other meat roses! – following a super simple step-by-step process. You will need a glass that widens near the bottom, such as a tulip glass, for shaping the roses.
- Set your glass in front of you and start folding individual slices of Galileo® Salame over the rim of the glass.
- Overlap the slices and hold them down tightly so they hug the rim. You will need about 10 to 12 slices.
- Once layered, flip the glass upside-down and carefully remove the salami rose onto a plate.
An extra step is required to make pepperoni roses using a rubber band and paper towel. Since the pepperoni is smaller, this extra step is needed. I love having different-sized flowers on my charcuterie board, and find this extra step is totally worth it!
How to Make Pepperoni Roses
- Layer your slices of Galileo® Pepperoni around the rim of a glass the same way you layered the salami.
- Once layered, take a paper towel and place it over the top. Fold it down the sides and rubber band it to the glass, then place it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes or so, take the glass out of the refrigerator and remove the rubber band and paper towel. You will be able to carefully remove the meat rose from the glass. Turn it upside down and set it down, and voila! You have a perfect meat rose.
Christmas Charcuterie Board FAQs
Originally, a charcuterie board referred to a board of cured meats. Now, it is used to describe a board of meats, cheeses, and other snack foods, such as nuts and berries.
Charcuterie is a French word, pronounced as: shar-cue-tuh-ree.
You can add anything you like to a charcuterie board. Change up the ingredients on my homemade meat tray by including your own favorite snacks and decorating it how you like.
Holiday Recipe Ideas
- 15+ Easy Christmas Side Dishes
- Butter Board
- Holiday Chocolate Bark Recipes
- New Year’s Eve Menu Ideas
- Buffet Ideas
Did you try my holiday charcuterie board ideas? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment and a rating below to let me know what you think.
📋 Recipe
Holiday Charcuterie Board
Equipment
- Large platter or tray (any shape you like; I use a large round platter)
- Glasses to shape meat roses
- Rubber bands
- Paper towels
- Cutting board
Ingredients
- 2 packages Pepperoni 7 oz.
- 2 packages Salame 7 oz.
- 2¼ ounces fresh bay leaves dried bay leaves can also be used
- 2¾ ounces fresh rosemary leaves
- 2 ounces brie cheese cut into triangles
- 2 Tablespoons dried cranberries
- 10 kalamata olives
- 6 Blue Cheese Stuffed olives
- 4 ounces mozzarella pearls
- ¼ cup pecans or walnuts
- pine cones to decorate optional
- maraschino cherries to decorate optional
- your choice of honey and mustard to use as dip
See our Cooking Conversions Chart for help converting measurements!
Instructions
- Set your glass in front of you and start folding individual slices of Galileo® Salame over the rim of the glass. Overlap the slices and hold them down tightly so they hug the rim. You will need about 10 to 12 slices.2 packages Salame
- Once layered, flip the glass upside-down and carefully remove the salami rose onto a plate.
- Repeat the layering process for the Galileo® Pepperoni. Once layered, take a paper towel and place it over the top. Fold it down the sides and rubber band it to the glass, then place it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.2 packages Pepperoni
- After 15 minutes or so, take the glass out of the refrigerator and remove the rubber band and paper towel. Turn it upside down and set it down, carefully removing the pepperoni rose from the glass.
- Arrange your salami and pepperoni meat roses on your charcuterie tray, then layer salami and pepperoni between the roses.2 packages Pepperoni, 2 packages Salame
- Add brie and mozzarella cheese to the tray over the layers of salami.2 ounces brie cheese cut into triangles, 4 ounces mozzarella pearls
- Rest your olives on the tray neatly over the salami. I like to rest mine near the meat roses for support and because they really bring out the roses.6 Blue Cheese Stuffed olives, 10 kalamata olives
- Add your walnuts or pecans to the tray, also near the roses.¼ cup pecans
- Add dried cranberries to the tray, then add maraschino cherries if using. I like to rest them between the other ingredients.maraschino cherries to decorate, 2 Tablespoons dried cranberries
- Place mustard and honey into individual dip bowls and add them to your tray.your choice of honey and mustard to use as dip
- Decorate with bay leaves, rosemary leaves and pinecones, if using. If you're using a round tray like I am, it will look like a holiday wreath!2¼ ounces fresh bay leaves, 2¾ ounces fresh rosemary leaves, pine cones to decorate
- Create skewers on toothpicks as examples for your guests to do the same. Enjoy!
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