Easy Charcuterie Cups (Individual Appetizers)

Create these fun and unique appetizers for your next gathering. Easy Charcuterie Cups are single serving sized appetizers. They are ready made, hand held treats filled with a little bit of everything that is layered into the cups as well as on toothpicks.

A traditional Charcuterie board has all the appetizer ingredients layered on a cutting board or large platter. Guests can either pick individual items up to eat one at a time or they can place a variety of items on a plate or in a bowl.

Charcuterie cups simply creates what your guests would put on their plates or in bowls into a some type of paper or plastic cup. You can easily make up cups ahead of time and guests can grab one while enjoying the party.

These individual appetizer cups are perfect for the holiday season, holiday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, game days and just about any type of family gathering.

Easy Charcuterie Cups

What you put in your Individual charcuterie cups will depend upon your location and what is available in local grocery stores. To get the biggest bang for your budget stick with locally available items and avoid making specialty purchases.

Ingredients for Charcuterie Cup appetizers:

Cheese – you’ll need a combination of sliced cheese (to cut into shapes), a block of cheese (to create a base to stick the toothpicks into), mozzarella balls (to put on toothpicks) and cheese sticks to create height to the appetizer. Check out the FAQ section below for some other ideas on the types of cheese to use.

Meat – this includes sliced salami, prosciutto, Italian dry salami and small pepperoni sticks.

Olives – use a combination of black and green olives to add color and flavor.

Tomatoes – use red cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes or whatever color mini tomatoes you can find in your local stores. We sometimes get yellow mini tomatoes will add a unique look to the appetizer.

Crackers – look for some type of cracker to include in your appetizer cup. I found a box of fancy crackers called Tresors Gourmand French Waffle Crackers at my local store. Find a box of something unique to include in your Charcuterie cups.

Bread Sticks – you’ll need a package of long, thin bread sticks to stick in the back of the appetizer cup to add to the height. You can wrap the sliced prosciutto around them. There’s also some sesame breadsticks included in the cup.

Cups or Jars – you’ll need paper cups, plastic cups or glass jars to put all the ingredients into when you create your appetizer. You can look for decorative paper cups (they look similar to those types of paper cups you get fast food french fries in), small glass jars such as those use for canning jams and jellies or go with smaller size plastic cups.

Toothpicks or Wooden Skewers – you can use party sized toothpicks (longer than regular toothpicks) as well as small skewers for this appetizer.

How to make Charcuterie In A Cup:

Before putting this appetizer into the cup start by prepping the ingredients. Prep the ingredients and set aside until you are ready to assemble your jars.

Using cookie cutters cut out small to medium shapes from the sliced cheese.

Place the cherry tomatoes, olives and mozzarella balls on the toothpicks.

Thread slices of salami on toothpicks.

Wrap the prosciutto around the thin breadsticks.

Slice the block of cheese into small, squares. These will be placed into the cup to provide a tasty base to stick the toothpicks into to help hold them up.

To assemble your Charcuterie Cups:

Place the heavier items such as the square of cheese into the bottom of each cup.

At the back of the jar, position the tall components such as the cheese stick, prosciutto wrapped bread sticks and pepperoni sticks for visual interest.

Stick the toothpicks with the tomato, olives, mozzarella balls and salami slices into the cheese cube.

Fill the front of the cup or jar with the smaller items such as the sesame sticks, crackers and cut out cheese shapes.

Serve to your guests and enjoy!

What kind of ingredients can I use in these Charcuterie appetizers?

For the best use of your food budget dollars you’ll want to check out what’s available in your local grocery stores before shopping specialty shops where prices are usually higher. I found that many of my local stores had a nice selection of cheese, specialty crackers and unique breadsticks (found in the cheese section) to use in my jars.

Cheeses – Use your favorite types of cheese. Cheese sticks now come in a wide variety of flavors such as Mozzarella cheese, Pepper Jack, Harvarti, Colby Jack and more.

For the sliced cheese you’ll want to use something that has a sturdy texture so the cut out pieces hold their shape. Try sliced cheese such as Swiss, Muenster, Colby and Cheddar.

Use a firm cheese to create the base. Try any type of cheddar cheese, Gouda or whatever type your local store carries.

Mozzarella balls – you can use regular sized mozzarella balls, mini mozzarella balls or even marinated mozzarella balls for added flavor.

Olives – use at least two different types of olives to add variety to your appetizer. Kalamata, stuffed olives, black olives, green olives and even marinated olives work great.

Meat – there’s always a variety of sliced salami, pepperoni and other types of hard sausage or cured meats in my local stores. You’ll want to look for both sliced sausage as well as smaller sausage sticks. You can also use your favorite type of deli meat.

Other ingredients you might want to use:

Vegetables – try adding in some cheese stuffed celery sticks, baby carrots, bell pepper strips, sweet sugar snap peas or whatever you enjoy as an appetizer.

Fruits and Nuts – you can add various dried fruits and nuts into the bottom of the jar or cup (around the block of cheese) to add a bit of sweet and salty to your appetizer. Try using raisins, craisins, dried apricots, dried pineapple, banana chips or other dried fruits.

You can also place fresh fruit such as green grapes, red grapes, purple grapes and even berries on toothpicks or wooden skewers to stand in the back of the cup.

Use your favorite nuts – almonds, peanuts, pecans, cashews and more.

Pickles – add a few mini pickles such as gherkins to the toothpicks that already have olives on them.

Fresh Herbs – add a small herb sprig of rosemary, thyme or sage to each jar as a pretty garnish.

What size jars should I use for Charcuterie Cups?

Look for snack sized jars such as 4 ounce canning jars or mason jars (the ones that people put jelly in). You can also save jars from food such as yogurt or jelly/jam jars as these are small sizes.

If you are using paper or plastic cups you’ll want to stick with 8 ounces cups or a similar size. Remember that these are snacks and that will help to guide your jar choices.

What kind of toothpicks should I use?

You’ll want to use longer appetizer toothpicks as they hold several olives, mozzarella balls or tomatoes. Check out Amazon for longer toothpicks such as these:

To give your charcuterie jars some height you will want to use longer toothpicks such as these 6 inch bamboo toothpicks (Amazon link).

You can also look for more decorative skewers to use in place of toothpicks such as these 6 inch bamboo skewers with a knot in the top (Amazon link).

There’s so many options of long toothpicks and skewers (wood and plastic options) and you can also find a variety of themed toothpicks to match your party theme.

Are Charcuterie Cups Keto?

While not specifically keto they can be easily made low carb by swapping out the bread sticks and crackers.

Use a cheese stick to wrap the prosciutto around instead of breadsticks. Replace the crackers with these Everything But The Bagel Keto Cheese Chips.

Can I make a vegetarian Charcuterie Cup?

You can easily make your Charcuterie cup appetizers vegetarian by swapping out the salami, prosciutto or other meat with additional veggies, cheese sticks, crackers, nuts and dried fruit.

How Do I Store Charcuterie Leftovers?

The best way to store charcuterie leftovers is to place similar ingredients together in an airtight container. This helps to keep crispy ingredients such as crackers from softening from the moisture in other ingredients such as vegetables and charcuterie meats.

If you are looking for other grazing or charcuterie boards then check these out:

Breakfast Grazing Board

Christmas Tree Dip Dessert Board

Patriotic Flag Charcuterie Board (Cheese and Dessert)

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