A Grazing Platter will feed a crowd, get the party started and provide snacks, nibbles and things to much on for everyone. Impressive looking, they can be super easy to make simply by taking basic steps to combine. Be it a serving platter, timber tray, cheese plate or grazing board, the trick is to absolutely load it with all of the good stuff!
Recipes like the Microwave Brie, Baked Brie with Garlic and Air Fryer Stuffed Jalapenos are all perfect party starters!
The Cream Cheese Pepper Jelly, Ham Dip and Coconut Prawns will fly off the table!
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🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Taste and texture: by consciously choosing ingredients that both compliment and contrast each other it is possible to provide variety both through the flavour of the platter ingredients as well as their textures.
- Party starter: call it a grazing board, cheese board, charcuterie board or serving board this crowd pleasing platter will get any party started on the right foot and have the eaters be delighted in the array of choices!
- Effortlessly impressive: it looks amazing, yet comes together with simple, basic steps. This recipe doesn't have to be super tricky. It only involves a little organisation and coordination.
- Need an even bigger idea: you can turn this into a grazing table simply by increasing the quantity of ingredients and serving platter size, be it a table if you wish. The guests eyes will widen and their stomachs leap with joy at the visually delightful display! This also means you can offer a wider variety of nibbles to munch on!
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see, the recipe calls for:
- Blue cheese: soft and creamy, this is a hugely popular cheese that often has people either loving it or steering clear. Gorgonzola is a great choice for a grazing platter.
- Wasabi cheese: a great contrast to the creamy blue cheese, this one is firmer and has a little kick to it!
- Chilli cheese: this cheese is again a contrast to the blue and wasabi cheeses. It is better to provide more variety than 'same, same'.
- Water crackers: thin and delicate, they are perfect for entertaining!
- Firm crackers (different version to above, thicker): a second type of cracker on the plate provides variety and dip-ability 😍😂.
- Salami (hot): people will dive right in when they see this, it is a great ingredient to serve as an appetizer or starter.
- Ham (mild, contrasts with the above): have a read of my tasty tips as different ham depending on which part of the supermarket you purchase it from will be better or not as great quality for presentation.
- Chutney: use your favourite!
- Olives (chilli): an essential entertaining ingredient.
- Artichokes: marinated and drained.
- Basil pesto dip: you don't have to use the exact same dip as me, this is a suggestion 😘😉.
- Cucumber, carrot and celery: each of these work exceptionally well as vegetable sticks and require little prep work. Plus they balance out the platter and provide a healthy option.
- Cherry tomatoes: these are so easy to pick and snack on!
- Dried apricots: everyone loves these but they are not so much an 'everyday ingredient'. They bring memories of school and lunch box fillers!
- Grapes: the perfect fruit to place on the platter, they are so easy to pick and munch on!
Think contrasting flavours and textures for your platter ingredients. For example the salami is hot, so contrast that with mild ham. Almost all stores from Walmart to Aldi, Safeway, Tesco, Coles and Woolies will stock what you need to make an epic party platter! No need to go to any specialty store or order any of the ingredients online!
Tasty Tips: Grazing platters often have meats, cheeses, crackers, fruit, olives and dips. There is no set 'right' and 'wrong' so much with these bad boys, more so 'best tips and tricks' to make your grazing platter the talk of the town! 😉👍
🍽 Serving Suggestions
To serve the platter, it will be super handy to have toothpicks, cheese knifes, napkins and small plates. This way everyone can pick their favourite nibbles but keep things clean and easy to entertain at the same time!
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Store leftovers of the platter in a sealed air tight container in the fridge. Including the crackers.
Most of the ingredients will keep for 2 to 3 days.
😉 Substitutions and Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- You can use a different size and shape of platter to me. If you have one and it saves you purchasing another, I am sure what you choose will be fine 😘👍.
- I am using spicy garlic and chilli olives, an alternative is stuffed green olives or pitted kalamata olives.
- Dried fruits such as figs and dates and perfect especially as some guests like to keep their snacking on the 'healthier' side.
- You can add some corn chips and salsa dip if you like.
- Use green grapes or other varieties to the purple ones I have used.
- Vary the selection of cheeses you provide.
- Use rye crackers or graham crackers if you want to.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- Use a large platter. It can be round, square, rectangular, a tray, something that is bigger than a dinner plate.
- Purchase packaged ham (deli ham can be too messy/shredded), you have no control of which bits of it you get. Choosing package ham is an option that ensures more presentable looking ham. The other stuff is good for sandwiches.
- Use bowls for any oily type nibbles (eg olives, artichokes).
- Provide toothpicks for serving.
- Have some 'spare' ingredients up your sleeve in case your platter board is too big and has gaps.
- Place a little spoon in the chutney, it more scoopable than spreadable.
- People will start by picking at the platter before they want to do the hard work like cutting the cheese or layering a cracker with chutney and cheese.
- Keep this in mind in your planning as you need to think 'small food' and 'big food' to create a successful grazing platter.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Grazing Platter?
A Grazing Platter is a large offering of a selection of cheese, meats, fruit, vegetables and dips. Regularly seen at parties and events. They contain a spread of ingredients that guests can pick at.
Known for their popularity and crowd pleasing ability, they are an easy way to feed a crowd and don't have to be expensive! Party platters can be small, for a romantic night for 2. They can be larger to feed a family or a full table to please a crowd.
What do you put on a grazing platter?
There is no limit to the array of ingredients that you can use to fill a grazing platter. Here are some suggestions:
- a variety of cheeses
- meat (both mild and hot)
- crackers (both thin and thick)
- olives
- dried fruit
- nuts
- fresh fruit
- figs
- grapes
- anything you can think of!
How do you make a grazing platter on a budget?
To make a budget friendly grazing platter, choose in season and on special fruits and vegetables. Purchase home brand crackers or the cheaper alternative brands. Intentionally look for meat that has the price listed on the packet so you don't get a suprise when at the checkout and always create and take a shopping list so nothing gets into your trolley that you didn't already plan for!
😍 More Easy Dips and Spreads Recipes
Entertaining is super fun and doesn't have to by tricky with a few tricks up your sleeve. Here are some more recipes I think you might love ❤:
- Honey Pecan Cream Cheese
- Gherkin Dip
- Corn Dip with Cream Cheese
- Chili Cream Cheese Dip
- Corn Relish Dip
- Cream Cheese Salsa Dip
- Pistachio Spread
- Christmas Dip
- Halloween Dip
- Thanksgiving Dip
When I 1st published this post, I included a grazing platter shopping list. You can find that here.
It is time to graze my friend 🥰😍❤.
Adrianne xx
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📖 Recipe
Grazing Platter
Equipment
- 1 Large serving platter
- 3-4 Cheese knifes
- 10+ Toothpicks
Ingredients
- 100 grams/4 oz Hungarian salami hot
- 100 grams/4 oz Shaved leg ham Note 1
- 1 wheel Chilli cheddar cheese Note 2
- 1 wedge Blue cheese Note 3
- 1 cup Chilli olives Note 4
- ½ cup Peach, mango, apricot chutney Note 5
- 1 cup artichokes Note 6
- 20 Water crackers Note 7
- 20 Round firm crackers Note 8
Instructions
- Dips and nibbles: start by adding your most pick-able ingredients such as the olives and dried apricots to small bowls Note 10
- Plate: place these small bowls across the platter, spread apart from each other.
- Cheese and meats: follow this by your placing your cheeses and meats around the platter with contrasting colours and textures next to each other.
- Additional ingredients: add your fruit and vegetables, as well as both types of crackers. Fill the platter gaps with the extra cheese, salami and grapes.
- Serve and enjoy: provide toothpicks, cheese knives and small forks for guests.
Notes
- Note 1 - Ham: it does make a difference which area of the store you get your ham from. It is usually available both in the deli section and the fridge section. I recommend getting it from the fridge section. The reason for this is that it is cut very well and looks presentable on the platter. Deli ham can be a bit hit and miss. It is fine for many purposes and can be cheaper as you can get smaller portion sizes, however, you might get home and discovered it is shredded and not in nice slices like the package ham. It is definitely something to be aware of for this recipe.
- Note 2 Cheese: your cheese doesn't have to be exactly the same one as mine. Choose a round one at this point as your blue cheese is most likely to be a wedge shape.
- Note 3 - More on the cheese: This relates to the point above. Try and get this in a wedge shape so that your different cheese have different shapes to them for visual contrast on the platter.
- Note 4 - Olives: If you are not a fan of chilli, go for plain or stuffed green olives. I like the chilli ones and admit I once even ate one of the floor that I dropped at my friends place!! (They are that good).
- Note 5 Dips and chutney: The Importance here is not so much the flavour of the chutney, but the colour. Go for a red or orange colour as we want diverse pops of colour across our platter. Orange is a good one to use at this point.
- Note 6 Water Crackers: go for thin crackers here as they contrast with the thicker other type of cracker we are using.
- Note 7 Thicker crackers: We want a different type of cracker to our water style one. So for this one choose a thicker, more yellow cracker. I like to use either of these types topz or jatz.
- Note 8 Serving platter: I assume you won't have the exact same bowls or platter dimensions as me. The way to think about it, use the bowls you have to hold some of the most 'toothpick' type ingredients. I chose my olives and artichokes to begin with. The dips obviously need to go in bowls, fill them up for the dipping! Plate the bigger bowls 1st, then the smaller ones.
Nutrition
Recipe published October 2019, updated October 2022 with more tasty tips for you 🥰😍❤.
Shashi at Savory Spin says
Wow - I so love your grazing platter! I love all the foods on here - such a delightfully delicious array of tastes and textures!
Chris Collins says
What a delicious grazing platter! Love the hot salami, that's always a must for me too!
Adrianne says
Thanks Chris! Yes, everyone needs a little hot salami in their life!
Charla says
I have always wanted to try my hand at compiling a grazing platter but often felt overwhelmed. That shopping list is going to be my saving grace, I'm ready for the challenge!!