Italian Charcuterie Board

Get ready to impress with this easy Italian charcuterie board that’s perfect for entertaining. Loaded with savoury cheeses, cured meats, olives, and more, this simple recipe is inspired by the flavours of Italy. At Farm Boy, one of the most important aspects of providing our customers with a fun, fresh-market experience is offering curated products we think you’ll love. This charcuterie board features hand-selected cheeses made from Canadian dairy and meats imported from Italy for an authentic flavour. We’ve also added an extra Italian flair with the inclusion of Italian condiments and olives.

You can customize your charcuterie board to suit your and your guests’ taste buds. We’ve opted for an Italian flavour profile for this board, but you can choose whatever you like best. (We also have a recipe for a holiday charcuterie board.) At Farm Boy, we’re proud to offer our customers a diverse range of local, Canadian, and international items selected just for you.

Italian Charcuterie Board Ingredients

When constructing your charcuterie board, you want to have ingredients that offer a medley of different textures and flavours. For this Italian charcuterie board, we’re largely sticking with meats, cheeses, and other ingredients that have roots in the region—or are imported directly from Italy!

Cheeses

Buffalo Mozzarella: Fresh and creamy with a plump, elastic texture, this classic Italian cheese is actually made in Ontario. Crafted the traditional way with water buffalo milk, it has a mild, delicate flavour that pairs nicely with cured meats, olives, and tomatoes.

Fontina: Creamy and slightly sweet, our Fontina is also a great melter, meaning it has abilities beyond joining your charcuterie board. Made with 100% whole Ontario milk, it’s crafted using traditional methods.

Small Batch Cheddar: While not classically Italian, Cheddar always deserves a spot on your cheese board. Made from 100% Canadian milk, this farmhouse-style cheese has a sharp, nutty, and rich flavour. It pairs well with the fruits, nuts, and breads on your charcuterie board.

Gourmet Cheese Ball: A crowd-pleaser (and Fan Faves winner), our Gourmet Cheese Balls are made by us in-store. Crafted with velvety cream cheese and savoury ingredients, you can pick a flavour according to your palate. Choose from varieties like Bacon Cheddar, Cranberry Pecan, Fiesta, or Sweet Heat.

Meats

Pancetta: Smooth in texture and delicate in flavour, our pancetta is cured with sea salt and slowly aged for an authentic flavour. Made using traditional methods and imported from Italy, this beloved meat is a must-have for your charcuterie board.

Prosciutto: Our dry-cured, imported prosciutto will melt in your mouth thanks to its delicious flavour and delicate texture. Our packaged prosciutto is pre-sliced so you can easily arrange it on your authentic Italian charcuterie board.

Bresaola: Less fatty than prosciutto and milder in flavour, bresaola is a cured meat that’s made of salted beef. It’s flavoured with juniper berries, bay leaf, and black pepper for an aromatic taste. This meat pairs well with salty, nutty cheeses, like our small batch Cheddar, as well as olives and nuts.

Spianata Salami: For a little bit of spice that can go toe-to-toe with bolder cheeses, try our hot spianata salami. Seasoned with red chili peppers, paprika, and black pepper, it provides a depth of flavour for those who like a little heat.

Coppa: Distinctively marbled for a full, rich flavour, our imported Italian coppa is pre-sliced to highlight its delicate texture and melt-in-your-mouth quality. Flavoured with white wine, garlic, and pepper, it pairs well with creamy cheeses and dried fruits.

Other Charcuterie Board Additions

Olives: For this Italian charcuterie board, we’ve opted for Kalamata and green olives. These olives are popular choices, which is helpful when you’re preparing a charcuterie board for entertaining. However, we have a wide variety of olives in all Farm Boy stores. Our Italian Castelvetrano olives are rich, mild, and buttery—an excellent choice for those who don’t like their olives to be too briny. On the other hand, our Greek garlic-stuffed green olives are more pungent and savoury. Not into olives? Other marinated items, like artichoke hearts or roasted red peppers, are popular inclusions in Italian antipasti and charcuterie.

Tomatoes: A classic component in antipasti are tomatoes. We’ve got two versions on our board: semi-dry cherry tomatoes and sundried tomatoes. Both are handcrafted in southern Italy using locally sourced ingredients for the most authentic flavour. You can choose either of them, but we opted for both on this board to provide a richer array of flavours. Our semi-dry cherry tomatoes are seasoned with garlic and oregano, while our sundried tomatoes are spiced with garlic, oregano, and capers. Both options add a slightly sweet, briny quality that pairs well with the cheeses we’ve chosen.

Fruit: Both fresh and dried fruits are perfect when paired with our selection of meats and cheeses. They offer a lift for the palate as well as the eyes. Fresh grapes always go wonderfully with both soft and hard cheeses, while dried options like apricots or even mango offer a sweet taste and chewy texture. These are classic choices that give your taste buds a break from all those rich, savoury, and salty cheeses and cured meats. You could also offer your guests a fruit jam, like fig jam, for bonus sweetness.

Breads/Crackers: An array of crackers and breads provides your guests with a vehicle to enjoy everything you’ve laid out on your charcuterie board. So as not to compete with the flavours of your cheeses and cured meats, you’ll want to choose crackers and breads with a more neutral flavour. Our baguette crisps are made from thinly sliced baguette, seasoned, and double-baked for a satisfying crunch. For this charcuterie board, we recommend simple flavours like Eight Grain or Olive Oil & Sea Salt. We also have a selection of flatbreads that are thin and crispy-crunchy. We like our Classic variety, which is seasoned with olive oil and fine herbs for a delicate taste that isn’t bland.

Basil: Fresh basil adds a pop of colour and a nice, herbaceous note to your charcuterie board. Pair it with a slice of mozzarella and some tomato for a DIY caprese salad bite, along with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

How To Assemble a Charcuterie Board

Since meats and cheeses are the stars of this Italian charcuterie board, we’ll want to place them on our serving tray or platter first. For easy accessibility among your guests, we recommend pre-slicing your cheeses. (Our imported Italian meats already come pre-sliced for your convenience!) You can fan out your meats and cheeses across your board, or, if you’d like a more artistic presentation, you can fold, roll, or form your cured meats into little flowers. While we’ve chosen Italian meats for this board (since it’s an Italian charcuterie board), you can opt for whatever cured meats you like best, as well as your favourite cheeses.

Next, any jams or spreads—like our Spicy Bomba—should be placed into small bowls and set among the meats and cheeses on your charcuterie board. We also recommend doing this with our semi-dry cherry tomatoes and sundried tomatoes. If you’re using artichoke hearts or roasted red peppers, we recommend placing these into small bowls too, so that they don’t leak across the rest of your spread and taint the other flavours.

Then, nestle your fruits, capers, and olives in among any gaps on your charcuterie board. If you have room, you can place your selected crackers and crostini directly on the board as well. If not, they can always be kept on the side for guests to pick and choose.

You can assemble your charcuterie board a couple of hours ahead of time and keep it in the fridge to stay at a safe temperature. We recommend keeping your charcuterie board cold until it’s time to serve, because of the meats and cheeses on it. This ensures safe consumption among all your guests and a fun party!

More Italian-Inspired Recipes from Farm Boy!

Looking for more Italian-inspired recipes? Check out any of the dishes below!

Antipasto Salad

Spicy Shrimp Ravioli with Rosé Sauce

Three Melon, Bocconcini, and Prosciutto Salad

Creamy Tusacn Chicken with Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Spinach

Zucchini Involtini Bake

Calabrese and Veggie Pizza

Nectarine, Prosciutto, and Burrata Salad

Savoury Sausage Stuffed Eggplants

Grilled Asparagus Caprese Salad

Parmesan Eggplant with Sugo di Pomodoro