10 Tips You Need For Building The Perfect Snack Plate

When you're hungry in between meal times, you may find yourself going to the fridge to pull out a few pieces of cheese, the pantry to grab a handful of pretzels, or the fruit bowl to snag yourself an apple. These are all excellent snacks that will help you feel full and satisfied until your next meal. But what about those times when you want your snacking to feel a bit more intentional and purposeful? That's when you should try building a snack plate. It's still a snack, of course, but by thoughtfully curating the ingredients and placing them all nicely on a plate, you can create a more elevated snacking experience.

We've compiled a list of some of our best tips for making a perfect snack plate. Whether you're more of a cold cuts and olives person or you like chips and dip with a side of fruit, these tips can help you create the snack plate of your dreams. Share with a loved one or indulge all on your own — either way, you're in for the snacking experience of your life.

Take a look at a lot of snack plate combinations, and you'll find that they often call for pretty specific ingredients. After all, it only makes sense to choose flavors and textures that work well together. But that doesn't mean you have to go out to the grocery store and buy everything new. In fact, there's a good chance that you have some ingredients in your fridge and pantry that can work as a snack plate starter. By working with what you already have, you can save yourself some money and minimize food waste at the same time. What's not to love about that?

Go take a look through your kitchen, and see what you already have on hand. Find a couple of mandarins? They can offer your snack plate a fruity, citrusy twist. Got a few hunks of cheese in the back of your fridge? Pair them with some charcuterie. You can go to the store for a few things, but make sure not to neglect the ingredients you already have in your kitchen anyway.

In some cases, you may want to embrace a totally sweet or totally savory snack plate. For example, maybe you're craving chocolate — in that case, an all-chocolate snack plate might be your best bet. Alternatively, you may be the kind of person who doesn't like sweets all that much. If that's true for you, then you can skip the sweet elements entirely. But most of us do like a good combo of sweet and salty flavors, which is why you should try to achieve a balance of these flavor notes on your snack plate.

This combination of ingredients works for a surprising reason: Salt actually makes it easier for your tongue to pick up on sweetness. Therefore, you're enhancing the flavor of your sweet ingredients by including some salty elements in the mix. For salty ingredients, consider chips, olives, savory cheeses like Parmesan, and pickles. When you're ready to add those sweet elements to the plate, think of including dried or fresh fruit, candy, or some plain dark chocolate. Combining these two categories is going to guarantee a delicious snack plate.

Some snack plates may not require a dip, particularly if you're working with a lot of wetter ingredients, like anything pickled. But in most cases, your snack plate can be enhanced by the presence of different dips. However, you have to be strategic when you're selecting your dips. For example, if you're including thin potato chips on your snack plate, then a thick, chunky guacamole probably isn't going to work well — the chips will snap in half when you try to scoop up the dip. Consider the sturdiness of your dippable ingredients as well as the consistency of the dips in question.

Some of our favorite dips for snack plates include creamy hummus, salsa, tzatziki, and spinach artichoke dip. If you're tending toward the sweeter end of the spectrum, try a caramel dip or some melted chocolate. And if you're still at a loss, check out these delicious dip recipes.

Sure, snacking is about eating foods you love, and that sate your cravings, but it's also about making sure you feel full and holding yourself over until your next meal. That's why it's a good idea to include a good mix of fat, protein, and carbs on your snack plate. The combination of these three different food categories ensures that you're getting all the macronutrients you need, helping you to feel fuller and more satisfied.

Opting for this combination of foods isn't just about nutrition, though — it's also about building an appetizing plate. Carbs on a snack plate generally offer a nice crunchiness and often pack a decent amount of salt. They can also provide structure (think of crackers, for instance, which can serve as the base of a snack stack). Fruits and veggies offer a bite of something cold and refreshing, often also offering some crunch. And fat and protein in the form of nuts, cheese, or charcuterie can make your snack plate feel more substantial while often providing some nice fattiness that makes everything on your plate taste better.

Yes, you want to think about the flavor, texture, and nutritional value of everything you're including on your snack plate, but there's another important factor you should consider if you want to make a plate that's both delicious and visually appealing: color. Adding colorful ingredients to your snack plate instantly makes it more attractive, whether you're making it for yourself or you plan on sharing it with a crowd. And when your food looks better, it feels more fun to eat it.

Additionally, filling your snack plate with many different colors means that you're also getting a lot of different nutrients into your diet. Of course, that doesn't always hold true — colorful candies probably aren't giving you a super healthy, varied nutrient profile, but if you're working with mostly whole foods, then you can assume that you're likely eating a more phytonutrient-dense plate if it's colorful. It's time to make beige, bland snack plates a thing of the past.

A snack plate is so fun to eat because it's something you can graze on. Have a little bite of one thing, then try a bite of another. And if you're like most of us, then you're probably not going to want to have to use a fork and a knife for everything on the plate. That's why it's such a good idea to cut your ingredients into bite-sized pieces before putting them on the plate. This will make it a lot easier to grab a bite of something and move on to the next element on your plate.

Cutting your ingredients into smaller pieces is important with just about any snack plate, but it's especially relevant when you're making a snack plate to share with family or friends. After all, you don't want to take a bite of something and put the rest back down on the plate where someone else can unwittingly pick it up while you're between bites.

If you're focusing on drier items on your snack plate, then you don't need to worry much about things getting messy. All you need is a napkin if you're including chips, candy, and hunks of cheese on your snack plate. However, if you're working with wetter, messier ingredients, then it's a good idea to include forks or snack plates. We like using small forks specifically, since they feel dainty and make it easy to pick up smaller pieces of food. Toothpicks are a great option, though, since they're disposable and allow guests (or yourself) to easily pick up a few items on the plate at once.

Depending on the ingredients you have on your snack plate, you may also want to include small plates or bowls in which you can discard food waste from the plate. Cherry or olive pits, for example, should have a place to go that's not on the snack plate itself.

When you're making a quick snack plate for yourself, you may not think too much about the appearance of the plate — it's easier to focus more on how things taste. But when you want to elevate your solo snack plate or make something for a larger group of people, then you should consider different ways to make it pop visually. One of the best ways to do that is to add garnishes.

Fresh herbs, of course, are a classic. They add some nice color to the plate that can contrast with other ingredients. Edible flowers can elevate the look of your snack plate if you can get your hands on some. And adding a touch of citrus zest on top of some of the ingredients can give your plate some much-needed color as well as an acidic zing. Give these garnish ideas a try the next time you want to make a seriously beautiful snack plate.

A lot of people think a snack plate is essentially just a charcuterie board on a plate. You have some deli meat, cheese, a bit of fruit, and maybe even some chocolate, and you have a snack plate that everyone will love, right? Although that combo sounds delicious (and can totally constitute an amazing snack plate), it's not the only combination of ingredients that you can use. In fact, you can avoid the cheese and charcuterie entirely, especially if you're trying to build a lighter, more refreshing plate.

A snack plate can consist of a lot of different desserts if you want to take things in a sweet direction, or it can focus more on crunchy items like chips and pretzels. Sometimes, we especially love a fruit- or veggie-focused snack plate that has visual appeal and makes us feel our best. Experiment with various ingredient combos for different occasions, and you might expand your idea of what a snack plate is.

A snack is, by definition, not a meal. But that doesn't mean your snack plate can't turn into a meal. After all, by simply increasing the amount of food on your snack plate, you can make it into a filling breakfast, lunch, or dinner, especially if you're using healthier ingredients. Keep in mind that the portions you usually employ for your actual-snack snack plates are not going to be sufficient here.

If you're making your snack plate into an entire meal, though, you have to be strategic. As we mentioned previously, having a good combination of protein in the form of meat or veggie-friendly options, carbs like crackers and chips, and fruits and vegetables can ensure that your snack plate meal is more filling. Not only does eating a snack plate for lunch or dinner feel kind of fun, but it's also a great solution when you don't feel like cooking an actual meal from scratch.