Grazing Platter

Variations

The best thing about this grazing board is that it is so easy to adapt. Use this post as a guide and change things up with your favourite meats and cheeses, and whatever crackers you have in your cupboard and fruit you have in your fridge.

It's so easy to just throw together with whatever you have and that means you can make it a different way every time, so you never get bored of it. We have made this many times, and I think this is our favourite combination in the photos.

Meat - If you don't want to do a vegetarian grazing platter, then you have lots of options when it comes to meats. We prefer to stick to red meat like honey roast ham, prosciutto, salami and chorizo. However you could also add some slices of roast chicken and turkey to add some lean protein.

Cheese - This is my favourite part of the grazing platter. We have gone with stilton, a garlic and herb cream cheese and Camembert. To make the Camembert really special, we drizzled it with honey and crumbled some pecans on top. The honey drizzled off the side of the cheese and on to some of the meat, which was an unexpected surprise. Honey chorizo is amazing!

Other cheeses that would work well are a mature cheddar, smoked cheese, feta or brie. We also love a Wensleydale that has some kind of fruit in it. Have a few different cheese knives on the board so they don't have to be mixed. Having a soft gooey Camembert spread all over a mature cheddar isn't going to look great after the first cut.

Fruit - This adds some real freshness to the grazing board, otherwise everything can feel a bit heavy. We added some grapes, tomatoes and strawberries as that is what we had. You could also add some dried apricots, figs, orange, apple slices or cranberries.

Crackers - We like crackers with lots of flavour, so we have added things like rosemary and sea salt cracker breads and sweet chilli cracker thins. You could just add some cheese crackers though if you prefer. We also added little melba toasts and mini bread sticks for extra crunch, but mini rice cakes work well too. If you wanted to add bread, then thin slices of small baguette or pitta strips would work.

Dip - We couldn't resist adding some dips to this platter. We added some homemade hummus and whipped feta, but something like Tzatziki, or a chutney would work well. We keep some spoons in them, so guests can spoon on to their plate and crackers rather than having loads of dipping and crumbs everywhere. This also helps with cross contamination if there are allergies too.

Extras - These are all the little bits that not only add lots of texture and flavour, but they fill in the gaps on the board so it looks fully loaded up. They are also cheaper ways to pack out the board and fill your guests up. Things like olives, stuffed peppers, chillies, nuts, seeds, roasted chickpeas, wasabi peas, gherkins (pickles), artichokes, celery, bell peppers, cucumber, pretzels and roasted peppers. We like to serve some in little bowls and others stuffed into gaps. Keep some tooth picks near them too.