Day of the Dead Skull—Día de Los Muertos Food Art Fun
Oct 16, 2024

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Celebrate Día de los Muertos with a produce-filled charcuterie food art tray. This festive Day of the Dead skull will be the hit of any party. Fresh veggies, sweet fruits, and earthy herbs are arranged in the shape of the iconic holiday skull for a totally mom-approved snack that’s perfect for the occasion.
We love to honor cultural holidays. Día de los Muertos is a celebration of life, and we at
The Produce Moms wanted to give you a fresh and flavorful spin on this worldwide beloved day.
We used fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs to create the iconic Day of the Dead skull. This themed charcuterie board is loaded with nutritious snacks that your family loves — without you having to cook anything.
Día de los Muertos charcuterie board is sponsored by NatureSweet.
Just chop and arrange the produce and dress it up with fresh flowers and herbs. It’s easy, beautiful, festive, and yummy. For more fun Dia de los Muertos food art ideas, be sure to check out other recipes.
Let’s get into how to do it!
Día de los Muertos Charcuterie Ingredients
The best thing about using charcuterie to display your Día de los Muertos food art is it’s customizable. Your options are what make it so fun. Feel free to add your favorite produce to the board so everyone can enjoy it!
Veggies
The main veggies we used were NatureSweet® Dia De Los Muertos Medley tomatoes. They are fresh, juicy, and bursting with flavor and a rich pop of red to make this board festive. Plus the Seasonal Medley celebrates Dia de Muertos and makes a nice accent to the board. We also added baby carrots, radish coins, sliced black olives, cauliflower florets, and sliced NatureSweet® mini peppers.
Meat
We mainly focused on the produce of this board, but we added some rolled salami for a little protein. If your family or guests prefer more meat, feel free to add extra salami or a variety for the carnivores in your life.
Fruit
Blackberries and raspberries are some of our go-to charcuterie fruits because they require almost no prep. All you do is rinse them and arrange them on the board. Blackberries add a natural sweetness that pairs well with tart raspberries.
Herbs
Cilantro is perfect for rounding out your board, and it also helps prevent the tomatoes from rolling around on the board or platter. When your Day of the Dead food art is assembled, you can fill in any spaces with leftover herbs for a nice and full board!
How to Arrange Charcuterie Into the Day of the Dead Skull
It’s best to do all your slicing before putting your Día de los Muertos charcuterie board together. This makes it easier to grab your ingredients as they fit into place on the board. Remember, have fun with it, and grab your kiddos to help you get extra creative.
Step 1: The eyes
Put your sliced olives into two small ramekins, and place the ramekins on the charcuterie board to make the eyes. This is an easy starting point to work around for the rest of your board.
Step 2: The skull
Arrange the cauliflower florets to create the iconic shape of the skull.
Step 3: The headdress
Lay some of the fresh cilantro on top of the skull. Put the tomatoes on top of the cilantro and around the skull to round out the face shape.
Step 4: The mouth
Slice a baby carrot so it’s thin enough for a few sliced olives to fit around it, almost like a hoop earring. You should be able to fit about four olive slices on the carrot. Then place it on top of the cauliflower where the mouth should be.
Step 5: Fill it in
Use the rest of your fruits, veggies, meats, dips, and herbs to fill in your Day of the Dead skull. Add as much or as little as you like — it’s completely up to you. When you’ve added all your produce to your board, fill in the gaps with more cilantro or your favorite herbs.
Optional: Marigold flowers are believed to attract the souls of the dead to the food, candles, and flowers prepared for them by family and friends. Feel free to dress up your board with fresh flowers to help fill in any spaces.
Why We Love NatureSweet
This Día de los Muertos food art board uses lots of tomatoes. NatureSweet focuses on growing and delivering sweet, fresh, firm, and vibrant tomatoes in convenient packaging. They are easy to grab and go from the produce aisle and are stored and packaged for optimal freshness. All you do is rinse and add them to your board for a beautiful and flavorful masterpiece.
Now that you’ve created your Day of the Dead skull, your family will want to keep celebrating. Be sure to try our other Día de los Muertos recipes.
More Day of the Dead Food Ideas
- Chocolate Covered Pear Skulls — a sweeter treat for the Day of the Dead
- Hazelnut Butter Board — swap out the Halloween candy for skull candy
- Homemade Salsa – also made with the NatureSweet Dia de Muertos seasonal medley
Día de los Muertos Veggie Tray
Ingredients
- 2 10 oz packages NatureSweet® Dia De Los Muertos Medley tomatoes
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1 bunch cilantro
- ½ cup baby carrots
- 6 oz. salami cut to look like flowers
- ½ cup radish coins
- ½ cup black olives sliced
- 1½ cups cauliflower florets
- 2 limes sliced
- ½ cup raspberries
- NatureSweet® mini peppers sliced
- 10 oz spinach dip (or dip of choice)
- fresh flowers for decor
- herbs or greenery to fill in empty spaces
Instructions
- Place the sliced olives in 2 separate ramekins and put them on the board. These are the eyes of your Day of the Dead skull.
- Arrange the cauliflower florets to create the shape of the skull on your charcuterie board or platter.
- Put the cilantro on top of the skull head. Place the NatureSweet® Seasonal Medley tomatoes on top of the cilantro. Continue to fill out the shape of the skull with the rest of the tomatoes.
- To create the mouth, slice a baby carrot so it's small enough for the sliced black olives to fit around it.
- Arrange the rest of your charcuterie favorites around the top and sides to build out your Día de los Muertos skull.
- Use fresh flowers or herbs to fill in the empty spaces at the end and dig in!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.