A well-crafted relish tray is a surefire way to kickstart any gathering with style. Bursting with vibrant colors, tantalizing textures, and a medley of flavors, a thoughtfully arranged relish platter offers something for everyone to nibble on. Whether you're a seasoned host or a first-time entertainer, mastering the art of the perfect relish tray is easier than you might think.
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Looking to elevate your next gathering with an impressive appetizer spread? A well-crafted relish tray is the perfect way to kick off any party or special occasion. Featuring a tantalizing assortment of pickles, olives, crudités, dips, and more, a beautiful relish platter offers something for everyone to nibble on.
If you're a fan of grazing boards like I am, you know they're an art form all their own. From colorful veggie trays bursting with fresh produce, to bountiful fruit platters and zesty falafel grazing boards, I love creating eye-catching arrays that draw guests in.
Today, I'll walk you through my top tips and tricks for assembling the ultimate relish tray. We'll cover everything from selecting the best ingredients to arranging them with visual appeal. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a first-time entertainer, you'll learn how to wow your crowd with a relish board that's as delicious as it is gorgeous.
🙋What Is A Relish Tray?
A relish tray, also known as a relish plate, relish platter or pickle tray, is a classic appetizer that features a variety of small, savory foods arranged on a serving board. It's designed to stimulate your guest's appetites before the main meal.
The beauty of a relish tray lies in its versatility – you can customize it to suit your tastes, or party theme. It's a great way to showcase seasonal produce, experiment with new recipes, or highlight your favorite gourmet ingredients.
Plus, relish trays are incredibly easy to prepare. With a little advance planning and some artful arrangement, you can create a stunning appetizer platter that looks like it came from a fancy deli or catering company.
⭐What Goes On A Relish Tray?
Traditionally, a relish tray includes pickled vegetables such as gherkins, dill pickles, and pickled onions, along with briny olives and sometimes sweet fruit preserves. However, modern relish trays often expand beyond these basics to incorporate a wider assortment of tasty bites.
Some popular components you might find on a relish platter include:
- Marinated mushrooms or artichokes
- Cherry tomatoes or sliced heirloom tomatoes. You could even include some dried cherry tomatoes for visual interest.
- Carrot, celery, and cucumber sticks
- Cornichons or baby dill pickles
- As assortment of olives. I used garlic stuffed green olives and black olives
- Radishes and blanched asparagus spears
- Roasted red peppers or peppadews
- Breadsticks, crackers, or pita chips for dipping and scooping. For gluten free crackers try my lentil chips.
- Pickled onions - try my popular Mexican pickled onions.
👨🍳How To Make The Perfect Relish Tray
- Begin by putting your olives and pickles into small bowl. Arrange them in a V shape on the board, as I've shown you in the diagram above. Using the V shape helps establish a sense of balance and symmetry on your tray. It also provides a framework for evenly distributing the other components and ensures that the overall layout feels harmonious and well-organized.
- Next, begin building out your relish tray by surrounding a few of the relish bowls with crackers and flatbread. I suggest using different shapes for this component of your pickle tray. For instance, you can see that I've used rectangular and circular crackers, plus flatbread that's been cut into triangles. The contrast between rectangular, circular, and triangular crackers creates an eye-catching display that looks more dynamic and professionally styled.
- Now, begin filling in the remaining blank spots with artfully arranged veggie sticks on cherry tomatoes on the vine. Any small blank areas that are left can be filled with fresh herbs. Parsley, coriander, rosemary and sage all work well for this.
Top Tip
A triangular base arrangement works well for a rectangular relish board, but it also works for a circular relish tray too!
On a round board, a triangular layout of the bowls encourages the eye to move in a circular motion around the platter. This creates a natural visual flow that guides guests from one component to the next, making the presentation feel cohesive and well-planned.
🙋Frequently Asked Questions
While both relish trays and veggie trays are appetizer platters that feature an assortment of bite-sized foods, there are some key differences between the two. A relish tray typically includes pickled vegetables, olives, and other briny or marinated items, along with crackers or breadsticks for dipping and scooping. On the other hand, a veggie tray focuses primarily on fresh, raw vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumber, and bell peppers, often accompanied by a creamy dip or two.
A relish platter can typically last for 2-3 hours at room temperature before the quality of the ingredients begins to deteriorate.
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📖 Recipe
The Perfect Relish Tray
Ingredients
- ½ cup cornichons
- ½ cup pickled onions
- ½ cup green olives * I used garlic stuffed olives
- ½ cup black olives Kalamata olives are a great choice
- ½ cup pickled peppers such as pepperoncini, peppadews or jalapeños
- 2 crackers I used a round cracker and a triangular cracker for visual variety
- 1 piece flatbread toasted and cut into triangles
- 2 carrots peeled and cut into sticks
- 2 celery stalks cut into sticks
- 1 cucumber sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- fresh herbs cilantro, parsley, rosemary and sage all work well.
Instructions
- Arrange the cornichons, pickled onions, green olives, black olives and pickled peppers on a serving tray or platter. You can put them in small bowls or directly on the tray. See the diagram above for suggestions on how to arrange the ingredients on your relish tray.
- Place the two types of crackers and the flatbread on the tray, arranging them around the pickled veggies and olives.
- Next, arrange the carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumber slices, and cherry tomatoes around the pickled vegetables. Try to create a visually appealing layout.
- Fill in any gaps in your relish tray with fresh herbs.
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