Tastebud Tingling Halloween Grazing Board

You can’t go wrong with a tastebud tingling Halloween grazing board — to go along with your spine tingling festivities!

Is Halloween in your neighborhood awesome? I hope so! Halloween in our neighborhood is the best! There are driveway fire pits, grills cooking up eats for tired parents, traveling wagons full of goodies for the young and young at heart, DIY haunted garages and so many costumed kiddos! It’s always a blast, and we look forward to it all year.

We won’t have all the same features this year, but our amazing neighbors have rallied together to create a fun and safe experience for our kids — and the adults will get to have a little fun, too! I mean, not only does Halloween land on a Saturday, but it’s also a Hunter’s Blue Moon. Celebrate, we must!

Our festivities kickoff early, which means we’ll be trunk-or-treating right through dinner. By the time we return home, this momma will be spent. So, I’m opting for a family room picnic in front of the fire with this tastebud tingling Halloween grazing board! I can assemble it early and store it covered in the fridge.

Shopping List for a Halloween Grazing Board

Cheese + Charcuterie

Depending on the size of your clan, think 2 to 3 cheeses and 1 to 2 meat varieties. I like to have a soft/creamy cheese, a hard cheese and something a little more pungent or tangy on my boards. I’ll also try meats with different textures or flavor profiles to keep it interesting. On this board:

Camembert (Wegman’s cave ripened)
Aged gouda (Beemster Paradiso Reserve)
Soft-ripened goat (Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog)
Peppered salami
Country pâté

Fruits + Veggies

I selected dried and fresh fruits I thought would lend to a dark and brooding mood. And, because this is dinner, I added some veggies (we can be a little healthy, right?). Choose whatever suits your theme or mood. Here’s what I picked:

Dried cranberries
Fresh blueberries
Fresh blackberries
Tri-color baby carrots (I roasted them and they totally look like scary fingers!)
Arugula + sliced radish (to make tiny open-faced sandwiches)

Accompaniments

Think mustards, jams, dips, nuts, pickles, olives — anything that compliments your cheese selection and that you love to graze on. I added:

Marcona almonds with rosemary (Trader Joe’s)
Coarse grain dijon mustard
Homemade hummus

bowls of mustard and hummus with salami and crackers

Bread + Crackers

I tend to offer a selection of both bread and crackers on a grazing board. Crackers are great for lighter eaters and the perfect vehicle for most cheese, charcuterie + dips. Breads hold up well for stacking lots of toppings and will fill your tummy. My selections:

French baguettes slices
Red Chili Scalloped Crackers (Trader Joe’s)
Fig & Olive Crisps (Trader Joe’s)
Raisin Rosemary Crisps (Trader Joe’s)

It’s also easy to make your own crackers…like these Rosemary + Sea Salt Crackers!

Assembling a Halloween Grazing Board

Grab your board — it can be a sheet pan, a casserole, a square, a circle. It doesn’t really matter except that it should have a lip so your goodies don’t slide onto the floor. Select bowls to contain any accompaniments you want to keep corralled.
Place your cheese and meat. I like to pre-cut hard cheeses. Sliced meats can be folded into quarters to add volume and visual interest.
Add veggies + fill your bowls.
Add fruits + nuts.

Note: You can place these items all together in one spot (carrots) or scatter them on opposite ends of your board (cranberries + almonds).

Finally, tuck in crackers, sliced bread, and garnishes like herbs…or SPIDERS!