Have fun by creating your own St. Patrick’s Day Board to celebrate the Feast of Saint Patrick! Add authentic Irish foods, Irish-inspired foods, or green foods to create a beautiful board that is celebratory and appetite-whetting.
A Green St. Patrick’s Day Board
This vegetarian food board is not a classic charcuterie board because it has no meats! Today, charcuterie has become a mainstream word that means a wooden (or other) board loaded with many different types of food–with or without meat. Charcuterie or food boards can be very simple or very elaborate. Some are works of art by making pictures with food, while others are color-coordinated, like this green-themed board.
Mix Healthy and Snack Foods
This board includes sweet and savory foods with accents of purple (grapes and macarons) to match the green and purple pistachios. The deviled eggs were a last-minute addition, so I included yellow macarons and golden-fried zucchini sticks. A green food board allows you to mix healthy foods such as broccoli, celery sticks, pumpkin seeds, and kiwis with snack foods.
Maintaining Your Board
Some foods will stain your board, and the stains can be permanent. However, there are some things you can do to keep your board looking new.
- Apply food-grade mineral oil to keep the wood from drying out. However, it will not prevent food from staining the wood.
- Apply food-safe wood wax to add a layer of protection against food stains because it coats the board. It also helps keep small cracks sealed against liquids.
- Line the board with parchment paper before placing any food on it. It is the best way to lock out food stains. It also makes cleanup easy.
Use All-Natural Green Foods or Food Coloring for St. Patrick’s Day Board
If you do not like dyes in your food, use lots of raw vegetables, seeds, and nuts on your food boards. There are also several powdered products (such as matcha green tea powder) that you can use to naturally dye foods. The color you get from powdered products is usually more subtle than food dyes, and sometimes they can alter the taste of the food a little. Two sources I use to buy colored powders are Nuts.com and Raw Nice.
This food board has both naturally-colored foods and some with food-dye colors. The Rice Krispies Treats, cut with a shamrock cookie cutter, are made green with food coloring. The macarons and mint Oreos have artificial food coloring. However, the rest of the board was all-natural green foods.
Hors d’oeuvres
This food board had heavier hors d’oeuvres, including zucchini sticks with jalapeno dip. When creating a food board, decide if its purpose is to provide a meal or just a few appetizers beforehand.
- If it is a meal, provide heavy foods with snack foods. Most people want a few hearty foods to eat with snacky food.
- If the purpose is to serve appetizers before a meal, don’t include heavy foods, or guests might not be hungry by mealtime.
Decorate the Food on Your St. Patrick’s Day Board
Be creative and dress up or decorate your food in your theme before placing it on the food board. The deviled eggs on this board had shamrock decorations made with cilantro leaves and stems.
I made baked shamrock crackers from green spinach wraps using a shamrock cookie cutter and used the same cookie cutter to cut out green crispy rice treats.
Know Your Guests
The baked spinach balls on this board were gluten-free. I served them in clear containers to prevent other foods from touching them. Check with your guests beforehand to see if they have any food sensitivities or allergies. Consider placing gluten-free items on a separate food board or serving all gluten-free foods.
Be Mindful of Food Spoilage
Always be mindful of how long you leave out foods that need refrigeration. I served a grape salad made from green and red grapes. I only served a few small cups at a time, so they didn’t sit out too long since they contained dairy products. I gave the same consideration to the eggs and dip since both had a mayonnaise base. It is better to serve a smaller amount and replenish food during the party to prevent it from sitting out too long. Two hours is the length of time refrigerated food can safely stay out before becoming overgrown with bacteria.
You can leave out items like crackers, cookies, peanuts, and nuts longer, but not so long that they become stale.
Tips for Organizing a Board
- Buy as many things as you can for your food board. It is hard to make a lot of homemade items because of the details involved in putting together a food board. If you don’t have helpers, consider buying pre-cut fruits and vegetables.
- Prepare freezable homemade items a week or two ahead of time.
- Have one or two dips.
- Have extra food on hand to replenish the board.
- If serving gluten-free items, do not let them touch gluten items. Alternatively, serve them on a separate board.
- Don’t put wet items next to crackers, or they might become soggy.
- Dip foods (like cut apples) in lemon juice before placing them on the board to prevent them from turning brown.
- Have lots of skewers, toothpicks, and small tongs available, so people don’t have to touch the food when picking it up.
Enjoy!
Irish-Inspired Recipes You Might Like
- Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
- Mini Crab Cakes
- Rainbow Fruit Skewers
- Shamrock Crackers
- Crispy Rice Shamrocks
- Pistachio Sugar Cookies
- Key Lime Macarons
- Rainbow Cheesecake
- Lime Sherbet Punch
- Green and Black Cupcakes