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Perfect for parties or a romantic meal, this festive Valentine’s Day charcuterie board combines hearts and roses of meats and cheeses for a fun and creative appetizer or small meal.
In the past, most of my Valentine’s Day recipes were sweet treats or desserts, except for my Valentine’s Day salad with bacon roses and strawberry hearts.
Over the last years, though, I’ve ditched the little sugar I was using and followed a more meat-based diet.
Bacon roses have been my favorite Valentine’s Day food for many years. So, I decided to use them in a new way: a special Valentine’s Day charcuterie board!
My husband and I have been enjoying making a variety of charcuterie and cheese boards lately. Sometimes we have them as a light meal for a cozy night, paired with a glass of wine. Other times, they serve as a snack or appetizer. Here in Spain, the cheese boards are often even served as a dessert board!
Why make it?
While it may look more complicated than a traditional charcuterie board, it’s actually quite simple and quick to make. It’s a wonderful way to show someone you care by giving them something creative.
Set it out at parties as a grazing board for a fun, festive look. Kids adore these, and they may even enjoy helping you make them. It would be a fun bonding activity.
What do you need?
My carnivore diet charcuterie board had only meats and cheeses, but I want to suggest more ideas for those with varied diets. Feel free to add fruit and other extras to give your platter a variety of textures and flavors.
Meats
Apart from the bacon hearts, I like to add a variety of meats. As I live in Spain, I generally use Serrano ham (like prosciutto), chorizo, salchichón, and other sausages and cured meats. Use whatever you have available where you are.
This year, I made salami roses (and a variety of other cure meat flowers). They the perfect addition to a beautiful board!
Cheeses
Next, you’ll want a variety of cheeses. I usually include one hard cheese, like Manchego or Parmesan, one soft cheese, like Brie, and one medium-textured cheese, like Havarti or Swiss. You can even add a heart-shaped cheese ball, made in the same way as my Halloween hand cheese ball.
It’s also fun to use a variety of colors, most obviously white cheese and yellow cheddar. Cranberry cheese would add a touch of red. One year, I even found a green gouda pesto cheese that was perfect for making leaves for my bacon roses!
This year I molded my cheese into shapes like hearts and flowers. You could also cut the cheese into shapes using cookie cutters instead!
Fruits
If you are using fresh fruits, this would be a great place for adding some strawberry hearts! They’re super easy to make and add a festive touch. To add more sweetness, you could make them chocolate-covered strawberries. (Make chocolate-covered strawberry hearts for bonus points!)
For a touch of color and texture, try adding some smaller fruits like cherries, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries. Slices of apples can also be cut into a heart shape with a cookie cutter.
Extras
Optionally, add some crunch to your snack board with some crackers, pretzel sticks, or bread. You can also garnish your platter with a few almonds, cherry tomatoes, or olives. Another great addition is small bowls with cream cheese or dips.
Putting it all together
Once you have all your ingredients gathered, it’s time to assemble your charcuterie board! Find a wooden board, slate plate, or marble slab that you can use as the base. Choose one that won’t be too big for the ingredients you want to use.
Start by making the meat roses. Check out my tutorial on making salami roses and my post on bacon roses for more details.
The gist of it, though is to roll up the meats and secure them with toothpicks. If you use a shot glass to form your salami flowers, you won’t need toothpicks.
For the bacon roses, you can also use a silicone cube mold to hold the shape while you bake them. (Bake the roses at 350-375ºF/180-190ºC until crispy.)
While the roses are baking, assemble the other ingredients. I like to use some cheese wedges, especially for soft cheeses. Slices of cheese can be nestled between slices of meat.
I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out some cheese hearts, but found it impossible to cleanly cut the chorizo with the cutter. So, I used some kitchen shears to shape the meat slices as wanted.
After arranging the meats and cheeses attractively, fill the empty spaces with fruits and extras. Now, it’s time to add your bacon roses! If they roll around, you can use a pair of kitchen shears to cut off the bottom, leaving the underside flat.
Other ideas
Looking for other fun ideas? I may try making butter roses next year!
If you have more of a sweet tooth than I do, feel free to make a dessert charcuterie board. You can use an assortment of heart-shaped treats, cookies, and chocolate truffles. For a candy board, use themed candies like conversation hearts and chocolate hearts, or scatter them among your other items. Make a healthier alternative to a candy board with cheeses, fresh fruit, and chocolate dip.
You could even use some homemade rose petal gummies that I showed you how to make in the past.
Video
Valentine’s Charcuterie board
Ingredients
For bacon roses
- 6 Strips bacon (For a dozen small roses)
For strawberry hearts
- 2 strawberries
For meat flowers
- 15 slices salami
- 15 slices pepperoni
For cheese shapes
- 100 g provolone
Instructions
Make bacon roses
- Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC
- Take each strip of bacon, and cut it in half lengthwise.
- Roll the bacon from on end to the other. Leave them slightly loose and let the edges fold over upon themselves for a more realistic look. Use the edge with the fat for the top of the rose.
- Place the bacon roses into small muffin tins or silicone ice cube trays to help them hold their shape as you bake them. I used silicone cube-shaped ice cube trays. If using tiny muffin tins for bacon roses, consider adding aluminum foil or toothpicks to help them hold their shape.
- Bake the bacon roses in the oven or air fryer until brown and crisp. If the roses are brown on top but uncooked on the bottom, flip them over to cook the bottoms for a few minutes.
Make strawberry hearts
- Cut the stems off the strawberries.
- Cut a small v-shaped wedge out of the top center part of the strawberries to make them look like hearts. Cut the shaped strawberries in slices to form several thinner strawberry hearts from each strawberry.
Make the cured meat flowers
- Layer slices of salami and pepperoni in overlapping circles and then roll them up to create a rose shape. You can alternatively use a shot glass to help form the rose.
Shape the cheese
- Make cheese shapes by melting the cheese and spooning it into candy molds or by cutting it with cookie cutters.
Assemble charcuterie board
- Find a wooden board, slate plate, or marble slab that you can use as the base. Choose one that won't be too big for the ingredients you want to use.
- While the roses are baking, assemble the other meats and cheeses. Use a variety of cheese wedges and slices. Slices of cheese can be nestled between slices of meat.
- Use kitchen shears to cut leftover sliced meats into hearts or other shapes, as desired.
- Once you've arranged the meats and cheeses in a visually appealing way, place the fruits and extras around them to fill up any empty spaces.
- Add your bacon roses. To get them to stay in place, use your kitchen shears to cut off the bottom, leaving the underside flat.
Notes
This post was originally published on February 14, 2023. It was rewritten, adding video, new photos, and new ideas in 2025.
How to Make Bacon Roses
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