Butter Boards: The TikTok Trend Taking on Expensive Charcuterie

If you don’t live in TikTok world, we’ll forgive you. There’s only so many dancing videos a person can take.

However, some TikTok trends are worth the time spent watching a few videos — and that’s the case with the recent #butterboard craze that has struck the social media giant.

TikTok user Justine Doiron (@justine_snacks) popularized the idea of the butter board – a much cheaper alternative to the expensive meat and cheese boards known as “charcuterie.” Since her post on Sept. 15, TikTok videos using the #butterboard hashtag have racked up more than 100 million views.

@justine_snacksI like this one idk I’m in a silly goofy butter mood♬ original sound – speed songs

The idea is simple: Spread softened butter onto a cutting board, then sprinkle it with a variety of toppings that may include salt, herbs, lemon zest, thinly sliced red onions, roasted garlic and red peppers, or even something sweet like honey.

Not only does that sound delicious, but a butter board will save you a good bit of money over a charcuterie alternative when you host your next party.

To that point: Popular cheese wedges like parmesan, gouda, gruyere and asiago can cost anywhere from $8 to $15 per wedge depending on the brand. And that doesn’t even factor in softer cheeses like burrata or mascarpone that you might want to use to fill out your board.

With the butter board, you’re simply spending enough to cover a couple of sticks of butter, a few inexpensive toppings and some crackers or a sliced baguette for dipping. Even with rising butter prices, a pound of butter is around $10 and — pro tip — you can freeze butter if you find a good sale.

The butter board is also endlessly versatile with sweet and savory combinations — like this one inspired by baklava — and tasty spinoffs with brown butter or buttercream frosting. Dessert butter board anyone?

Justine Doiron’s basic board includes butter, of course, with flaky salt, lemon zest and edible flowers. From there, she provides a variety of additional toppings depending on your culinary inspiration.

Options start with a honey and coriander creation, cilantro and chiles, roasted garlic and rosemary, or figs and mint.

We love this savory creation by Aubrey’s Kitchen, which consists of roasted garlic, chili oil, honey, cashews, scallions and french bread.

Not to be outdone by the culinary professionals, we made a go at creating our own butter board here at The Penny Hoarder. And the outcome? Well, not so bad if we don’t say so ourselves.

Our board included the standard softened butter and flaky salt, then we added roasted garlic, roasted red peppers, arugula and drizzled honey. It was rather tasty.

Now, what’s your take on this #butterboard trend?

Robert Bruce is a senior writer for The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.