Entertaining Made Easy with the Perfect Cheese Board

I love entertaining, but I never want to spend a lot of time making little appetizers. My go-to for gatherings is to create a easy and delicious cheese board filled with lots of snacks. Not quite sure how to do it? Here are my steps to the perfect cheese board (and some of my favourite cheeses to feature!).

Assembling your Cheese Board: Start with the Cheese

I like to have four to five different cheeses on my board for a nice variety and tend to always include one cheddar, one goat cheese, one blue cheese and a soft-ripened cheese like Brie. Spread them all out and cut a few starter pieces off the ends.

Some of my favourites cheeses to include are: extra old white cheddar, smoked cheddar, Iberico, Tipsy Goat, Manchego, Boursin and triple cream Brie.

I’m not a big fan of blue (or stinky) cheese, so I’ll often include a white Stilton instead which has fruit (like cranberry or apricot) in it.

Add Crackers

Spread out some crackers next to each cheese. I like to keep it simple and buy a variety box and maybe one box of fancy “artisanal” crackers. I won’t put ALL the crackers on the board, I’ll just add a handful of each and then refill as needed – or just put the cracker box on the table next to the cheese board!

Add Spreads & Snacks

This is one of my favourite parts of a cheese board and one that not everyone includes – spreads! I’ll include small dishes (with spoons!) of grainy or honey mustards, fruit chutneys or fun preserves like bacon jam (yes, that’s a thing).

I also like to add other snacks like praline nuts, flavoured popcorn (raspberry & dark chocolate? Yes please) and dried fruit.

Finish with Cheese Knives and Cured Meat (optional)

The last thing to add are your cheese knives. I’m not going to lie – I have no idea which knife goes with which type of cheese. I’m sure there’s a proper way to do it, but I just put them anywhere. They inevitably get mixed up in the end. 

Occasionally I’ll also add some cured meat to my boards like prosciutto or salami or I might do a separate charcuterie board if I need to keep the meat and cheese separate.

So there you have it, a cheese board platter that comes together quickly and looks amazing!