Cheese Board Calculator
Choose when you are serving it and how many people.
Answer
350g of cheese across 3 cheeses
Your shopping list
A balanced board
- Something hard and mature (Cheddar, Comté)
- Something soft and creamy (Brie, Camembert)
- Something blue (Stilton, Roquefort)
Take the cheese out of the fridge an hour before serving. Cold cheese tastes of very little.
Next step
Worth knowing
- People have already eaten, so a small board is plenty.
- Take the cheese out of the fridge an hour before serving. Cold cheese tastes of very little.
- Fewer, larger pieces look better and waste less than lots of small ones.
- Soft cheese made from unpasteurised milk, and blue cheese, are not recommended for pregnant women, worth knowing who is at the table.
Source: Standard UK catering and home-cooking portion guidance · Reviewed 2026-09-10 · Guidance version 1.0.0
Reference and detail
Around 70g each after dinner
After a full meal, most people eat surprisingly little cheese. A board as the main event needs closer to 150g a head, plus a lot more bread.
Three or four cheeses is enough
A hard, a soft, a blue and something with character covers every preference. Larger pieces of fewer cheeses look far more generous than slivers of eight.
Take it out of the fridge early
An hour at room temperature transforms the flavour and texture. Cold cheese tastes of very little and stays firm in the mouth.
Questions and answers
Questions about cheese board quantities
How much cheese do I need for a cheese board?
Enter your guest numbers and the style of board above. As a guide, allow around 60g per person for a small board after a big meal, rising to 100-150g per person if the cheese board is a course in its own right or the main event.
How much cheese should I serve after a big meal?
Once people have already eaten a full dinner, a small board of around 60g of cheese per person is plenty, the point is a bite or two with a biscuit, not another course.
How many different cheeses should be on a cheese board?
Three to five is usually enough: something hard and mature, something soft and creamy, something blue, and ideally a goat's or sheep's milk cheese. More than five and the flavours become hard to tell apart.
What accompaniments do I need for a cheese board?
Crackers, a chutney or preserve, and grapes or fresh fruit are the standard accompaniments, scaled to the same number of guests as the cheese itself.
Should I buy extra cheese for a party?
A little extra is sensible if the board is a highlight of the evening rather than an afterthought, since guests tend to keep returning to a good cheese board throughout the night.