Rainbow Charcuterie Board

Well, it’s almost the middle of June, and I’m just realizing that I never did get around to posting about my rainbow board.

Ooof, the best laid plans, right?

Do I get credit for planning ahead by making and shooting this post last NOVEMBER, or does that all go out the window because it’s June now?

Anyway.

I’ve seen a ton of rainbow candy boards and dessert platters, but you don’t tend to see a ton of actual rainbow charcuterie boards.

I wanted to make a beautiful display of food, but keep it as traditional as possible: Meat and cheese, with accoutrements.

Unfortunately, you can only go so far with meat and cheese when you’re making a rainbow board, so expect to lean pretty heavily on fruits and vegetables.

That said - IMHO - the unique challenges that come with designing an elegant rainbow charcuterie platter are half the fun!

What ARE you going to use for blue?

What kinds of fun cheeses are you finding in different colours?

Sure, it’s way easier to do a rainbow candy board... but it’s more rewarding to do a proper charcuterie board, IMHO.

Also, it’s kind of hard to keep things elegant when you’re using blue shark gummies, know what I mean?

Anyway, I have a TON of rainbow charcuterie board ideas, so let’s get to it!

Charcuturie Ingredients

Unlike the vast majority of my recipes, charcuterie boards don’t require a set list of ingredients.

Think more “choose your own adventure”, or “pick 3 from column A, and a few from column B”.

Well, you know, in this case... it’s more “pick some from column ‘red’, and some more from column ‘orange’...”!

When I’m doing these charcuterie board posts, I generally divide the ingredient areas up by type: meats, cheeses, snacky foods, etc.

For this one, I think it makes a bit more sense to divide them up by colour.

The fun thing with designing a rainbow board is that you’re not only trying to hit all the colours - and keep them relatively balanced.

You’re also going to want to keep the types of ingredients balanced - more on this in a bit, when we’ll talk about the 3333 rule!

Choosing Ingredients By Colour

You’re going to find that certain colours are naturally where you’re going to get a lot of one type of ingredients: Most of your meats will be red, green is mostly going to be produce, etc.

Personally, I like to choose the ingredients for some of the harder colours/items (ie: choose cheeses that aren’t yellow or orange), then fill in with more common options.

So, in this case, I used a couple purple cheeses (blueberry goat cheese and lavender gouda), and a green cheese (Sage Derby), before even selecting what would become my orange cheese.

Anyway, here are the major colours you’ll want represented, and some ideas of the kinds of ingredients I’ll use to hit all the colors of the rainbow.

(You should be able to find everything you need in pretty much any larger grocery store.)

Red Charcuterie Food Ideas

Because most of your cured meats are going to be in the red family, I’d pick those first, then fill the space with other red options.

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Red Meats: Pretty much any cured meat will work. I made a Salami Rose (How to Make Salami Roses), then rolled up some deli ham slices.

Red Cheeses: Cranberry coated goat cheese, Windsor Red Cheese.

Red Produce: Red grapes, mini red peppers, strawberries, raspberries, grape tomatoes, pomegranate arils.

Red Munchies: Sundried tomato slices, Sweetened Dried Cranberries , Roasted Red Peppers.

Orange Charcuterie Food Ideas

Orange is a good colour to get some fun cheese options in, so I’ll usually pick those first, then fill the section our with produce, sauces, etc.

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Orange Cheeses: Muenster, Red Leicester, cheddar, really old Gouda, Mimolette.

Orange Produce: Sliced or mini orange bell peppers, baby carrots, orange slices or segments, cantaloupe, Rainer cherries.

Orange Sauces, Spreads, and Dips: Pepper Jelly, red pepper hummus.

Orange Munchies: Dried Apricots.

Yellow Charcuterie Food Ideas

Generally speaking, most of my yellow comes in the form of cheese and produce... so I’ll usually include some nice smoked deli chicken or turkey slices. (Though I didn’t, this time around!)

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Yellow Meats: Small rolls of deli sliced roasted chicken or turkey.

Yellow Cheeses: MOST cheeses will work in your yellow section. Aim for a variety of flavours and textures!

Yellow Produce: Sliced yellow pepper, yellow grape tomatoes, passionfruit, mango chunks, Golden Kiwi, thinly sliced yellow beets, fresh pineapple.

Yellow Sauces, Spreads, and Dips: Mustards (I LOVE Kozlik’s Canadian Mustard!), honey, hummus.

Green Charcuterie Food Ideas

Because green is such an easy colour to design around - especially with regards to produce - I usually choose the foods for most of the other colours, before selecting my greens.

The one exception: Cheese. The green is near the middle of the platter, so I like to get a green cheese in there!

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Green Meats: I would be very wary of any meat that’s green, TBH!

Green Cheeses: Sage Derby Cheese, Herbed Goat Cheese Log, Pesto Gouda Cheese.

Green Produce: Green grapes, sliced kiwi fruit, sliced green peppers, snap peas, sliced cucumber, broccolini, green grapes.

Green Sauces, Spreads, and Dips: Pesto, Guacamole.

Green Munchies: Cornichons, Pepitas, pistachios, green olives.

Green Garnish and “Other”: Any fresh herbs. Basil, Italian Parsley, and Rosemary are my go-tos for charcuterie boards in general.

Blue Charcuterie Food Ideas

Because blue us a really ... different color ... when it comes to charcuterie boards, you’re going to have to get a bit creative.

I’ve seen people dye provolone and make roses with it, but that’s way fussier than I want to get into, personally. Here are some easier ideas:

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Blue Meats: Let’s just not eat blue meat.

Blue Cheeses: Bleu Cheese.

Blue Produce: Blueberries.

Blue Sauces, Spreads, and Dips: Blueberry jam.

Blue Munchies: Mini blue macarons (A really good cheat to get some blue in there!).

Blue Garnish and “Other”: Edible blue flowers (Like some pansies).

Purple Charcuterie Food Ideas

Purple is shockingly easy to buy for, so I leave it a little towards the end, in terms of selections - for the most part.

I do like to include a really dark meat in the purple section, so it’s not ALL in the red. I also like to use at least one purple cheese, so the cheese isn’t all crowded at the other end of the board.

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Purple Meats: Darker cured sausage. As pictured, I used a Venison Sausage from Great Canadian Meat Co.

Purple Cheeses: Lavender Gouda, Port Wine Derby cheese.

Purple Produce: Purple grapes, blackberries, plum slices, purple carrots, blood orange slices, fresh figs, purple cauliflower.

Purple Sauces, Spreads, and Dips: Beet hummus (add a little purple food colouring if needed!)

Purple Munchies: Kalamata olives, Pickled Red Onions.

Purple Garnish and “Other”: Chive flowers, shredded purple cabbage.

Starches

Due to the colourful nature of a rainbow charcuterie board, I recommend keeping your crackers completely separate. I’ll do a tray - or trays - of arranged crackers, and just set them near by.

Note: If there’s any chance you’ll be serving anyone who’s gluten-free, I recommend doing a separate tray of all gluten-free crackers, and setting it on the opposite site of the pride characuterie board from the regular cracker tray.

Also, label it gluten-free!

Anyway, a few of my favourite cracker options are:

Vinta
Raincoast Crisps
Stoned Wheat Thins
Sociables
Water Crackers
Ritz Crackers
Rye Crispbread

For gluten free and/or low carb options, I like:

Rice Crackers
Mary's Gone Crackers
Schar Entertainment Crackers
Gluten-Free Cheez Its
Crunchy Keto Crackers
Keto Tortilla Chips

The 3 3 3 3 Rule

So, now that I’ve got you all overwhelmed with - or inspired by! - the possibilities, let’s talk about the 3333 rule.

This is a “rule” in charcuterie design that basically promotes balance, and keeps you mindful of that when designing.

The idea is that you want 3 different meats, 3 cheeses, 3 starches, and 3 accoutrements.

Honestly... there’s really no way you’re sticking to that rule, if you want a nice, lush rainbow board. I recommend just going as wild with it as your budget will allow.

Just... try to aim for some balance. Don’t have 1 meat, 5 cheeses, and 15 produce options, you know?

Charcuterie Supplies

Aside from the actual ingredients you’ll be serving to your guests, there are a few other supplies you’ll want for your Rainbow / Pride Charcuterie Board.

A Charcuterie Tray

Charcuterie Boards
can be almost anything, as long as it’s food safe.

The size and shape you get are pretty wide open, and will depend on how many people you’re serving, the amount of space you have to serve it on, etc.

A Large Cutting Board will work for smaller displays, and most party supply and dollar stores have plastic platters that work really well for mid range charcuterie displays.

Note: You can even make your own - see our Cutting Boards 101 post, and our two cutting board tutorials:Colourful Squares Cutting Board & Log Cabin Cutting Board!

If you’re looking to do a LARGE display, you’re probably going to need to buy something specifically intended as a catering platter.

In terms of colour, I like using a very neutral coloured tray in general, and that goes DOUBLE when we’re aiming for a bright rainbow display!

Using a clear board works fine, but I like the way a bright white really brings out the colour and vibrance of the rainbow foods.

Dip Bowls, Ramekins

If you’re serving a dip, you’ll want some sort of Small Dip Bowl.

Be sure to size it on your tray before actually using it - you’d be surprised how much real estate some bowls can take up!

Personally, I tend to skip dips when making rainbow boards. Little sauce cups, sure - but dips take up too much real estate, when we’re loading up on different colors and items!

Anyway, for smaller servings of spreads - mustard, jelly, etc - or to contain smaller items like nuts, I recommend using small ramekins. 2 oz Ceramic Ramekins work perfectly!

Serving Utensils

Depending on what items you’re serving, you may need certain utensils.

If you’re not slicing all of your cheese, have some appropriate Cheese Knives on hand.

Have some small spoons on hand for things like sauces and dip - Espresso Spoons are perfectly sized for this..

If you’re serving to a crowd - rather than, say, a small board for 2 - I recommend having several Cocktail Picks, Cocktail Tongs, or even Bamboo Cocktail Forks on hand.

This will help people keep their fingers out of food that others will eventually be eating!

I’ll generally skip cheese markers when making rainbow charcuterie boards. I don’t like them - aesthetically speaking - and that goes double when I’m focusing on the bright colours here.

Anyway - finally - having small plates and napkins on hand is always a great idea!

How to Make a Rainbow Charcuterie Board

Much like with the ingredients, putting together a Rainbow charcuterie board is more of a free form thing, rather than a set of directions that *has* to be followed, and done in the right order.

Well, you know... aside from keeping things “ROYGBIV”. If you’re doing a rainbow charcuterie platter, you should probably lay them out in a rainbow fashion 🙂

Here’s how I do it:

Place the Main Items

1. Figure out what your “solid” focal points are. This is generally things like sauce ramekins and dips, but could also be a cheese or meat - depending on the presentation.

If you are including a wheel of brie, log of goat cheese, some kind of cheese ball, or a pate / terrine of some kind, that would count.

Place those focal points on your charcuterie board, leaving space between. I like to keep colour and texture in mind when placing, not placing things that are too similar next to each other.

Keep in mind the placement - how are you arranging your rainbow? Discrete lines? More of a swirl? Radiating out from a central point on a round board?

I like to set my reds and purples first.

... then place any yellow or green focal point items, more in the center of the board.

These will start setting the space for the colour sections.

Note: If any of your focal points is a bowl of dip, place the bowl - you can add the dip later!

2. Usually at this point, I recommend setting the meats and cheeses where you’d like them to go (they don’t need to be ARRANGED yet, just put in the right area), before adding the secondary items.

You can still follow that sort of order of operations if you like, but really?

Best to just free-form add your items by colour area. Start with the larger items, then fill in with produce, snacky bits, etc.

Final Touches

3. If you haven’t arranged your meat slices and cheese slices the way you want to yet, do so now. I’ll usually use more meat / cheese / surrounding items to prop slices up, if needed.

4. Fill in any sparsely covered areas with more meat, cheese, produce, or munchies - whatever makes sense for that space on your specific board.

5. Place any of your more “garnish” produce, and any other items that may be acting as a pseudo-garnish.

6. Do any last minute fussing you may need to.

7. If you were holding off on adding dips to the bowls, do so just before serving.

8. If you’re adding any fresh herbs as garnish, place them now.

9. Serve and enjoy!

Tips for Charcuterie Success

Because of the different types of ingredients - and the different ways they need to be handled and stored - timing is really important when it comes to serving a Rainbow Charcuterie plate.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

Food Safety

1. Make sure your charcuterie tray itself is food safe. Some boards are meant more for display, using woods or finishes that aren’t food safe.

That’s not to say you CAN’T use them for charcuterie - just be sure to line them with parchment paper, so the food doesn’t directly touch the surface.

2. Observe good food handling hygiene: Wash your hands frequently and/or wear gloves while preparing your charcuterie board.

Change gloves / wash hands after touching your face, using the washroom, touching your phone, etc.

Wash all produce, and work with clean equipment.

3. While the meats and cheeses should be served at room temperature, they shouldn’t be KEPT a room temperature for more than 2 hours. The same goes for dips, condiments, and cut produce.

This is a cumulative time - it includes the amount of time you’re preparing the foods and working on your plate.

So, you’ll want to minimize the amount of time your meats and cheeses are out of the fridge.

I recommend preparing each meat or cheese separately, when possible: Take one from the fridge, slice it up, cover and return it to the fridge.

Keep everything chilled until you start assembling your board. Assemble it as close to serving time as possible.

If you anticipate the board being out for more than a few hours, make it smaller than needed, and keep rounds of refill items in baggies - in the fridge.

Cycle food out as its time expires.

Food Quality

1. Be sure to check expiration dates on things like packaged cheeses and meats, and use them well before the expiry date. When you buy a cut wedge of cheese, it should be used within 2 weeks of purchase - generally speaking.

2. Check all produce for blemishes, mold, etc before using. Use only ripe produce.

3. Don’t let cheeses be exposed to the air for too long before use - whether in the fridge or not. Wrap or bag everything when not in use.

4. Keep cheeses separate when stored. Ideally you’ll be serving cheeses in a variety of flavours - when stored together, those flavours can mingle. Not a great thing, in this case!

Presentation

1. Try to assemble your charcuterie board as close to the time you’ll serve it, as possible. This will prevent flavours from mingling, produce from bleeding, moisture from spreading, etc.

Aside from food safety issues mentioned above, it’ll also keep things the proper texture. If you make your board, wrap it, and chill it ... you’re going to end up with soggy crackers.

2. I like to leave dips OUT of the bowls until the last minute. It’s really easy to accidentally get a hand in the dip, as you’re assembling your board. Get it all assembled - with empty bowls - THEN spoon the dips in.

3. If you’re traveling with your board, it’s best to travel with the ingredients prepared and bagged, but not assembled. Not only will the flavours and textures stay good, you don’t have to risk an assembled board getting jostled in transit.

4. Try to be inclusive, when you’re serving a mixed crowd. If you know that some people are gluten free, leave the crackers off the board altogether, and provide some gluten free cracker options on the side. Minimize cross contamination wherever possible.

More St Patrick's Day Recipes

Looking for more fun, tasty recipes to serve on St Paddy's Day? Here are a few fun Irish - and Irish-inspired - recipes to try:

Green Velvet Cake
Irish Stew Meatballs
Keto Irish Cream
Irish Pizza
Shepherd's Pie
Keto Shepherd's Pie
Homemade Corned Beef
Irish Nachos
Hearty Beef Stew
Keto Beef Stew
Rainbow Bagels
Reuben Egg Rolls
Rocky Road to Dublin Brownies
St Patrick's Day Charcuterie Board