Easy Breakfast Charcuterie Board
This breakfast charcuterie board is perfect for special occasions! Your whole family will love this breakfast platter. It’s filled with mini waffles, toppings and loads of fresh fruit.
If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s how to make an epic charcuterie board! Charcuterie refers to cured meats, traditionally. But, over the past few years, it’s evolved to signify almost any sort of snack board! I’m a big breakfast fan, so it’s high time I shared a breakfast charcuterie board.
For this brunch board, I worked in my favorite breakfast foods and PLENTY of fresh fruit! The fruit adds beautiful pops of color to your board.
You can count on produce when you need to add color to your board, even when you’re making a more traditional meat and cheese spread.
And, you have plenty of options for the starch you include! Go homemade my making chocolate waffles, chocolate chocolate chip pancakes, fruit scones in Ninja Foodi, or you can substitute any store-bought pastry that you enjoy.
Breakfast Charcuterie Board Serving Suggestions
This brunch charcuterie board is awesome for baby showers and wedding showers alongside a festive Bloody Mary Bar or a refreshing Grapefruit Crush. For coffee, serve this French Press Coffee or my Iced Americano!
It would also be beautiful for Mother’s Day or holidays like Christmas morning! And, it can easily be doubled or tripled to serve a bigger crowd.
For this brunch board, I made mini waffles. Aren’t they cute? But unfortunately, you have to have a mini waffle iron to make them!
If you don’t have a mini waffle maker, no worries. Just replace the waffles with some Chocolate Chip Muffins, Quinoa Pancakes, Banana Oat Pancakes or Baked French Toast! Or if you have guests that need it, use this Gluten-Free Waffles recipe!
Or, go all out and try this recipe for cruffins. I have a list of more substitution ideas below.
This breakfast graze board is a great way to serve a variety of your favorite breakfast items, and let everyone help themselves. And, it’s a great option when you don’t want the stress of serving hot foods to a crowd.
I love that you can make this breakfast board ahead of time, and serve it at room temperature!
Interested in learning how to make more traditional charcuterie boards? Check out my charcuterie tutorials: Easy Charcuterie Board for 15 | How to Make a Grazing Table for 40 | How to make a Fruit Charcuterie Board | Gourmet S’mores Grazing Board | The Easiest Christmas Charcuterie Board
Mini Waffle Substitution Ideas and Toppings
Mini waffles are the star of the show on this board, but you can absolutely substitute them for one of these other items:
- Mini Cinnamon Rolls
- French toast sticks
- Mini pancakes
- Mini muffins
- Donut holes
- Mini donuts
- Toasted English muffins
- Mini bagels (make sure to add cream cheese to the spreads)
- Full-size waffles (cut in quarters)
Add a row of these elegant Cream Puffs with Chocolate Ganache or Almond Cherry Scones! Even better, go all out and make these fantastic Nutella Waffles for an extra treat!
Consider customizing your waffles by adding chocolate chips, diced bananas, dried fruit or nuts. Vibrant, fruit-based sauces like homemade Blackberry Syrup for pancakes, Strawberry Coulis or Blueberry Sauce to drizzle on top of the waffles or pancakes.
Addition Ideas
If you’re looking to fill up your guests, add a pile of protein, like:
- Crispy candied bacon
- Sausage links or small sausage patties
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Hard cheeses or goat cheese logs (remember to add cheese knives)
If you have extra time, add my Easy Million Dollar Bacon, some Breakfast Sliders, or a stack of this easy Sausage McGriddle recipe to the mix!
Other Recipe Substitutions
I ALWAYS think it’s best to use what you have on hand, so feel free to substitute your favorite jam (like my Easiest Homemade Strawberry Freezer Jam), peanut butter, marshmallow fluff or cream cheese for the spreads I have listed.
You can also sub out the fruit. Whatever is ripe and affordable is what I use!
If one of your guests requires a DF option, you can sub out the waffle batter recipe below for this Dairy-Free Waffle recipe.
Board Garnish Ideas
This board is beautiful as is, but you can make it even more festive with edible flowers or fresh herbs.
Breakfast Charcuterie Board Equipment Needed
You will need a mini waffle iron to make the mini waffles! You can also use a full size waffle iron, then break your cooked waffles into four triangles.
The wooden board I used was 10” x 13”, so make sure your board is at least this big.
It’s handy to have a gravy boat for the syrup. If you don’t have one, no worries. Just put it in a small bowl with a spoon for serving.
Storage
You can store this board in the refrigerator once assembled for a few hours. Cover with plastic wrap to keep the ingredients fresh. I do prefer to reheat the waffles (use a toaster if you can!) before serving. And, make sure the fruit does not directly touch the waffles, because the fruit will make them soggy.
To prep the day before, prep everything and keep chilled in airtight containers. Then, assemble the board right before serving.
Easy Breakfast Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
For the waffles:
- 2 ½ cups buttermilk pancake mix
- 1 ½ cups cold half and half
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter, melted, cooled
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Spreads:
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup raspberry jam
- ⅓ cup hazelnut spread
Fresh Fruit:
- 3-4 mandarins, peeled
- 1 large ruby grapefruit, sliced
- 8 ounces blueberries, washed
- 1 ½ cups green grapes, washed
- 8 ounces raspberries, washed
- 1 pound strawberries, washed
Instructions
- Make the mini waffles: Preheat your waffle iron.
- In a small bowl, add pancake mix, half and half, butter and vanilla extract. Whisk until blended. Do not overmix. It will not be smooth; it is ok for there to be some lumps.
- To a separate bowl, add the egg whites and whisk until fluffy.
- Gently fold the egg whites into the waffle batter with a spatula.
- Scoop the batter into the hot waffle iron and cook until the steaming stops or the waffles are golden brown. The time will depend on your iron so please be vigilant. For me, it was roughly 3 minutes of cook time.
- Remove from the waffle iron and place on your board.
- Repeat with the remaining batter. The number of waffles made will depend on the size of the cavities in your mini waffle iron. Mine made 20 mini waffles.
Assemble your board: Add three small bowls to the board. In the bowls, add maple syrup, jam and hazelnut spread. You can also use a gravy boat for the syrup for easy pouring. Add small serving spoons to eat bowl.- Place the cooked waffles on the board in two wavy parallel lines, winding around the bowls..
- To the bottom right corner of the board, add the grapefruit slices.
- To the middle of the board, fill in the empty space with blueberries, oranges, then grapes.
- In the top left corner, add the strawberries.
- To the empty space on the bottom of the board, fill in with raspberries.
- Serve.
im looking for ideas on a grazing table for brunch, about 40 people. can you give me any ideas on how much food i will need
Hi Andrea! If it’s the only food provided, I’d use the full ingredient list in this post! Instead of crackers, pretzels, etc you could do mini muffins or pastries. Also, for brunch I would sub more fruit for part of the veggies called for. If there will be other food provided, I would halve the ingredient list for more of an appetizer portion.
Happy to help so send as many questions as you have!