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‘Tis the season for tasty appetizers! Bring some festive flair to your holiday gatherings with a Christmas tree charcuterie board that’s as tasty as it is beautiful! This creative appetizer is super easy to put together and in just minutes, you can arrange a delightful mix of cured meats, cheeses, and colorful fruits into a charming tree shape that adds a playful touch to your spread. Whether you’re hosting a big party or a cozy get-together, this holiday charcuterie board is customizable to suit everyone’s tastes. So, gather your favorite snacks, and let’s create a delicious centerpiece that will light up your holiday celebrations!

Not every appetizer table is fun to prepare but this Christmas tree charcuterie board is! It looks like a Christmas tree and is loaded up with delicious bites.
You might also like to try a chili charcuterie board, an Italian-inspired antipasto board appetizer, or an impressive Christmas tree antipasto.
Why You’ll Love It
Fun to prepare: Planning in your mind what to use and where to put everything is half the fun! This Christmas tree board is a lot of fun to make during the holiday season.
Easy to customize: You can use literally any meats, cheeses and other ingredients you want to have.
Something for everyone: With meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables, crunchy snacks, and more, there is something to please everybody – even the fussy eaters!
Christmas Charcuterie Board Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Sliced meats: Salami and prosciutto add meaty elements.
Cheese: Brie, Boursin and mozzarella balls are tasty soft cheeses, while provolone slices, white cheddar, Pepper Jack, and Colby Jack are firmer ones.
Olives: To add a briny touch.
Fruit: Berries are good, along with apples and pears. Dried fruit also works.
Crackers and pretzels: For crunch and to pair with the cheeses.
Jam, cranberry sauce and/or honey: For drizzling and/or filling the cheeses.
Fresh rosemary sprigs: For a garnish and to resemble Christmas tree branches.
How to Make a Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Prepare the cheeses: Cut the firm cheese into 1-inch cubes. Use a star shaped cookie cutter to cut out a hole in the Brie and fill it with jam, honey or cranberry sauce.
Make salami roses: Arrange the salami slices in a curved line and fan them out, then roll up, securing with toothpicks.
Make the Christmas tree trunk: Chop the pretzel rods in half.
Start assembling it: Use fresh rosemary to make the outline of the base of your tree on a sheet of grazing table paper. Add the pretzel sticks to resemble the tree trunk. Put the Brie at the top (where a Christmas tree star would go).
Add more items: Add the Boursin and sliced meats, crackers and pretzels, and the cheese cubes and sliced Brie. Add mozzarella balls and olives around the edges of the tree and fill in any gaps using fruit and nuts. Add vegetables too and anything else you want.
Finish the Christmas tree charcuterie board: Adjust the tree so all the gaps are filled and it looks good. Add more herbs at the bottom and some on the sides, and then serve with extra honey and jam on the side.
Substitutions and Variations
Gluten-free option: If you want a gluten-free version, use gluten-free crackers and pretzel sticks.
Different cheeses: Anything goes. It’s handy to buy packages of sliced and cubed cheeses to save time cutting your own. I like soft goat cheese or any kind of soft cheese with mine. Cheddar cheese is another favorite on cheese boards. Another idea is to make cheese balls.
Different meats: Again, you can buy deli meats in packages and using already-sliced ones are much easier.
More salty items: Add more pretzels, candied pecans, crackers and olives. Capers and caperberries are also good, or some pickles.
Get veggielicious: Carrot batons, celery sticks and cherry tomatoes make colorful additions.
Christmas candies: You don’t have to add these but you could add some wrapped candies around the edges that look like candies hanging off the Christmas tree.
A different Christmas star: Swap the jam-filled cheese star for star fruit slices or anything else cut into a star shape.
Other herbs: Fresh rosemary sprigs resemble Christmas tree branches best, but you can use whatever fresh herbs have on hand.
Serving Suggestions
As a table centerpiece: Christmas tree charcuterie boards are absolutely perfect for a table centerpiece and everyone will admire yours. If you’re dedicating the whole table to your edible Christmas tree appetizer, why not double up? The bigger the better!
With other snacks: Pair your charcuterie Christmas tree with poinsettia focaccia bread and Brie cranberry bites.
With sweet treats: Gumdrop nougat and a gingerbread loaf would also be festive and fun.
With festive drinks: Say cheers with Puerto Rican rum eggnog (always popular at holiday gatherings!)
How to Store a Charcuterie Board
Store: Keep leftovers in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Throw out anything that’s curled up or dried out.
Freeze: Don’t freeze this.
Top Tips
Sketch it first: It can be useful to sketch out your spread idea first, or have something in mind. You just need a basic triangle tree shape.
Platter or board size: You’re going to need a large platter or board to serve your Christmas tree-shaped charcuterie board. Another option is covering the table with grazing table paper sheets (I prefer plain butcher paper (like this one) because the Christmas-themed ones are quite colorful and the focus should be on your tree not the patterned background!)
Tree trunk: Either use twine (I have this one) to secure the pretzel rods for the trunk or just stack them.
The finishing touches: Don’t add fresh fruit or fresh veggies until just before serving, so they stay fresh.
Extra ingredients: I like to add more bits and pieces to the tree to keep it replenished (and looking good) as people eat it. You could also serve extras on the side.
Charcuterie Board FAQs
Because this is such a huge charcuterie board, you might not have a big enough platter or board for serving. Another idea is using grazing table paper, which comes in various sizes and is brown, white or patterned paper sheets. You put them on the table and can make your festive Christmas tree charcuterie board directly on top.
Any kinds of cured meats, sliced cheese and cheese spreads, fresh fruits, vegetables and herb sprigs would be good. Nuts, pretzels and chips add crunch too, as do bread slices.
I like to make different sizes. You can do this by varying how many salami slices you have in a row before rolling them up.
You can start it in advance and cover it with plastic wrap but don’t add the perishable items (fruit and veggies) until just before serving, for the freshest result.
Charcuterie Board Shaped Like a Christmas Tree Recipe
Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
- 6 Pieces salami-wrapped mozzarella, I used Fiorucci Hard Salami and Mozzarella Panino
- 7 Pieces prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella, I used Formaggio Cheese Prosciutto and Mozzarella Wraps
- 6 Ounces prosciutto, sliced
- 7 Ounces salami, plain, thinly sliced
- 6 Ounces salami, peppered, thinly sliced
- 5 Ounces Boursin cheese, I used the garlic and herb flavor
- 8 Ounces Colby Jack cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 12 Ounces mozzarella balls, marinated
- 8 Ounces mozzarella pearls, I used Belgioso mini snacking cheese pearls
- 8 Ounces Pepper Jack cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 12 Ounces crackers, assorted round
- 8 Ounces Brie cheese, round
- 1 Cup honey, to drizzle over some of the cheese
- 7 Ounces Brie cheese, triangle wedge
- 1 Jar stuffed manzanilla olives, 10-ounce jar, drained
- 1 Jar pitted black olives, 6-Ounce jar, drained
- 1 Cup berry jam, any flavor, to fill the Brie cheese round
- 3 Cups pretzel mini twists
- 12 pretzel rods, cut in half, for the tree trunk
- 2 apples, cored, sliced and dipped in lemon juice or salt water (to stop them browning)
- grapes, any color
- fresh rosemary, for garnish
- dried apricots, or other dried fruits of choice
- sweet nuts, and/or chocolate-covered nuts
- blackberries, and/or raspberries
Instructions
- Make a star shape in the brie cheese using a star-shaped cookie cutter. Remove the center of the star and then fill with honey, jam or cranberry sauce.
- Cut the pretzel rods in half.
- Layer some of the salami into curved lines and fan it out. Roll it and then use a toothpick to hold it together in a rose shape. Repeat to use the rest.
- Put down a large sheet of grazing table paper and use fresh rosemary to make an outline of the base of the Christmas tree. You can carry on making adjustments as you go along adding items.
- Stack the pretzels underneath for the trunk, either tying with twine or just stacking them up.
- Add the Brie round at the very top where the star would go. This also helps getting your tree the right size.
- Add the Boursin and sliced meats, spacing them all out and putting some on opposite ends, zigzagging them down the Christmas tree.
- Add pretzels and crackers around the board in different places.
- Add sliced Brie and cheese cubes, slowly filling up the open spaces.
- Add olives and mozzarella balls around the tree edges.
- Next add fresh fruit to any open areas and fill the gaps with dried fruit and nuts.
- Add more ingredients and top the sections with more ingredients to make it look fuller and to even out your tree.
- Add some more herbs to the bottom and put some off to the sides. Keep adjusting until it looks perfect!
- Serve with some extra jam and honey on the side.
Notes
Platter or board size: You’re going to need a large platter or board to serve your Christmas tree shape charcuterie board. Another option is covering the table with grazing table paper sheets (I prefer plain butcher paper because the Christmas-themed ones are quite colorful and the focus should be on your tree not the patterned background!)
Tree trunk: Either use twine to secure the pretzel rods for the trunk or just stack them.
The finishing touches: Don’t add fresh fruit or fresh veggies until just before serving, so they stay fresh.
Extra ingredients: I like to add more bits and pieces to the tree to keep it replenished (and looking good) as people eat it. You could also serve extras on the side.
Nutrition
This Christmas tree charcuterie board is a lot of fun to make for holiday parties. It really looks like a Christmas tree and you can take your pick from lots of different ingredients for it – meats, cheeses, nuts, fruit and veggies, and everything from red grapes and green grapes to green olives and more would be ideal. When it comes to wonderful ideas for a holiday party, this tree shape festive appetizer is one of the very best!
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Made the Christmas tree charcuterie board for a holiday party, and it was a total crowd-pleaser! So easy, festive, and delicious. Loved it!