If you want a simple yet beautiful appetizer to serve guests at your next party, make a dairy free cream cheese board! This is our take on the popular butter board trend, and it’s made dairy free and allergy friendly.

If you’ve heard of the butter board trend, we have an even better option for you than butter: dairy free cream cheese!
The butter board trend (originally created by Justine Doiron) was met with some raves and some people who thought no way, too much butter.
I was one of those people who loved the concept but didn’t like the idea of so much butter (or in our case dairy free butter), so I created my own spin on Justine’s idea by using dairy free cream cheese and making a sweet and savory version on one board.
This is a great way to have a lightly flavored cream cheese spread for parties in a beautiful presentation. You can serve this with crackers, chips, bread, fruit slices, etc.!

Our cream cheese board is:
- Dairy free
- Vegan
- Peanut free (depending on what kind of granola you use for the sweet board)
- Tree nut free (depending on what kind of dairy free cream cheese you use)
- Soy free
How to make a dairy free cream cheese board
Here are the steps to make your dairy free cream cheese board. This is just an overview of steps, the full recipe card with ingredients is at the end of the post.
- Prepare your wood serving board by washing and drying it. You can use one large board for both the sweet and savory cream cheese spreads, or use one smaller board for each.
- Use a spreader and swipe about 1/2 to one container of dairy free cream cheese (depending on how many people you are serving for) on one side of the board in a petal-like pattern.
- One the other side of the board, do the same thing with the other container of cream cheese.
- For the sweet board: drizzle honey over the cream cheese, top with chopped pears or chopped figs, and granola or chopped nuts if you can have them.
- For the savory board, sprinkle with chopped chives, smoked salt, red pepper flakes, and fresh lemon thyme.
- Serve with your favorite dippers, we have suggestions below!

Since this will be sitting out at room temperature for a little while, try to use this all up by the end of the party or gathering. You can store any leftovers in the fridge, but try to use leftovers within 1 or 2 days if it has been left at room temperature for quite a while.
What to serve with our cream cheese spreads
The sweet cream cheese side of the board is perfect served with all kinds of dippers from fruit slices to crackers and chips.
Here are some ideas for things to dip with for both the sweet and savory boards. Some of these are store-bought items and some are recipes that we have on our site!

- Apple or pear slices for the sweet spread
- Cucumber or bell pepper slices for the savory spread
- Sturdy kettle cooked potato chips, plantain chips, or Terra root chips
- Dang rice chips (works for sweet or savory)
- Gluten Free Cinnamon Sugar Crackers
- Gluten Free Graham Crackers
- Gluten Free Pretzel Crisps (great for both sweet and savory)
- Gluten Free Za’atar Crackers
- Gluten Free Garlic Herb Crackers
- Sliced Kim & Jake’s allergy friendly herb rolls
- Sliced BFree baguette bread

Dairy Free Cream Cheese Board, 2 Ways
Ingredients
- 2 containers (7-8 oz each) dairy free cream cheese (we used Violife)
Savory cream cheese
- 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped chives
- 1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- ½ to 1 teaspoon smoked salt
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon thyme leaves
Sweet cream cheese
- 1 to 2 Tablespoons honey
- 3 Tablespoons chopped red pears or chopped figs
- 3 Tablespoons allergy friendly granola, such as Safe + Fair (or chopped nuts if you can have them)
- Optional: drippy Sunbutter drizzled over everything
Instructions
- Leave the dairy free cream cheese at room temperature for about 30 minutes to help it soften for easier spreading.
- Wash and dry a large wood serving board, or 2 smaller boards if you want to keep the 2 types of cream cheese on separate boards.
- Using a spreading knife, swipe 1/2 to 1 full container of the dairy free cream cheese onto the board in a pattern or with swirls.
- Do the same thing on the other side of the board, leaving a space between the 2 different cream cheese areas.
- For the savory board: sprinkle with chopped chives, smoked salt, red chili pepper flakes, and fresh lemon thyme. The measurements are a guesstimate, add as much or as little as you like of each ingredient to your cream cheese!
- For the sweet board: drizzle honey on top of the cream cheese, then add granola (or chopped nuts if you can have them), and chopped red pears or figs. You can also sprinkle on some chunky turbinado sugar as well if you like! The ingredient measurements here are just a guide, use as much or as little of each ingredient as you like.
- Serve with crackers, chips, bread slices, fruit slices, or veggies slices.
Video
Notes
Nutrition

Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie which she founded in 2011. Sarah is based in Wyoming and has been managing food allergies for herself and her 2 children for over 20 years. Sarah was also a certified personal trainer for 12 years, as well as a group fitness instructor, health coach, running coach, and fitness nutrition specialist.