This super easy-to-assemble Summer Antipasto Platter has so much flavor and is incredibly satisfying. It’s absolutely perfect for eating outdoors from your patio to a picnic. There’s no cooking involved here, just a few minutes of chopping and assembling. It’s one of my favorite ways to entertain, or for an easy date night dinner. Choose to mix and match according to what’s in season and the ripest for the best flavor!
This ‘recipe’ was most definitely not planned, but instead evolved out of the yummiest things I found at farmers market. Even though we’re heading into the end of summer, there are still plenty of warm days left to enjoy this. And it’s such a keeper I wanted to share it with you right away.
I made this on the tailgate of our truck just a couple of days ago while Tyler was fly fishing down by the river. We enjoyed it so much, I knew I had to turn it into a recipe right away. I mean… we can’t wait for next summer when it’s this tasty!
You can barely call this a ‘recipe’ more like a list of options for inspiration. Just choose whatever you’d like and assemble a platter. Since we’re in the height of all the best summer produce, this platter is very summery.
But if you’re looking for more seasonal options too, check out my How to Make an Antipasto Platter. You’ll find lots more inspiration in my Cheese Board Date for 2 for colder weather options as well.
We’ve been ‘tailgating’ a lot this year and absolutely loving it! It takes a bit more organization to pack a cooler before leaving the house. But the benefits of eating outside, more than makeup for that!
This summer-inspired platter is just made for eating outdoors. It takes just minutes to put together to enjoy at home on your patio or deck. And it’s easy enough to take with you on a picnic as well.
More recipes perfect for eating outdoors, picnicking, or tailgating
- Tacos made with Homemade Taco Seasoning
- Paleo Blueberry Pancakes (so good while camping)
- Grilled Summer Veggie Pasta Salad
- Healthy Homemade Lunchables
- Our Favorite Pasta Salad
- Best Classic Chicken Salad
- Coconut Lime Ice Cream (taken in a thermos)
How to make this Summer Antipasto Platter
- Start by choosing 2 kinds of cured meats. I used Genoa salami in this platter along with some prosciutto wrapped around the melon. Capacola, sopressata, and bresaola are all tasty too. But just use whatever is available to you!
- Next, choose a couple of different cheeses. I had a fresh sheep’s milk herbed cheese, and a fresh sheep’s milk cheddar that I got from our farmer’s market. From there I added a bit of mozzarella to the Caprese salad. Other favorites we love are aged cheddar, goat cheese, brie cheese, or any other soft spreadable cheese. You can also try my herbed goat cheese or marinated mozzarella from my Summer Cheese Board.
- Add fruits and veggies. For this platter, I went with an Italian theme. So there’s prosciutto-wrapped melon and Caprese salad. And from there I added some berries and sprinkled it all with basil. The berries are local huckleberries we picked the day before and blackberries. Use any berry you love and is ripe, you can’t go wrong here!
- Olive oil, balsamic, and flaked sea salt. Whenever I make Italian Antipasto, I drizzle the whole plate in the best olive oil I can find, drizzle with aged balsamic, and sprinkle with flaked sea salt. This final touch is what really brings out all the flavors!
- Serve with crackers or sourdough bread. We love Blue Diamond almond rice crackers for any platter we put together. But you can use whatever your favorite cracker is.
Tips for taking this as a picnic
- Prep the melon slices ahead and pack them in a container. Cutting up melon is messy if you don’t have a sink handy. So I always cut mine up at home where there’s running water and a way to dispose of the seeds and rind.
- You can also prep the tomatoes ahead of time if you’d like. But I personally prefer to cut them up right before I assemble the platter if they’re heirloom tomatoes. If you’re using cherry tomatoes they hold up well after you cut them.
- Bring a bag for your dirty dishes so you can take them home easily. I take a super small cutting board and pairing knife that fit well into a sealed bag. That way I don’t need to worry about trying to clean up anything without a sink.
- Don’t allow your basil to be near the ice in the cooler. Basil doesn’t like super cold temperatures and will turn brown if it’s placed right next to ice.
- Choose cheeses that are easy to serve with a butter knife. Any cheese that is super hard will have to be cut up. But soft spreadable cheeses and/or fresh cheddars are the easiest. That being said we still take aged cheddar and just slice it up sometimes.
- Be prepared to defend your food in the outdoors! We’re past bug season here, but still had to shoo away a few yellow jackets. But if you’re picnicking earlier in the summer, think about a screen tent or something to keep the bugs out. Also, don’t leave your food unattended, you never know what could happen. While I was making this platter on the tailgate, someone’s pitbull was begging constantly, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Luckily his owner finally called him away. But he was super reluctant to leave the chance of getting some salami!
- Freeze blocks of ice in plastic Snapware containers or something similar. I started doing this years ago, and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s life-changing! As the ice melts, the water pools in the container instead of the bottom of your cooler. This way you never have to worry about your cheese drowning in melted ice. This happened to me just last fall on a trip to Moab where we had to buy block ice halfway through the trip. I ruined about 2 pounds of cheese, and we ended up without dinner one night because I forgot to drain the cooler!
Make Ahead Tip: You can assemble this whole platter, minus the olive oil, balsamic, and sea salt a few hours in advance. Tightly cover and refrigerate. Then allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or so before drizzling with olive oil, balsamic, and sea salt.
More important Summer Antipasto Platter tips
- Quality is everything! I cannot exaggerate this enough. This platter is super simple so all the flavor comes from the fresh fruits and veggies. There’s no hiding unripe fruit on this platter! Also the olive oil and balsamic are super important to bring out the flavors. So the best you can find really does pay off.
- Add more or simplify, either way, you’ll have a tasty platter. If you’re serving a group, it might be a good idea to add more variety. Four or more different meats and cheeses and a few more fruits and veggies like cucumbers or peaches go a long way. Or simplify to one cheese and meat combo along with a few good fruits and veggies for a small platter.
I really hope you enjoy this Summer Antipasto Platter! And if you do get a chance to make this, I hope you’ll leave me a comment/rating below. I always love hearing from you here! Also for lots more summer inspired recipes, head on over to the recipe index.
Summer Antipasto Platter
INGREDIENTS
- 4 slices prosciutto
- 8 slices genoa salami
- 2 ounces fresh soft cheddar
- 2 ounces soft herbed cheese
- 1 cup mini mozzarella pearls - halved, called Ciliegine
- 4 slices cantaloupe - 1/2″ thick
- 1 large heirloom tomato - sliced
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes - I used orange Sungolds
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 10 leaves basil - thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp reduced balsamic
- 1 tsp flaked sea salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Assemble everything listed as desired. Then drizzle with olive oil, balsamic, and sea salt.
- To assemble as pictured, lay out the sliced heirloom tomatoes on each side of a large oval platter. (Mine is 16″ x 12″.) Top with the halved mozzarella balls and the sliced cherry tomatoes to make the Caprese salads.
- Next wrap the 4 slices of melon with 4 slices of prosciutto and lay 2 by each of the Caprese salads on opposite sides of the platter.
- Then place the 2 kinds of cheese on the opposite empty sides of the platter. From there fill in with the genoa salami folded into quarters and the berries. Sprinkle with basil.
- You can tightly cover and refrigerate the platter for a few hours at this point.
- Then when ready to serve drizzle with the olive oil, balsamic, and sea salt.
- Serve immediately.