Crudité Platter (Top Ten Tips!)

A Crudité Platter makes entertaining effortless! Here is my Top 10 tips, tricks and presentation ideas! Taste and texture are delivered in a simple delicious vegetable tray.

Recipes like my Grazing Platter Board and Dip Platter get the party started! Or try a simple Fruit Tray on a hot summer's day.

Simple veggie tray ideas can be as easy as your favourite dip, carrots and celery!

For this recipe we are bringing together the ideas, presentation and platter for the ultimate entertainers guide!

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Appetizer recipes | Popular recipes |Quick and Easy recipes

What is a Crudite Platter Board?

Crudites are raw vegetables.

Often served together on a tray, platter or board.

Adding dips is the perfect serving idea!

Popular vegetables to try are:

• celery
• carrots
• peppers
• asparagus
• broccoli
• beans
• cauliflower
• artichokes
• cherry tomatoes

You can stick to the basics or add texture through crackers or Homemade Pita chips!

Tip no 1 - the dips!

Veggies are so healthy and everyone loves them for that, but most people don't go to a party without wanting to indulge a little.

Providing some tasty dips alongside your Crudites ensures a balance between weekday and weekend eating.

I have chosen 3 dips for this crudite platter.

1. Blue Cheese Yoghurt Dip (flavour packed!)
2. Kalamata Olive Dip
3. Peanut Butter

If celery and peanut butter is not the best thing since sliced bread, I don't know what is.

It is a must have on a crudite platter in my opinion!

Tip no 2 - the vegetables

Always buy in season vegetables.

This will cut costs but also ensure you are using top quality produce.

For a summer crudite platter choose asparagus, carrot, celery and a colourful selection of tomatoes

For a winter crudite platter you could make it rustic and roast your vegetables, allowing you to use pumpkin, squash and sweet potato!

Vegetable tray ingredients

We use simple, easy to find ingredients for this crudite platter recipe. The photo below shows you what you need:

It is nearing the end of summer here and so I chose vegetables that are easy to prep, can be repurposed if leftovers and textures that contrast.

As you can see, we have:

• red, yellow and green capsicum (peppers)
• broccoli (can use broccolini if you like)
• green beans (can use snow or sugar snap peas)
• carrots
• celery
• cucumber
• asparagus
• cherry tomatoes
• radishes

Look for vegetables that offer variety in colour, texture and taste!

Tip 3 - veggie prep

It won't be any fun at all to make this platter if you have to spend hours and hours on the preparation.

Tip 3 is about keeping it simple, quick and easy to prepare.

If you have a look at the photo above, you will see the steps I took from store bought fresh produce to prepped vegetables.

Slice some vegetables in halves or quarters, keep some of the smaller ones whole and have some long thin vegetables as well

I recommend you use a knife and chopping board and you will need a grater for the carrots!

Tip 4 - Crudite Platter presentation

You will want to get yourself a large platter, chopping board or baking dish.

You will also need small bowls for the dips and some smaller bowls for any ingredients that you want to keep together.

As you can see I start my presentation by adding the dips to the platter and then use my vegetables to fill out the rest of the platter.

Above is where I start in the presentation of ideas for serving vegetables and dips for a Crudite Platter.

Tip 5 - dipping and dunking

Choose dips that don't drip.  

As no one at the party wants to be the person who dips their cucumber into the dip and drips it all over the other vegetables, choose dips that are firm and will stick to the vegetable.

Both my Green Olive Dip and Black Olive Dip are made with cream cheese, so are good options as they are thick and not drippy.

Crudite Platter recipe quick info:

About the recipe:

• we use 3 dips for the platter
• you can use store bought if you like!
• the dips are all vegetarian 
• choose in season produce

FAQs about Crudite Vegetable Platter

1. this is a quick and easy vegetable platter
2. all of the ingredients are raw!
3. you can prepare the vegetables ahead of time
4. only the carrots are grated whilst prepping

Your quick questions answered:

1. It took me about 15 mins to prep the vegetables
2. I recommend crunchy peanut butter!
3. You won't need little servers if you choose the right type of dips

Tip 6 - fillers

Have some ingredients on hand to fill out your tray.

I chose the cheese you see in the photos as a filler as it can be cut into smaller little pieces and is great to 'fill' any gaps

Tip 7 - balanced healthy

The creaminess of the blue cheese, solid cheesyness of the cheese cubes and robustness of the peanut butter offer some selections that are more suited to entertaining than waistline watching.

This gives people options (and deliciousness!)

Tip 8 - texture

Just like we spoke about in the Grazing Platter Board texture is important for variety.

Add some crunch with Homemade Pita Chips, vegetables with bite, like celery and carrot or broccoli.

Tip 9 - go vegetarian

I like to make my crudite platters entirely vegetarian, especially if they are the entrée to a meat based meal.

This is a handy way of starting light and not having everyone fill up on snacks so they don't want the main course.

Save the meat for a Charcuterie board that is the centrepiece of a brunch or lazy Sunday lunch!

Tip 10 - serving

Provide plenty of napkins for your guests with the platter so they are not left 'plate less'.

This will also allow them to take more than one nibble at a time and have a few options

Expert tips summary:

This is the short version of my tips for making the Ultimate Crudite Platter:

• Tip 1 - choose a variety of firm dips with bold flavours
• Tip 2 - go for in season vegetables to make it affordable
• Use a knife and chopping board for easy vegetable prep
• Tip 4 use either a large platter, serving board or baking dish
• Tip 5 choose dips that are firm and won't drip
• Have some fillers is tip 6, the cheese fills out my gaps!
• Tip 7 is balance the healthy veggies with higher fat dips
• Texture is fundamental for tip 8, crunchy not soft or mushy!
• Opt to make the whole platter vegetarian for Tip 9, save the meat for the main event!
• Tip 10 think ahead and have napkins at the ready for plateless entertaining.

No cook Crudite Platter

This whole platter is a no cook recipe!

If however, you want to add some crunchy chips, the pita chips only need 5 - 10 mins in the oven.

You can make the dips and prep the vegetables as they are cooking. 

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