The Totally Foolproof Plan for Building a Grazing Table (No Matter the Size)

If you’ve spent even just two minutes on social media recently, you’ve likely seen no fewer than 3,359 different grazing tables and cheese boards in your feed. That’s maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but you get our point: Sprawling spreads featuring piles of meats, cheeses, and hearty snacks are Trendy with a capital T, and guests really enjoy them.

Cool! But, um, how does one actually set up a grazing table? When it comes down to building one, they’re almost as intimidating as they are pretty! What food should you buy? Where should you put your first pile? And the second? And, good gosh, how do you even know if you’ll have enough food? Take a deep breath. We’re here to help.

The Kitchn’s Printable Grazing Table Template

We came up with printable templates that will give you a place to start and can turn anyone into a charcuterie board-building champion. Simply open our free templates and print them out. Think of them like a paint-by-number — only instead of using paint, you’ll use food. It’s easy and foolproof. We promise.

Open our free grazing table template here. And then print the mirrored image template for variety along your table!

How to Use Our Printable Grazing Table Templates

Print the Right Number of Sheets

First, think about how many people you’re trying to feed. One piece of paper is more than enough for one to two people. So that means that two pieces of paper will feed three or four people. And eight pieces will feed up to 16 people. Count the total number of people you’ll have and divide by two: That’s how many pages you need.

That said, an odd number of pages will look, well, odd. So here are our recommendations for numbers of sheets to print for a range of guests.

• 2 people: 1 sheet

• 3-5 people: 2 sheets

• 6-9 people: 4 sheets

• 10-13 people: 6 sheets

• 14-16 people: 8 sheets

Arrange the Pages on Your Table

Print out the necessary number of pages and tile them on your table or counter. You can print all of the same template or mix and match between the two we’ve made. Turn one this way and another that way. You can lay them down however works best for your space. There’s no wrong answer and you can’t mess this up!

Cover the Sheets With Parchment or Wax Paper

Next, cover the papers with parchment or wax paper. This way, you’re not putting oily prosciutto on printer paper. You’ll be able to see the template’s lines through the paper, so don’t worry about that.

Gather Your Ingredients

Now, it’s time to gather your groceries! Each template has seven sections: meats, cheeses, salty things, etc. And, later in this post, we included a list of some specific groceries to pick up in order to fill out each section.

Our list is just a starting point and, again, there is no way to mess this up. If you’re using four pieces of paper, consider picking out four groceries from each section (for the sake of mixing things up), but know that you can absolutely repeat items throughout (doing so will also help to keep your costs down).

Arrange Food Directly on Parchment or Wax Paper

Now you can arrange your snacks within the areas outlined on the pages. For best results, allow the foods to overlap their areas just enough so you can no longer see the sheets beneath.

Amount of Food to Gather for One Sheet

Here’s a quick cheat sheet, detailing roughly how much food you’ll need to get in order to fill out all seven sections on one piece of paper.

• Meats: 10 ounces

• Fruits & Veggies: 1/2 pound

• Crackers & Dippers: 6 ounces

• Salty Things: 8 ounces

• Small Bowl (or round cheese): 8 to 10 ounces

• Cheeses: 8 ounces

• Bite-Sized Snacks: 6 to 8 pieces

Now for the fun part: The painting! Er, the piling of the food! Start filling up the sections, one paper at a time. Lay down some crackers, pile up some nuts, fill a bowl with hummus — you get the idea. Keep going until every section and every page is full.

3 Important Grazing Table Tips

• Pile and push together. Don’t be afraid to pile things up and let the sections touch; this is key for having a table that looks full and welcoming.

• Fold the meats. It’s a funny thing to say, but makes for a prettier board. If you have flimsy prosciutto or larger pieces of salami, fold them up to create visual interest.

• Cut the cheese. Can you tell we’re having fun with this? (Grazing tables are supposed to be fun!) If you put a whole wedge or block of cheese on the table, people will either hesitate or struggle to cut it. Get things going, and crumble up some of a harder wedge or slice a softer one. Cut a block up into cubes and then pile them up. If you have a softer wedge that you don’t want to slice, at least be sure to add a cheese knife.

70 Grocery Ideas for Your Grazing Table

Consider this a jumping-off point while grocery shopping. There are, of course, lots of options that could definitely work. All of these options land on the savory side, but you could easily use our templates for candies, cookies, and other sweets, too.

Meats

• Peppered Salame

• Ollie Salumeria Sliced Calabrese Salami

• Olympia Provisions Petite Pierre Pepperettes Mini Salami

• Union Peppered Genoa Salami Crisps

• Krave Sweet Chipotle Beef Jerky

• Fusion Jerky Hickory Beef Artisan Jerky

• Applegate Naturals Prosciutto

• Prosciutto Americano

Fruits & Veggies

• Grapes

• Cherry Tomatoes

• Dried Apricots

• Joolies Organic Pit-Free Medjool Dates

• Mavuno Harvest Dried Mango

• Mavuno Harvest Dried Pineapple

• bare Baked Crunchy Medleys Apple and Strawberry Chips

• Freeze-Dried Strawberry Slices

• Rhythm Kale Chips

• Carrot Sticks

• Sliced Bell Peppers

• Persian Cucumbers

• Celery Sticks

Crackers & Dippers

• Trader Joe’s Pretzel Sticks

• Pipcorn Sea Salt Heirloom Corn Dippers

• Carr’s Table Water^® Crackers

• KA-ME Rice Crackers

• Kellogg’s Club Crackers

• Nabisco Triscuit Snack Crackers

• Rustic Bakery Organic Sourdough Olive Oil and Sel Gris Flatbread

• Raincoast Crisps

• Moonshot Sourdough Sea Salt Crackers

• Hayden Flour Mills NY Shuk Za’atar Crackers

Salty Things

• Trader Joe’s Rice Cracker Medley

• Sesame Sticks

• Blue Diamond Almonds Roasted Salted

• Roasted Salted Pistachios

• Lemon Zing Organic In-Shell Pistachios

• Hapi Wasabi Green Peas

• Biena Sea Salt Chickpeas

• Chex Mix

• One Might Mill Whole Grain Sea Salt Pretzels

• From the Ground Up Sea Salt Cauliflower Chips

Small Bowl (or Round Cheese)

• Sabra Classic Hummus

• Wholly Guacamole Avocado Verde

• Heluva Good! French Onion Dip

• Good & Gather Signature Italian Olive Medley

• Vermont Creamery St. Albans Cows Milk Cheese

• Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs

• Murray’s Cave Aged Reserve Greensward

• Jasper Hill Farm Little Hosmer Cheese

• Jasper Hill Farm Harbison Cheese

• Le Châtelain Camembert Cheese

• Cypress Grove Psychedillic Goat Cheese

Cheese

• Boar’s Head Cream Havarti Cheese

• Fromager d’Affinois Double-Cream Brie

• Trader Joe’s Organic Pepper Jack Cheese

• Trader Joe’s Creamy Toscano Cheese

• Trader Joe’s Manchego Cheese

• Trader Joe’s Cheddar Cheese with Scotch Bonnet Chili and Red Peppers

• Trader Joe’s Dutch Gouda Cheese

• Cabot Creamery Vermont Sharp Cheddar Cheese

• Blue Moo-n Blue Cheese

• Murray’s Taleggio

• Murray’s Cave Aged Reserve Annelies

Bite-Sized Snacks

• Brazi Bites Cheddar & Parmesan

• Super Pretzel Soft Pretzel Bites

• Trader Joe’s Pastry Bites with Feta Cheese and Caramelized Onions

• Wellsley Farms Assorted Mini Quiches

• Hebrew National Beef Franks in a Blanket

• Good & Gather Spanakopita

• Stouffer’s Mac & Cheese Bites

Have you made a grazing table? Do you have any smart tips or must-have groceries to share? Tell us in the comments below!