Antipasto Tree – 🌲🧑🏻🎄🙌🏻 Similar ingredients that you’d find on a charcuterie board or antipasto platter, but presented in the form of a FUN and FESTIVE antipasto Christmas tree! Mozzarella cheese, olives, pepperoncini peppers, and fresh rosemary help create the tree branches, while a variety of meats create the tree skirt. An EASY appetizer recipe that you can assemble in about 20 minutes. It’s perfect for holiday entertaining, Christmas parties, or New Year’s Eve events!
Easy Antipasto Christmas Tree Recipe
When it comes to holiday entertaining, nothing beats an amazing charcuterie board for me!
This easy antipasto Christmas tree has many of the ingredients you’d find on a charcuterie board, but made rather than made as a board, I turned it all into a festive tree.
Reasons I love this holiday antipasto tree recipe include:
- cheese is my love language. I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t love and the little mozzarella balls are perfect here.
- combined with salty olives, a sampling of meats like hard salami or pepperoni, and then crunchy pepperoncini peppers, it’s got both texture and flavor.
- everything can be purchased in advance
- there’s a ton of flexibility in ingredient choices (see the Ingredients section below for lots of ideas)
- nothing has to be chopped, measured, or baked
- it’s easier than it looks and can be prepped in about 20 minutes!
Ingredients in Antipasto Holiday Tree
- Cherry tomatoes – Any type or color of small tomato such as grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, small heirloom tomatoes are fine.
- Mozzarella cheese balls – Sometimes labeled ciligene, you’re looking for fresh mozzarella cheese or mozzarella pearls. It’s usually sold in an 8 to 10 ounce containers packed in water, and sold in the more gourmet cheese section in your local grocery store. You could in theory use any kind of cheese here that you like, too! Easy options include provolone, Swiss, or Monterey Jack. If you’re cutting it yourself, use a thick slice of cheese that you dice into cubes; or even cut the piece of cheese using a cute star cut cookie cutter.
- Olives – I used a mixture of pitted Italian Castelvetrano olives as well as pitted Kalamata olives. Any type of olive from fancy olive bar olives to jarred olives, stuffed, packed in water or oil, all good here.
- Pepperoncini – They’re not very spicy but add a bit of subtle heat and some much needed crunch. Not a fan or can’t find them (they’re usually sold in glass jars)? Use mini red bell peppers or orange bell pepper instead. Artichokes, specifically artichoke hearts sold in a jar or frozen and thawed would be nice here too.
- Fresh rosemary – Not essential but it makes your ‘tree’ look more festive and adds lovely holiday-inspired flavor. Plus, you may already have some on hand from other holiday recipes.
- Olive oil – Optional, but a drizzle keeps your tree moist as well as adds flavor.
- Sea salt – Optional, but I love flaky sea salt so I add it pretty generously.
- Meat – Any type of charcuterie board-inspired meats like sliced salami, soppressata, pepperoni, genoa salami, jamon Iberico, prosciutto slices, and more are all great to make a fun ‘tree skirt’.
- Base – You’ll need a 12-inch styrofoam cone, plastic wrap, and toothpicks.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Instructions How to Make an Antipasto Tree
- Wrap your 12-inch styrofoam cone with a piece of non-stick plastic wrap and place it on a clean work surface or tray.
- Create the tree by inserting a toothpick halfway at the base of the cone. Add a cherry tomato to the toothpick and continue this process around the bottom of the cone, alternating between the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese balls, olives, and pepperoncini to create a Christmas tree shape.
- For the next layer, insert the ingredients into the gaps between the first layer. Continue this process until you have finished up to the top of the tree. Pro tip: I use the pepperoncini sparingly since it takes up a lot of real estate on the tree trunk!
- Break up the rosemary sprigs and insert them into the gaps and lay your tree skirt meats around the base of the cone to represent to back of the Christmas tree.
- Optionally drizzle or brush with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt if desired, and serve it on a pretty serving plate, possibly adorned with holiday decorations, too.
what to serve with antipasto holiday tree
Serve this tree with any the crackers of your choice including water crackers, Ritz crackers, pretzels, bread, rolls, or your favorite carbs.
Recipe FAQs
I bought my styrofoam cone online because I try to avoid shopping center parking lots this time of year! But your local craft store, such as a Michaels or Hobby Lobby, should have them. You can use a green foam core cone or white. It really doesn’t matter since it’s getting covered up with charcuterie-inspired ingredients.
Also, stores like Walmart and Target might also carry the cones in the craft section, but it’s more of a sure thing on their online sites.
I used an 12-inch cone but if you find an 11 inch or 13 inch cone, that’s just fine. This is a fun little project and you don’t need to measure things down to the half inch!
Yes, you need to wrap the styrofoam cone in a piece of wrap because it isn’t food-grade so you don’t want the food to come into direct contact with it. Plus, the plastic wrap keeps the cone clean and means you can reuse it for future recipes.
I prefer plastic wrap to aluminum foil but that’s technically an option, too.
You may want to serve some of these items in small bowls alongside your tree but pecans, almonds, cup sun-dried tomatoes, a cup dill pickles, high quality balsamic vinegar to dip bread into that pairs with the meat and cheese ball Christmas tree.
Yes and no. Any time cheese or meat is left exposed to air, it tends to dry out. You can probably assemble this during the afternoon preceding a holiday party such as Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, approximately 3-5 hours in advance. Then cover it well with a jumbo food storage bag, and then refrigerate it until the evening, that’s as far as I would stretch it. You don’t want the ingredients to dry out. And be very careful not to mutilate your tree when you’re getting it into the plastic bag. You could possible wrap lots of plastic wrap about it too, around and around, depending on how you see fit.
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- 10 ounces cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, (any color; red, yellow, heirloom, etc.)
- 10 ounces mozzarella cheese balls, (sold in small containers, packed in liquid/water, sometimes labeled as mozzarella pearls or cigliene)
- 16 ounces pitted Italian Castelvetrano olives, (or your favorite olives)
- 5 ounces pitted kalamata olives, (or your favorite olives)
- 16 ounces pepperoncini peppers, (or use pieces of bell peppers or artichoke hearts)
- 2 ounces fresh rosemary sprigs, cut into about 15-20 segments about 1-2″ each
- 15 slices hard salami or pepperoni (or the sliced meat of your choice; see blog post for other ideas)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, for drizzling (optional but recommended)
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (optional but recommended)
Prevent your screen from going dark
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Unroll a 2 foot sheet of plastic wrap or saran wrap, place the foam core on one end, and roll up your foam core. Tip – This is done to keep the food from directly touching the foam core.
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Begin to create the antipasto tree by inserting a toothpick halfway at the base of the cone. Then, add a cherry tomato to the toothpick. Continue this process around the bottom of the cone, alternating between the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese balls, Castelvetrano olives, kalamata olives, and pepperoncini. Tip – I use the pepperoncini sparingly since it takes up a lot of real estate on the tree!
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As you move to the next layer, insert the ingredients into the gaps between the first layer. Continue this process, working yourself up the cone, until you have finished the tree
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Place the rosemary sprigs into the gaps between the olives, tomatoes, and cheese, or as desired.
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Use a pastry brush to brush on olive oil all over the tree. While this is optional, I recommend it to lock in moisture, prevent the ingredients from drying out, and it adds flavor. Tip – If you have a favorite flavored olive oil like basil, garlic, herb-infused, etc. it would be great here. Make-Ahead – If you are making this in advance of a party (just about 2 to 5 hours, not any longer), stop now, carefully insert the tree into a jumbo food storage bag or wrap it with plastic wrap very well to prevent drying out, and refrigerate it until you’re ready to serve it.
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Place your decorated tree on a serving platter or cutting board, and arrange the various slices of meat around the base of the cone to create the ‘tree skirt’. You can also add some crackers or sliced French bread here.
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Optionally, sprinkle with flaky sea salt as desired, and serve with crackers, bread, and any other charcuterie or antipasto ingredients you’d like.
Storage: The ingredients in theory will all keep quite well when stored separately, and airtight, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. However, after they’ve been handled and pricked with toothpicks and inserted into the cone and have sat out at a party or event, your mileage may vary with this if you really want to preserve the leftovers.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 312kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 12g, Fat: 27g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 12g, Cholesterol: 26mg, Sodium: 1581mg, Potassium: 365mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 866IU, Vitamin C: 57mg, Calcium: 202mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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