As someone who participates in Veganuary every January to start off the year and cooks a lot of vegan recipes, the one thing that I would miss if I went full plant-based would be making fun charcuterie boards. I make one for every family/friend party and loved a good holiday themed board (peep some of those here).
This Veganuary, I was determined to make a aesthetically pleasing charcuterie board- vegan style. Before everyone gets their panties in a wad…I do know the definition of charcuterie. It is a French term for cooking devoted to prepared meats. No, there will be no meats on this board…but unfortunately for the Karen’s of the world the world “charcuterie” has taken on another side meaning these days (apologies to anyone named Karen…that must actually suck these days).
In the Pinterest and social media world “charcuterie” has taken on a new meaning of basically, “I made some snacks and want to serve them pretty to bring to a party.”
That is how I am using that term in this situation…anywhoooo…I wanted to walk you guys through how to make a vegan board. In my years of dabbling in the plant-based world, I have learned that if you can make it out of animal products, you can make it taste and look just as good with plant products.
To start off, I wanted to find alternative for the “meat” that is usually on a charcuterie board. It is 2022- there are some pretty impressive alternatives to meat. I think a lot of them would even fool a devoted meat-eater.
I went to Amazon (because, duh) and I found this Fig “Salami”. It looked like it would be a way for me to substitute the pretty lines of salami that I usually use across the boards. Spoiler alert: I did use this on my board, but you MUST like figs to like this. It in no way has any similarities and texture-wise, I was a bit grossed out. Some of my friends thought it was yummy though!
For cheese, I knew this department would be much easier to fulfill. There are dozens of types of milk alternatives for a reason. I chose to use this Field Roast cheese and it did not disappoint. I had several people who did not believe that it was vegan. Unlike the Fig Salami, I highly recommend this. And they sell it in most grocery stores (I got mine from Kroger).
I wanted to include some of the “meat and cheese” elements into this board, but ultimately, I knew that this board would consist of a lot of fruits, veggies, and of course carbs (bread and crackers).
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When building a charcuterie board, I recommend laying all of the elements that you will potentially use around the board and play with different things in different places.
For this board, I washed all the fruit and veggies, chopped them up, and laid them around the board. I also needed to chop up the baguette. After laying everything out, I always, always, always put the bigger, more statement elements on the board first. You need to position these in the perfect spot.
Usually in a normal charcuterie board of mine, that means the 3-4 cheeses I have picked out or the salami roses that I assembled. I think this is the most important part. After that you are just filling gaps with the other elements. My favorite boards are the ones that you cannot see the wood underneath. I love the cascade of berries, nuts, and grapes that really bring the board all together.
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3 Comments
Tabetha Rendle · April 22, 2022 at 2:00 pm
Great info. Lucky me I discovered your blog by chance (stumbleupon). I’ve bookmarked it for later!
Jennifer Renee · April 26, 2022 at 5:15 pm
Thanks, Tabetha! That means a lot!
driving school · April 9, 2023 at 4:46 pm
Im thankful for the post. Awesome.