Aren’t boards the best? Boards are the best! I love serving this breakfast charcuterie board on weekends for breakfast, brunch or even breakfast-for-dinner.
It’s festive and fun, always brings smiles and – let’s be honest – it’s the most important meal of the day!
I’m going to give you all of my favorite ideas for an easy breakfast board that’s fully loaded with bagels, pancakes, muffins, crispy bacon, sweet jams, spreads and fresh fruit.
Plus, I’ll show you, step-by-step, how to put it all together. Let’s do this!
What is a Breakfast Charcuterie Board?
A breakfast charcuterie board, or brunch charcuterie board, is a celebration of all of our favorite breakfast foods. It can include any types of breakfast or brunch foods that you like, and you’re only as limited as your imagination.
While traditional charcuterie boards are predominantly made with meats, a breakfast board can include both savory and sweet breakfast treats like pastries, spreads, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit and even hard-boiled eggs.
A brunch board is a fun way for your guests to serve themselves in a leisurely way that encourages conversation and togetherness.
This easy charcuterie board is a great way to celebrate the special occasions that traditionally center around brunch!
Think baby showers, Mother’s Day and Christmas morning. Serve up everyone’s favorite breakfast items on one board and let them serve themselves.
Ingredients for this Breakfast Board
The Breads
Bite-sized, grabbable goodies are great options for a breakfast spread. They’re easily accessible and visually pleasing.
- Mini bagels. Be sure they’re pre-sliced so it’s easier for your guests.
- Mini waffles. You can find these in the freezer section of most grocery stores.
- Mini pancakes. Same as the waffles, you’ll find these frozen at your grocery store.
- Mini muffins. These add something sweet to your board. Choose any flavor of muffin you like! Mini cinnamon rolls and French toast sticks are other great options for something sweet.
The Proteins
Be sure to include a few savory items to balance the sweetness on the board:
- Bacon. You could also include breakfast sausage or other breakfast meats for an additional protein.
- Deviled eggs or hard-boiled eggs. Pictured here are my classic deviled eggs. They’re very easy to make and they’re always the first items to disappear!
The Spreads
The sky’s the limit with what you can offer to spread on all those carbs! Here’s what you’ll need for this board:
The Extras
To round out the board, include seasonally appropriate fruits or veggies, plus a lighter option.
Add colorful decorations by incorporating fresh herbs. Edible flowers are also good options. On this board:
- Greek yogurt
- Granola
- Fresh berries
Step by Step Instructions for Building a Great Breakfast Board
Place your “anchors” down
Choose one or two items that you will arrange the rest of the items around. These are your “anchors”.
For a cheese board, I like to anchor the cheeses down and arrange the spreads, crackers and fruits around them. For my smoked salmon charcuterie board, I use the salmon as my anchor and arrange the accoutrements around it.
For this breakfast platter, we’re using the mini pancakes as our anchor. So start by arranging the pancakes in a wavy line down the center of the board.
Next, the Spreads
Once your pancakes are down, arrange the small bowls of spreads in various locations on the board. This includes your peanut butter, cream cheese, jams and maple syrup.
Because the Greek yogurt is also in a small bowl, let’s put that on the board now too.
Same goes for the bacon or sausage links, if you’re using them. Put the strips of bacon into a taller glass (I use a mason jar) and anchor it to the board now.
Now, the Breads
Start to fill in the empty spaces around the spreads with the mini bagels, muffins and waffles. Don’t worry if there are still empty spaces.
Fill in the Negative Space
Here’s where we’ll fill in the gaps with deviled eggs and fresh berries. These items add pops of color all over the board and really make it look beautiful.
Be sure to fill in any negative space that you see.
Pro Tips for building an epic Breakfast Charcuterie Board
1. Mise en Place. This is a French term that means having all of your ingredients measured, sliced, diced and prepped before you begin cooking. For our purposes, this means having our bacon cooked, our berries washed, our pastries unpackaged and our hot foods hot. Keep your hot foods covered with dish towels while you work so that they stay as warm as possible.
2. Warm the maple syrup. It’s a nice touch and also makes the pancakes more appetizing.
3. Allow the spreads to come to room temperature. About an hour before you plan to build the board, take the cream cheese and jams out of the fridge. They’ll be more spreadable this way.
FAQs
Before you heat any of the food, make sure all of your ingredients are prepared to be placed onto the board. Heat your food and keep it covered with warm dish towels while working quickly to arrange the components on the board. Serve with warm maple syrup.
If you are serving this breakfast board as a main dish, it should serve 6-8 people. If it’s in addition to other brunch items it will serve up to 10 people.
Serve this easy brunch board with an assortment of brunch beverages like coffee, tea and fruit juices. To round out the brunch spread, consider adding an egg casserole or fruit salad.
How to Store Leftovers of this Breakfast Charcuterie Board
If you have any breakfast favorites left over and you want to keep them, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
The spreads can simply be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for later use.
The whole family is going to love this breakfast charcuterie board!
And when you make it, I’d love to hear about it. Drop a rating or leave a comment below. Enjoy!
For more grazing board ideas, try these:
- Smoked Salmon Charcuterie Board
- Greek Charcuterie Board (Mezze)
- Dessert Butter Board with Peanut Butter
For more breakfast ideas, try these:
- Apple Butter Cranberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
- Sausage, Egg & Cheese Strata
- Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
How to Build an Epic Breakfast Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
- 6-12 miniature bagels
- 20-30 miniature waffles
- 20-30 miniature pancakes
- 12 miniature muffins
- 1-2 fruit jams
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 8 oz. Greek yogurt
- 6-8 strips thick cut bacon cooked
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 6-12 deviled eggs or hard boiled eggs
- granola garnish, optional
- fresh berries garnish, optional
Instructions
- Arrange the miniature pancakes down the center of the board.
- Anchor the bowls and jars of honey, jam, cream cheese, syrup and peanut butter in scattered locations on the board.
- Fill in the negative space with muffins, waffles, bagels and eggs.
- Garnish with fresh berries and granola.
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