How to Make a Signature "Platter Girl" Grazing Board
Steal my style and make a gorgeous Insta-worthy board with me!
Obviously we don't live in the same city so the stores that I shop at may be different from those you have access to. Don't let that discourage you! There are plenty of options for making grazing boards and charcuterie that stretch beyond the obvious expensive, gourmet ingredients we normally think of. My sister created a GORGEOUS grazing table using only ingredients from Walmart before so I don't want to hear your excuses! OK?? The best boards are the ones that get eaten. No one really remembers what it looked like to begin with... that's what pics are for!
So choose ingredients you love, follow my easy 5 steps for styling, and you will be well on your way to devouring a super yummy and beautiful board.
"Grazing is all about letting your creativity shine through in your creation."
- Me
PLANNING YOUR BOARD
From the board itself to the ingredients to the styling, here is the perfect grazing board tutorial with everything you are going to need to know. Click below for my 10- person Instacart Grocery Shopping List to get you started.
Typically you will want to include the following on your board for a group this size:
4-5 cheeses
2-3 meats
3-4 dips
Honey + Fruit spread
Olives/Pickles
Array of seasonal produce
Dried fruits and nuts
2-4 packages of crackers (1-2 on board, 1-2 on side)
1-2 loaves of bread (on side)
(Shopping list for pictured board)
CHEESE
8 oz Unexpected Cheddar
8 oz Wine soaked white cheddar
Boursin Garlic & Fine Herb
Briette Creamy Blue
Creamy Havarti
Espresso Soaked Irish Cheddar
Cranberry Cinnamon Goat Cheese
DISHES
Cranberry Relish
Marionberry Jelly
Honey
Spicy Guacamole
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Whole Green olives
MEATS
Pepperoni slices
Italian Dry Salami
Spicy Calabrese
Prosciutto ribbons
FRUIT & VEGGIES
Green grapes
Blackberries
Persimmons
Navel oranges
YUMMY GOODNESS (Pantry)
Dried apricots
Dried tangerines
Dried cranberries
Dehydrated strawberries
Roasted pumpkin seeds
Roasted Chickpeas
GARNISH (+ take a pic)
Fresh chamomile flowers
Fresh sage
After selecting your ingredients, we move on to the actual cutting and then styling them on the board. This is where the board building really gets fun! For me, after making quite a few boards where I had zero plan at all, I realized I was naturally placing my ingredients in a specific order to achieve the super full look I was going for. Here is what I came up with and have shared with millions on social media over the past 3 years.
- EAT BEAUTIFULLY METHOD -
Cheese and Dishes - these are the foundation for your entire board. Spread them out evenly across the board. Cut down each one unless it is spreadable into bite-sized pieces, rectangles, triangles or cubes. Dips should be taken out of plastic containers and placed in pretty bowls or ramekins and garnished.
Meats - Style your cured meats into pretty salami roses, make rivers or chains but just don't throw the salami on the board in a pile or I might have to slap you. lol
Fruits and Veggies - The COLOR on your board! Arrange your fruits and vegetables on the board starting from largest to smallest and try to think of the rainbow when putting together your board.
Red - raspberries, grapes, strawberries, watermelon
Orange - Oranges, carrots, persimmons, gooseberries
Yellow - Sweet mini peppers, mango, apples
Green - cucumbers, grapes
Blue - Blueberries
Purple - Blackberries, concord grapes
4. Yummy goodness - This is your pantry items, dried goods like nuts, dried fruits, crackers, bread, chocolates, cookies etc.
5. Garnish & Take a pic - Although I GUESS this step is extra but I am super EXTRA so we're going to add some gorgeous garnishes! I love to use non-toxic flowers like chamomile, roses or gerbera daisies and fresh herbs like sage and rosemary to spruce up my boards. They just really make the whole thing just POP! And if you are going to make a board this beautiful then you better get a PIC! I currently use an iPhone 12 Pro Max for all of my photography and videos and have 3 photo angles I always try to achieve when I make a big grazing board.
They are:
1. Flat lay pic
2. 45-degree angle side pic
3. "Full body" shot - the entire platter with a little space around the outside with décor/ingredients to show off the theme
HOW TO // MY SIGNATURE STYLE
If you are still struggling to make your boards gorg and want to steal my signature lewk, then guess what? I am SO ok with that! Here is how I do it.
I NEVER skimp on ingredients. When I add dip to a bowl or olives to a ramekin.. I FILL IT UP! No one, I mean no one, wants to see a giant bowl halfway filled up with ingredients. Leave no more than 1/4 - 1/2 an inch of space at the top of your bowls and ramekins and make sure to garnish the tops as these are one of the first things people see when approaching a board or table.
I NEVER skimp on cheese. The cheese and dishes are the foundation for your board and you will arrange ingredients partially on top of and surrounding them. If you do not have enough cheeses to create a balanced foundation spanning across the entire board then it just won't look right.
ADD IN COLOR! Traditional charcuterie boards don't have the variety of fruits and veggies that a grazing board will have on it. When making a board in my signature style I always think about the rainbow and go down the list of fruits and veggies in my head that I know will be perfect for dipping and pairing BUT ALSO make the board super colorful and eye-catching.
Garnish it! I am telling you, a board can go from BLAH to HOLY CRAP in .06 seconds by popping on some pretty herbal garnishes and non-toxic or edible flowers.
WIPE OFF YOUR CAMERA LENS. My FAVORITE thing is taking pictures of gorgeous grazing boards and tables. Forgetting to clean your lens is like, literally, the number one failure I see from other charcuteristas sharing their pics and videos on social media. Love you but let's go ahead and wipe those off real quick mmmmkayyyy???
Be sure to check out my Instagram and Pinterest pages for full video tutorials of tons and tons of boards for inspiration HERE and HERE & follow along for more daily!
Let me know what issues you are having with your styling or shopping and I would love to hel you out! You are always welcome to email me at Hello@plattergirl.com, DM me on Instagram or comment here and I will respond as soon as I can!
Happy Grazing!
XOXO,
Lea
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