How to make a Relish Tray

Relish trays are a great appetizer to add to your holiday spread. Do you remember relish trays growing up? My grandma always had one. I feel nostalgic thinking about her relish tray she always served on Thanksgiving. They always seem to be served as the appetizer of choice and are so simply done. Simple sounds great for the holidays this year. While we love a good charcuterie board, we still love a good relish tray.

What is A Relish Tray ?

A relish tray is a serving platter of your choice along with some glasses of varying sizes to contain some of the pickled veggies and their juice. The platter is filled with a variety of fresh veggies, pickled veggies and other bites.

What Is Needed To Make A Relish Tray

If you are lucky enough to have a vintage crystal tray with all the compartments (like my grandma had) that were typically used when making a relish tray you do not need to worry about scouring thrift stores. What ever kind of serving platter or tray will work, so use what you have! Here is a basic list to get you started and give you an idea:

Serving tray (wooden, metal, glass, cutting board, use what you already have on hand)
Jars (mason jars, metal measuring cups, small drinking glasses)
Bowls (if you decide to include dips on your tray; we used a head of cabbage that we carefully hallowed out to use as our bowl to serve our favorite easy Veggie Dip)

What To Put On A Relish Tray?

Once you have chosen the tray that you are going to use and you’ve gathered the glasses or jars that you need, it’s time to gather the ingredients you plan to serve on your relish tray. Here’s a list of what we used:

Pickled Beets
Pickled baby corn
Cornichons
Mini cucumbers
Pickles
Olives (green and black)
Carrots
Sweet peppers
Best Veggie Dip
Cabbage
Cauliflower

What Is The Difference Between A Relish Tray And A Veggie Tray?

A veggie tray is usually an assortment of raw veggies like broccoli, carrots, cherry or grape tomatoes; A relish tray is usually items that have been pickled like varying pickles, pickled beets, cucumbers, almost anything that has been brined. You can serve dips with either of these trays.

Relish Tray Variations

If you want to add more variety to your relish tray or make multiple trays you can add other items such as:

pickled asparagus
spicy and pickled eggs
mushrooms
artichoke hearts
green beans that have been lightly pickled
radishes cut in halves (with a little bit of stem for easy holding)
pickled okra
homemade hummus

If you make a relish tray this year, please let me know!
-Using the star icons below: RATE and COMMENT… I would love to hear your experience. Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this post with your comment.
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