I love to make grazing boards. I’m kind of known for them. Maybe it’s because I serve them a lot. Or maybe it’s because whenever I make one, I can’t help but snap a photo because they are SO BEAUTIFUL! Either way, I’m sort of the charcuterie queen in my area.

The thing is, once you’ve made something enough times, you sort of get sick of it. While other people are impressed with the grazing board, I get plain bored with them.

Last winter, we co-hosted a wine and cheese night at our friend’s tiny barn where they had an ice skating rink. It was so fun! It seems that charcuterie and skating are the perfect combination!

There were about 25-30 people there, and I went all out with the boards. I wanted unique charcuterie board ideas so that I didn’t get bored with the process. So, I came up with a couple ideas that I’ll share with you here.

As a side note, if you’d like to hear tips on how to create grazing boards for a crowd, I’m happy to share what I’ve learned over the years! Just comment and let me know!

Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella – Unique Charcuterie Board Idea #1

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Prep them in advance

These were super easy to make in advance, which is a huge plus for me! Begin by cutting the mozzarella into 1/2″ chunks. Then cut the prosciutto slices into half. After that, cut each half into thirds so that each long slice made 6 strips.

Wrap each strip around a chunk of mozzarella and secure it with a toothpick. After they are secured, you can either use them immediately, or just put them all into an airtight container for a day or two.

When you’re ready to serve, put them in a dish

Once you’re ready to put them onto your charcuterie board, place the prosciutto wrapped mozzarella chunks in little dishes. I used low 1″ tart pan type dishes that I’ve found over the years. They are just like the ones you’d use to make creme brûlée – here’s an example of them. These would be equally as cute if you had a little plate with edges that curved up, or tiny pie plates.

Drizzle with chili oil

Next, drizzle them with chili oil. The chili oil was made by steeping 1 cup olive oil with 2 Tablespoons of Korean Chili Flakes in a pot on low for about 15 min. Don’t let it boil. Just let the oil get nice and warm. After it has steeped in the chili flakes, put it in a mason jar and pop it in the fridge and pour it over everything!!

I think you can also buy chili oil like this one – but it looks quite a bit chunkier than mine so it might not drizzle well without adding a little more oil to it.

Sadly resign yourself to the fact that there will be no leftovers

These were a huge hit and not a single one was left! Since they have a toothpick to secure them, it makes them super easy to eat. The bonus is that people can grab them by the toothpick and swirl them around in the chili oil to make sure they are good and covered in the yummy, slightly spicy oil.

Honey Whipped Goat Cheese – Unique Charcuterie Board Idea #2

I love goat cheese. One of my favorite cheese board regulars is goat cheese and strawberries on sweet Meyer Lemon Cookies. Or goat cheese and lemon curd with fresh blackberries.

Unfortunately, I find that sometimes people are a little weird about goat cheese?! Maybe it’s because it’s a bit crumbly? However, if you whip it up with honey and a drizzle of olive oil and a little cream cheese…people LOVE it!

Whip the honey goat cheese, cream cheese, and olive oil

This is such an easy one to prep in advance as well! To make this super easy, I’m using the goat cheese that’s already infused with honey.

If you can only find regular goat cheese, that’s fine too! Just add a couple more tablespoons of honey to the mix and it will bring out all that sweet honey flavor!

Add a 4oz. package of honey goat cheese, along with 2oz. cream cheese and 1T. olive oil to a bowl and mix it with a hand mixer.

After you mix that, add 1-2T. of honey and continue to use the hand mixer to whip air into the mixture.

Put it in a small dish

After you whip it up, put it in a small dish, cover, and refrigerate until it’s time to serve. You can use it right away, or you can make it in advance to save time before the actual event.

(I didn’t take good pictures while I was making it originally, so this bowl is different than the one I used in the after photos!)

When you’re ready to serve your honey whipped goat cheese, drizzle a little more honey on top and add a cute spoon – these are the ones I use – and tuck it onto your charcuterie board. Make sure you have some strawberries and blackberries and blueberries around it. They all go perfectly with the sweet and tangy honey whipped goat cheese!

Give your guests directions

I usually give my guests recommendations. Especially if they have never tried some of the items on the board, they tend to stick with what they know. However, when you say, “I love the honey whipped goat cheese on the Meyer Lemon Cookie with a chunk of strawberry on top” they will normally give it a try.

Other Unique Charcuterie Board Ideas

Homemade Ranch

In the photo above, you can see that in the center of the board, I put a tiny trifle dish of homemade ranch. This was a surprise winner! I had multiple people ask for the recipe and they LOVED having the veggies available on the board.

I tucked carrots, celery, radishes, and cucumbers throughout the cheese boards and it was a total hit. I’ll have to make a blog post about my ranch recipe. It’s SOOOOO good!

Chocolate Covered Goodies

Because this was a wintertime party, I went with a winter theme on the chocolate covered goodies. I covered mint Joe Joe’s from Trader Joes (but Oreos would be great), pretzels, and strawberries.

I sprinkled them throughout the boards to fill in gaps, and I had a little dish of them on a side table too. It wasn’t a surprise that there were none left over!

Salty and Spicy Treats

I always add in salty treats – I love the everything nuts from Trader Joes, or salted Marcona almonds. On this night, I put tiny bowls of buffalo seasoned pretzels. I got the recipe from Foodal.com and it was great!

I think it’s a good idea to always be adding little surprises to your grazing boards. It changes them up and keeps them from getting boring.

What unique charcuterie board ideas do you have? I’d love to hear them to add variety to my cheese boards!

Unique Charcuterie Board Ideas

These two recipes add so much diversity to your grazing boards!

Chili Oil

• 1 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons Korean Chili Flakes

Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella

• 8 oz Fresh Mozerella
• Small Package Prosciutto

Honey Whipped Goat Cheese

• 4 oz honey goat cheese
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1-2 Tablespoons honey + more for drizzling on top

Make Chili Oil for Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella

1. Add 2T. of Korean chili flakes to 1c. olive oil and heat on low for 15 minutes to allow flavors to infuse. DO NOT BOIL. Remove from heat. Cool. Store in airtight glass jar in the refrigerator. Drizzle over anything!!

Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella

1. Cut mozzarella into 1/2" chunks.

2. Cut prosciutto in half. Then cut each of the halves into thirds so one slice is 6 strips.

3. Wrap a strip around the mozzarella chunk and secure with a toothpick. At this point, you can put them in an airtight container for later, or serve immediately.

4. Place in low serving dish and drizzle with a few Tablespoons of the chili oil before serving.

Honey Whipped Goat Cheese

1. Combine 4oz. goat cheese, 2 oz. cream cheese and 1T. olive oil in bowl. Mix with hand mixer until combined.

2. Add 1-2T honey and mix with hand mixer until smooth and creamy. I let it go for a little while to whip air into it. At this point, you can store in an airtight container for later, or serve immediately.

3. Put in small dish and drizzle with additional honey. Serve on charcuterie board with fruits and meats and crackers.

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