Learn how to easily build a beautiful and impressive Trader Joe’s Cheese and Charcuterie Board for a crowd!
One Board to Feed Them All
Trader Joe’s is one of my favorite places to shop for delicious and reasonably-priced cheese and charcuterie board building goodies. It’s an easy, in and out, one-stop shopping trip because they have everything I need to build a bountiful board that could feed a crowd.
This board cost a total of $95. However, most of the accompaniments and crackers are pantry items that can be used in the future because you might not use all of them on this board. If you have a large crowd and you can’t fit it all on the board, keep everything handy so you can easily replenish the board, if needed.
I’m often asked how many people my boards serve. It all depends on if the board is being served as an appetizer or a meal, the size of the crowd and the hunger of the crowd. It always varies. This board should feed about 10-12 people as an appetizer.
How to Build a Trader Joe’s Cheese and Charcuterie Board
Let me walk you through my process for easily building a beautiful cheese and charcuterie board like this with everything from Trader Joe’s. You can watch this short video to see me building the board…
Start with a good large wood board. One of my favorites is our 36″ x 12″ walnut wood board because it can span down the middle of a table or island, which is great for a crowd to easily gather around. It makes for a wonderful entertaining experience.
Wash the fresh fruits and leave them to dry.
Place the honey, fig butter, orange marmalade, strawberry jam, dijon mustard and anything juicy or brined foods you want to keep from getting on the other foods, such as the olives and cornichons, in serving bowls on the board first.
I get most of my mini serving bowls and cheese knives/spreaders from Target, World Market and Sur La Table. Check out my shop page for links to several of my favorites!
Next arrange the cheeses, meats, grapes and crackers on the board. Spreading each of these larger items out across the board so you can fill in the remaining spaces with the smaller foods.
Cheeses
I serve the cheese as it comes and put a cheese knife next to each one, but sometimes I’ll thinly slice or crumble the harder cheeses so people can easily grab and enjoy. The creamier/softer cheeses, like goat cheese or triple cream, need to stay in their original shape though with a little knife so it can be spread on crackers, fruit slices or the other nibbles. Cheeses are best served at room temperature which takes about 30 minutes from the time you remove it from the refrigerator. Building this board should take about 30 minutes so it’s perfect timing from when you remove the cheese from the refrigerator to when it is ready to be enjoyed. Cheeses on my board:
- Unexpected Cheddar Cheese
- Cranberry Chevre
- Manchego
- Blue Stilton
- Goat Milk Brie
- Cheddar & Gruyere
- Le Delice de Bourgogne Triple Cream
- Gouda
Meats
When it comes to the meats, I like to roll the Prosciutto, fan the Capocollo and shape the salami into flowers by folding each slice in half and then in half again and holding each folded piece in a stack in my hand until I can no longer hold them before placing them on the board. Meats I used:
- Calabrese Salame
- Soppressata Salame
- Prosciutto
- Capocollo
Fresh Fruits
Next place the grape bunches on the board. The apples and pears go on the board last and here is why…
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is how I keep my apples and pears from browning. I actually don’t do anything to them because I think lemon juice, pineapple juice or salt water interferes with the natural flavor of the fresh fruit which pairs so well with the cheeses and other goodies on the board.
I usually just put them on the board last and they get eaten so quickly that they don’t have a chance to get that brown. I’ve found that the fruit really doesn’t brown that much over a few hours and they stay crisp which is important. I also try to expose as little of the white part as possible. Fruits I chose:
- Red grapes
- Green grapes
- Honeycrisp apple
- Pear
Crackers
I like to have a good variety of crackers on the board: plain salted, multi-grain, seeded, and fruit or nut filled. Trader Joe’s offers such a great variety. I use:
- Fig and Olive Crisps
- Rasin Rosemary Crisps
- Original Savory Thin Crackers
- Pita Bite Crackers
- Stone Ground Wheat Crackers
Accompaniments
I always finish by filling in the board with all of the nuts and dried fruits and then the pear and apple slices. It’s okay for items to touch each other and overlap. You want it to be abundant. Possible accompaniments include:
- dried apricots
- dark sweet cherries
- dried Calimyrna figs
- candied walnuts
- truffle marcona almonds
- roasted & salted marcona almonds
- sweet & spicy pecans
- marinated olive duo
- cornichons
- fig butter
- strawberry jam
- dijon mustard
- orange marmalade
- honey with honeycomb
That’s all there is to it, friends! A cheese and charcuterie board made with ingredients all from Trader Joe’s. It’s sure to wow your loved ones with both its beauty and deliciousness.
When it comes to leftovers, I really try to build our boards so we don’t have many. If we do have leftovers from a cheese and charcuterie board, we’ll enjoy them over the next few days on snack boards, in sandwiches or as pizza toppings.
I hope you enjoy building and serving this board as much as I do. Your guests are sure to love it! If you’re inspired by it and make a Trader Joe’s charcuterie board, be sure to snap a picture and share it with me or tag me on Instagram @thebakermama so I can see. 
I love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the boards I share. Have fun and enjoy!
xoxo,
Trader Joe’s Charcuterie & Cheese Board
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 10-12
- Category: Appetizer
Description
Learn how to easily build a beautiful and impressive Trader Joe’s Cheese and Charcuterie Board for a crowd!
Ingredients
CHEESES:
- Unexpected Cheddar Cheese
- Cranberry Chevre
- Manchego
- Blue Stilton
- Goat Milk Brie
- Cheddar & Gruyere
- Le Delice de Bourgogne Triple Cream
- Gouda
MEATS:
- Calabrese Salame
- Soppressata Salame
- Prosciutto
- Capocollo
FRESH FRUITS:
- Red grapes
- Green grapes
- Honeycrisp apple
- Pear
CRACKERS:
- Fig and Olive Crisps
- Raisin Rosemary Crisps
- Original Savory Thin Crackers
- Pita Bite Crackers
- Stoneground Wheat Crackers
ACCOMPANIMENTS:
- dried apricots
- dark sweet cherries
- dried Calimyrna figs
- candied walnuts
- truffle marcona almonds
- roasted & salted marcona almonds
- sweet & spicy pecans
- marinated olive duo
- cornichons
- fig butter
- strawberry jam
- dijon mustard
- orange marmalade
- honey with honeycomb
Instructions
- Start with a good large wood board. One of my favorites is our 36″ x 12″ walnut wood board because it can span down the middle of a table or island, which is great for a crowd to easily gather around. It makes for a wonderful entertaining experience.
- Wash the fresh fruits and leave them to dry.
- Place the honey, fig butter, orange marmalade, strawberry jam, dijon mustard and anything juicy or brined foods you want to keep from getting on the other foods, such as the olives and cornichons, in serving bowls on the board first.
- Next arrange the cheeses, meats, grapes and crackers on the board. Spreading each of these larger items out across the board so you can fill in the remaining spaces with the smaller foods.
- Finish by filling in the board with all of the nuts and dried fruits and then the pear and apple slices. It’s okay for items to touch each other and overlap. You want it to be abundant.
- Serve each cheese with a cheese knife, spreader or fork. Place a spreader or spoon in each of the spreads. Serve and enjoy!
Hi! Great tutorial! Would you mind sharing the ballpark of your spend for this board? Want to manage expectations of the girls who are splitting it!
Hi JRae! I talk about it up in the post. This ingredients for the board cost me a total of $95. However, most of the accompaniments and crackers are pantry items that can be used in the future because I did not use all of them on this board. Enjoy!
Isn’t the cheddar called “unexpected”, not “unexpressed”?
Hi! Yes, darn autocorrect. Thank you so much for letting me know. I just updated it! Enjoy!
Trader Joe’s cheeses are literally to die for! Adding all of these to my next haul!
~ XOXO, Amanda
http://www.blondeoutofwater.com
How many packages of meat did you use?
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Hi Jessica! I used one of each package. Enjoy!
Going to make this next weekend for my birthday. Fun fact my daughter’s name is Maegan. I have never seen anyone spell it the same way we do. She was named after my great Auntie Mae. Thanks for the video and details
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TOTALLY LOVED your suggestions and instructions on how to pull together a Cheese and Charcuterie Board! Plan on gifting this to my brother and sister-in-law at Christmas time. Was SO impressed that I added your post to my phone’s home screen. I am extremely fortunate to have a TJ’s one mile away! I am a HUGE fan of TJ’s…it’s my #1 place to shop and, YES, their cheese, crackers and deli meats are the BEST and the price points can’t be beat. Further, the quality is astounding. SO GRATEFUL for your post…THANK YOU!!! Stay safe and stay well. Bless you.
I also purchased roasted red peppers and grilled artichoke hearts. Should I serve them at room temperature or cold? Thanks you, looking forward to putting this together.
Hi Robin! Those are such great additions. I would serve them at room temperature. I hope everyone enjoys!
I used your suggestions for my son’s birthday in August. It was awesome! Everyone loved it!! Using it again for my birthday weekend! Thank you!
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This is lovely! If you were serving a smaller group, which cheeses would you definitely keep on there? I want to make this but my group is a lot smaller. Thank you!
Hi Lisa! Great question. For a smaller crowd, I would definitely include the Unexpected Cheddar Cheese, Cranberry Chevre, Le Delice de Bourgogne Triple Cream, and Gouda. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Made a slightly scaled down version of this for Christmas and it was awesome! The ingredients pair so well together. Everyone raved about it. I can’t wait to make it again!
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Where did you get your walnut wood board?
Hi Annette! My dad handcrafts my wood boards. This is our 36″ x 12″ walnut wood board. You can purchase it here: https://boardsbythebakermama.com/collections/boards/products/36-x-12-wood-board-walnut-1 Enjoy!
I am so glad I came across your website. I am giving my step-daughter a couples baby shower and am going to make a charcuterie board (dinner plate size) as a center piece for each table. I had my own ideas, but finding out that I could buys things for so much (better) less at TJ’s. This is going to be epic. Cant’ wait. I’ve been a party planner (and giver) for my entire life, but there are always new ideas. Thank you for sharing your talent.
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Hi Maegan! This looks heavenly, thanks for the great post. I was wondering which cheese you used crumbled for the picture? It just looks scrumptious -don’t want to crumble the wrong one! Thanks a lot.
Hi Tatiana! That’s the Unexpected cheddar that I have crumbled on the board. It’s great crumbled and sliced. Enjoy!
What do the marmalade, honey, strawberry jam & fig butter pair with?
Hi Diane! They pair well with so many different combinations of crackers, cheeses and meats on the board. I love spreading a little jam or fig butter on a cracker and then adding a slice of cheese and even piece of meat. They all pair so well with the triple cream brie! Spreading a little jam on a piece of cheese is such an enjoyable sweet and savory bite! It’s fun to try the different spreads with the different cheeses. Enjoy!
I made this TJ charcuterie board for a ladies brunch and it was a big hit! Your list of TJ ingredients was super easy to follow. I love it so much that I plan on making again for Thanksgiving. Thank you!!!
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Sounds amazing. Going to TJ this week. Thinking I’ll add cheddar/horseradish spread and marinated mozzarella balls.
Thank you
We have entertained with charcuterie boards/plates for years but this is without a doubt the best variety and presentation I’ve seen. Good job!
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Loved this post because it helped me learn more about affordable and delicious kinds of cheeses that I could find at my local TJ. My boyfriend and friends really enjoyed the result 🙂
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