Are you needing an easy and fun idea for food for a fall get together? Try this autumn charcuterie board! A grazing platter is the perfect way to bring all your people around the table for good times and good food! Keep reading to learn how!

Fall Charcuterie Board = Five Star Rating Get Together

Fall is such a great cozy time to bring people together.  There really is no shortage of occasions for a fall party – movie night, girls’ night, game day. Heck, you can even just make one up – I’m a firm believer in bringing people together for no good reason – it’s the company that counts! 

But hands down, you just can’t beat those fall flavors. 

Today, I want to share with you how to create an epic charcuterie board for fall that’s simple, delicious, and has all your fall favorites for the autumn holiday season.

To be fair, an authentic charcuterie board (which is a French term) has a variety of cured meats and a variety of cheeses, but Americans have somewhat commandeered the term to include just about anything we can find at the local grocery store and put on a board. Fair enough.

I’m going with the loose definition today.

What to Put on a Fall Board

As someone who loves to graze, a sweet and savory board is the way to go. I personally think it’s most fun to put your fall favorite snacks on a board, but it also depends on who your guests are.

If you’re having adults and want to include a little more substance, deli meats, cured meats, hard cheese, mixed nuts are all great to add some salty protein. 

You could even serve a fall cheese board  – with soft cheese cut in chunks, goat cheese, blue cheese crumble with some crackers, creamy cheese spreads. That is perfectly acceptable as a cheese platter and a delicious and easy fall appetizer.

Of course, you don’t want to neglect adding some fresh fruit – apple slices, red grapes… those are wonderful seasonal fruits to include also! Dried fruit is also a great option for a fall snack board as is apple butter to spread on crackers.

For a sweet and savory board, you can’t forget the sweet, right? Beyond seasonal produce, I’m a big fan of the fall sweets: candy corn, fall-colored M&Ms, plus some of your favorites with apple and pumpkin flavoring. 

You could even decide to create a full-on dessert board for the fall season. There are no rules against that! Again, it just depends on your guests and the occasion.

Any of these options are a good grazing board.

But before we move on, I need to tell you where there’s a gold mine of fall treats that you can put on your board (sadly, I realized this after I created mine!). But I’ll let you in on the secret (and it’s not Trader Joe, though they are impressive)!

My Favorite Place to Buy Fall Treats for a Seasonal Charcuterie Board

Are you ready? 

It’s Aldi!

Let me show you what I found. As I said, it was after-the-fact that I realized Aldi had so many treats to put on a fall-themed charcuterie board. On a regular day, Aldi is one of my favorite places to shop – but this just made me love it more!

An Assortment of Pumpkin Cookies

Maple Shaped Cookies

Yogurt Covered Pretzels in Apple and Pumpkin Flavors

Pumpkin Spice Trail Mix

Pumpkin Spiced Almonds

Pumpkin Pie Caramels

By all means, check out Trader Joe’s for fall-themed snacks, but don’t neglect Aldi either!

And the best part is that Aldi is always a budget-friendly food choice. We love Aldi!

Tips for Creating (What I Think is the Close-to-)Perfect Fall Charcuterie Board

OK, I realize that is very subjective, and I’m pretty partial.

In this post, I explain how to lay out a charcuterie board, and the concept is pretty similar here, depending on what you’re putting on the board.

1| The first thing to do is consider the occasion and determine the likes of your guests.

Are you having fall gatherings during dinner time? You’ll probably want more substantial items with protein (meats, cheeses) mixed in among the sweets if using your fall themed charcuterie board as a fun dinner idea. 

Is your gathering after dinner? Then you may want to lean a little more heavily on dessert items and lighter salty items such as pumpkin seeds or nuts.

Is your appetizer board for adults only? Will kids be included? Or is it a girls’ night?

Let the occasion, the time of year (and time of day!), and guest list steer your choices!

2| Decide on your board items.

Create a menu for your board. You may need to roam the stores a little and see what’s available but have a tentative list of items.

Also determine what you need for serving some of your items: small bowls, cheese knives, etc.

You’ll also want to consider what food items are stable at room temperature and don’t need to be chilled.

There’s a whole variety of fall foods that could work, but it will depend on availability as well. 

3| Arrange the board by color and taste.

For your board, you’ll want to try to split up the sweet and savory items. 

You’ll also want to try to split up the colors – separating like colors and placing items next to each other that have some contrast.

If you have a lot of food options and you’re working with a small charcuterie board (or even cutting board), here’s a pro-tip and one of my favorite ways to maximize space:

Stack higher.

You may not have all the ground real estate available for lots of items, but if you pile up each item just a bit higher, you can fit more of a variety on your boards. It’s one of the easiest ways to make the most of your board space!

If you have lots of smaller items, like candies and nuts, you can either put them in small bowls (I love the little glass ones from Dollar Tree – and they also have great small plastic bowls in their party section) or spread them right on the board (this works better if you’re using a large board).

It might take a little trial and error and some experimenting, but there are so many great choices for the autumn season. The hardest part is definitely narrowing it down!

But the fun part (besides eating!) is playing with the arrangement to make it look pretty!

My Favorite Things for a Fall Charcuterie Board

OK, let me share with you what I put on my board, along with a few simple recipes that you can include on yours!

Savory Items

For the salty or savory items, I chose crackers, cheese, pretzels, pumpkin seeds, cashews, and garlic hummus.

Sweet Items 

For the sweet items, I included apple slices, red grapes, Vanilla Wafers, cinnamon graham crackers, fall harvest trash mix (I’ll include the recipe below), pumpkin fluff dip (and the recipe for that, too!), with a fall candy mix in the middle (candy corn, Reese’s Pieces – which are conveniently already in fall colors – and S’mores flavored M&Ms.)

I intentionally chose items that could be mixed and matched, pairing together savory and sweet:

Cheese and Crackers

Crackers and Hummus

Pretzels with Hummus or Pumpkin Fluff

Apples, Graham Crackers, Nilla Wafers with Pumpkin Fluff

The candy dish (in a cute leaf-shaped tray from Dollar Tree), the fall harvest trash, the nuts, the grapes were all ideal for grazing.

My occasion was a girls’ night hosting a Norwex party for a friend! The fall-themed charcuterie board was minimal effort compared to baking lots of food and treats, and it was so much fun to enjoy together!

To level it up, I served fruit-infused water with apples, pears, and plums. I even found caramel apple seltzer at Aldi! It’s almost like drinking the crisp autumn air – so yummy!

I didn’t serve alcohol that night, but it could have even been a little fancier with white wine.

Recipe for Fall Harvest Trash Snack Mix

You can grab this simple recipe below! It’s so easy to make and it was a hit! (My dad crashed the party and just loved this!)

Fall Harvest Trash Snack Mix

Print

Ingredients

• 2 cups air-popped popcorn
• 2 cups cinnamon multi grain cereal squares
• 2 cups pretzels
• 1/2 cup cashews (or peanuts)
• 1 cup Reese's Pieces
• 1 cup of white chocolate chips
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• Jar of fall themed sprinkles

Instructions

1. Mix popcorn, pretzels, cereal, cashews, and Reese's Pieces together and lay on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
2. Melt white chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth. Mix in coconut oil.
3. Place melted chocolate in a zip lock bag and move chocolate to the corner. Snip the tip of the bag and use it to drizzle chocolate over the salty mixture on the tray. You can also use a spoon to drizzle if you don't have a bag.
4. Gently stir ingredients together to coat with chocolate.
5. Sprinkle sprinkles evenly over the entire mixture to desired coverage. Allow chocolate to dry and set - do not stir yet.
6. Once set, break apart and mix together.
7. Serve in a bowl and enjoy!

Notes

*Store in air-tight container at room temperature.

*Makes about 10 cups

Recipe for Pumpkin Fluff

This one is made with cream cheese, vanilla pudding mix, Cool Whip, and canned pumpkin! 

Soooo easy, too!

Pumpkin Fluff Dip

Print

Ingredients

• 1 - 15 oz can pure pumpkin puree
• 1 - 3.4 oz box vanilla instant pudding (not assembled, just the powder)
• 4 oz. whipped cream cheese
• 1-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or a mix of 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp allspice or ginger)
• 8 oz. Cool Whip

Instructions

1. Mix together the 1st 4 ingredients (pumpkin, pudding powder, whipped cream cheese, and pumpkin pie spice). Blend until thorough combined.
2. Slowly add in Cool Whip and blend to desired consistency.
3. Chill for one hour before serving. Can be made up to 24 hours prior to serving.
4. Serve with vanilla wafers, graham crackers, pretzels, apples, etc.

Notes

* For a lighter, fluffy consistency, you can omit the cream cheese.

*Cream cheese can also be subbed out for 1/4 milk.

*Adjust pumpkin pie spice to taste - feel free to add more, use cinnamon, etc.

*Store in refrigerator covered, up to 4 days.

Once your wooden board is set up, you can decorate with fall-inspired colors:  mini pumpkins, napkins, plates, and even some cozy candles! Not only will you serve your guests the best charcuterie board, but your whole table will look amazing!

More Beautiful Charcuterie Board Inspiration

If you like putting together charcuterie boards (I think it’s the best way to serve food for parties!), you can check out some of my other food ideas you can serve on wood boards!

This apple dipping board would also be amazing to include in your fall party!

There are easy ideas for Easter dessert charcuterie boards, kid-friendly boards, and a dessert dip board.

More Party Food Ideas

If you love entertaining and want more ideas for party food, check these out:

Simple & Gorgeous DIY Bread Charcuterie Board Appetizer Idea

30 Single-Serving Desserts for Parties (Easy, Safe & Classy!)

40+ Best Individual Appetizers for Social Distancing: Party Approved!

40 Slow Cooker Party Recipes Guaranteed to Wow

30 Fun &Festive Party Menu Ideas Everyone Will Love

Delicious Whole30 | Paleo 4 Course Dinner Party Menu

I’d love to see what you come up for your easy fall charcuterie board! If you create one, please tag me on Instagram @100affections and I’ll share it in my stories!

 

Other thoughts? I’d love to hear them! Leave a comment below!