Olive Tapenade
Bursting with flavor, this 10-minute Kalamata Olive Tapenade is easy to make and irresistible as a dip for appetizers or as a spread to make your sandwiches gourmet. This recipe has no anchovies or capers and is naturally vegan, just full of salty, briny, Mediterranean taste.
Olive Tapenade without Anchovies
If you enjoy the briny, salty taste of Kalamata olives, you’ll go crazy for this olive tapenade! It’s absolutely packed with flavor yet so super simple to make. I also love that it doesn’t require anchovies or capers, since I don’t usually have those on hand. (Unless I’ve recently made lemon caper pasta. Yum!)
Whether it’s for everyday snacking or for entertaining, this Mediterranean dip checks a lot of boxes. It’s:
- Super easy to make. Blitz everything in the food processor or blender, and you’re done.
- Bursting with flavor. Olives, garlic, fresh parsley, and lemon juice shine.
- Naturally vegan. Everyone can enjoy this!
Serve with crackers, baguette slices, or crostini for elegant but easy entertaining. Keep it simple or make your olive dip part of a larger cheese board to go all out.
I snack on this often with pita chips or pretzel crisps, and olive tapenade also makes a terrific spread on homemade sandwiches, like BLTs, turkey clubs, or even grilled cheese. A little goes a long way, because it’s so flavorful, and it makes even the simplest sandwich feel gourmet!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here are a few notes and shopping tips about the ingredients you’ll need to make this, as well as possible substitutions. Find full amounts in the print-friendly recipe card below.
- Kalamata olives. Grab jarred olives or fill a container from the olive bar in your grocery store’s deli section. You can substitute another type of olive for Kalamata: look for ones with a mild flavor and that have been cured in brine. Lucques, Niçoise, and Picholine olives are good choices. You can also use a combination; any mix of green olives and black olives will make for a pretty presentation. Be sure to purchase pitted olives to save a ton of time!
- Pine nuts. Toasted pine nuts work beautifully in this recipe (I buy them pre-toasted at Trader Joe’s) but aren’t necessary in my opinion. Don’t love pine nuts? Leave them out or substitute with walnuts!
- Fresh parsley. This adds such a nice pop of flavor and green color.
- Lemon juice. Fresh is best but use bottled if needed. Love lemon? Add a pinch of lemon zest, too.
- Kosher salt.
- Garlic. Fresh minced garlic is ideal but jarred will do the trick! I would personally try to avoid substituting garlic powder in this.
- Extra virgin olive oil.
Related: Quick & Easy Kalamata Chicken
Extra olives? Toss them into an antipasto salad or a Greek chickpea mix. Heaven is a tasty meal and a clean fridge.
We love the ease and flavor of this dip with raw garlic, but for a fun twist, use roasted garlic instead. To roast garlic, cut the top off a whole bulb so the cloves are exposed. Set the bulb on a piece of foil large enough to wrap it completely. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap tightly in foil. Bake at 400 degrees F for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a knife can easily pierce the cloves. Use 1-2 teaspoons of roasted garlic in this dip, or more to taste, and save the rest for another recipe.
Have more fresh herbs on hand? Toss in a pinch! Fresh rosemary, basil, thyme, or oregano all work with these Mediterranean flavors.
Tools for this Recipe
Check out all of Monica’s favorite kitchen essentials and cookware!
- → A mini food processor is a workhorse. I love having one!
- → Measuring pinch bowls make portioning so quick and simple.
How To Make Olive Tapenade
Unsurprisingly, this is pretty much a mix-it-all-up and blend kind of recipe. My favorite! 🙂
This is a general overview. As always, you will find full instructions with exact ingredients and times in the print-friendly recipe card below.
- Pulse olives, pine nuts, parsley, lemon juice, salt, and garlic in your food processor or small blender. Everything should be pretty finely chopped.
- Drizzle in the olive oil. Blend to your desired consistency; we like this tapenade pretty smooth, but it’s fine to leave it a little more chunky if you like.
Storage
I am not a food scientist. I do make olive tapenade often at my husband’s request. When we don’t use it for entertaining, but just for snacking and as a sandwich spread, it lasts a long time in the fridge. We keep olive dip for at least two weeks, very tightly sealed, until it no longer passes the sniff test.
Freezing
Olive tapenade is freezer-friendly! Scrape it into a freezer-safe jar or zip-top container and leave about 3/4″ of room on top for the dip to expand when frozen. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator, then use as needed. This is so great to prep ahead for charcuterie boards and holiday entertaining!
Related Recipes
Other great dips? So glad you asked! Creamy homemade hummus is a classic. White bean sun-dried tomato dip is always my go-to. White beans also give this garlic rosemary dip a luxuriously creamy texture that just happens to be full of protein.
Serving a Mexican or Tex-Mex spread? Bowls of chipotle street corn dip and black bean salsa will be the talk of the party. Add blender salsa and homemade guacamole for a meal-worthy array.
If you try this Olive Tapenade recipe, don’t forget to rate it and leave a comment below. I love hearing how recipes turn out in your kitchen, and it helps other readers, too.
You can also FOLLOW me on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, and TWITTER for more great recipes and ideas!
Olive Tapenade
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/4 cups Kalamata olives
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Add olives, pine nuts, parsley, lemon juice, salt, and garlic to the bowl of a food processor or small blender. Blitz on high speed until finely chopped.1 and 1/4 cups Kalamata olives, 1/4 cup pine nuts, 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1-2 cloves garlic
- Drizzle in the olive oil, with the motor running if possible. Continue to process until the dip reaches your desired consistency. (We like it very smooth but you may prefer it with larger bits.) Sample and add extra salt to taste.1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Serve with crackers, crostini, veggies, or as a sandwich spread.
Notes
- This recipe yields about 2 cups of spread, which goes a long way. We keep it tightly covered in the fridge and enjoy it over the course of several weeks, unless we’re serving it for guests, in which case it usually disappears in one night!
