Butter Boards are all the rage right now. And really, why wouldn’t they be? Plentiful amounts of butter, spread out on a board with interesting toppings, just waiting to be dipped into with a butter knife or, better yet, a pinch of bread! Here at Real Food Traveler, we can certainly get behind this novel and impressive-looking idea for entertaining because, well, butter, but also because it’s easy to take toppings into the direction of any number of cuisine profiles from around the world. 

Save this article to Pinterest to help you plan a delicious butter board. Photo by Chef Michael Sanguinetti of INTUEAT. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

How to Make a Butter Board:

We asked Chef Michael Sanguinetti, a personal and private chef with INTUEAT, an on-demand luxury culinary platform offering diners in-home dining experiences, for his tips for constructing a butter board:

Whip the butter to make it lighter.
Store the board in a cool area of your kitchen.
Put it in the fridge for 10 minutes and then take it out to top it.
To apply the butter to the board, use the back of a spoon on dollops or use a piping tip. Or, just a pastry brush to spread it over the board.

Topping Ideas for Butter Boards:

Below, Chef Michael has provided a few impressive ingredient combos that are sure to impress your guests:

1. Caramelized onion butter, roasted beet, honey and goat cheese
2. Hazelnut butter, graham crackers, marshmallow fluff and chocolate covered bananas
3. Pumpkin whipped butter, roasted pepitas, rosemary and marshmallows
4. Charred spring onion butter, shaved red radish and sea salt
5. Miso butter, goat cheese, cucumber, tomato, red onion, and almonds (pictured below)

Chef Michael Sanguinetti prepared a Butter Board with miso butter, goat cheese, cucumber, tomato, red onion and almonds as an example of how beautiful the boards can be. Photo courtesy Chef Michael.

Hungry for more? Get this Chili Crisp recipe to top your butter board.

Chef Michael inspired the Real Food Traveler team to come up with some of our own Butter Board ideas too:

1. Honey butter, toasted hazelnuts and pecans (roughly chopped), fresh mixed berries such as blueberries and blackberries.
2. Unsalted butter with “everything” seasoning, crumbled goat cheese, a drizzle of olive oil and a few microgreens
3. Unsalted butter, toasted pinon nuts, cucumber, seeded and halved cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese
4. Unsalted butter, mixed fresh herbs like thyme leaves, oregano, diced chive (better yet, purple chive flowers), a drizzle of olive oil and a few grinds of Himalayan Sea salt and cracked pepper.
5. Unsalted butter with diced roasted chiles, seeded and diced cherry tomato halves, a sprinkling of Cotija cheese

Incorporate fresh herbs into your butter board creations. Photo courtesy Pixabay.com.

What to Serve with Butter Boards:

Provide small “spreading” knives (for those who want them), small plates, and napkins and place them next to the board.

Bread – Offer more than one kind such as a hearty country white and a pumpernickel for savory boards. Make sure the bread is substantial that won’t crumble apart as guests “swipe” it across the butter combo. Cut it into slices in manageable portions.

Crackers – Put out a variety, from saltines, to rye crisps, to “blander” options just as long as they will be strong enough to hold up to spreading the butter and toppings,or running through the butter by hand.

Breadstick crackers

Celery, carrots, jicama.

Thick slices of apple, especially tart apples to counter the richness of the butter.

Choose bread or crackers that will “hold up” to either spreading the butter board or “swiping” through it. Photo courtesy Pixabay.com.

Beyond Butter Boards:

Sure, you could make a meal of a butter board and the items you spread it on, but we suggest also serving pickled green beans, olives, veggies, even salad, to offer a more acidic counterpoint to the richness of the butter.

Hungry for more? This recipe makes a hearty bread perfect for a butter board.

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