Make this Quick Olive Tapenade with black or green olives, or a combination of both. Pull a few ingredients out of your pantry and fridge and you could be enjoying this olive tapenade as a salty, briny, tangy snack in just a few minutes.
Don’t miss the step-by-step photo instructions below the main recipe.
There are two kinds of people in this world. Olive people and non-olive people.
You know what I mean.
I don’t know very many people I don’t know ANY people who are so-so about olives.
Even as you just read that, you probably thought either “OMG I LOVE olives!” or “Yeccccckkkk”.
This recipe is for all of you who fall into the first category.
I love olives (obviously, or I wouldn’t be making this olive tapenade). Laurier is not there (yet – I’m still working on him). I know tons of people who started out not liking olives and have grown to LOVE them through repeated tastings. So if you’re married to a non-olive person, don’t ever give up trying to push your love of olives on them at every opportunity. I know I won’t. 🙂
Anyway, let’s get on with this. A lot of tapenade recipes are made using a food processor, but not everyone owns a food processor, right? So I decided to try making it with a knife, and guess what? It worked just fine! The end result had a little more texture than traditional tapenade, but I really liked that for a change. If you’d prefer a smoother texture you could continue chopping it for longer (or use a food processor, of course).
This olive tapenade is super quick to make and very versatile. You can make it with any kind of olives, and you can use black, green or both. I find a combination especially tasty, but you can decide what works for you. I’m sure fancy olives would be delicious, but I had these two jars of cheap olives in my fridge and they worked out perfectly. Plus, I didn’t have to pit the olives first.
You can eat this tapenade with crackers or breadsticks, toss it with pasta, put it on pizza or in a sandwich or stir it into a salad or soup. It will add a salty, tangy, briny bite to whatever it meets.
If you’re an olive lover like me, you’re probably already pulling out the ingredients.
Oh yeah, before I forget… Olive you guys.
Sorry. Couldn’t help it. 😛
Step-by-step instructions and photos are below the recipe.
Quick Olive Tapenade- with black or green olives
Prep Time
10 mins
Total Time
40 mins
Servings: 1 cup
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic (or more to taste)
- 1 cup pitted olives any type of olives will work fine; you can use all green, all black or a combination of green and black
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley or 1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
Instructions
- Mince garlic on a large cutting board.
- Add olives (I used half black and half green). Roughly chop the olives, mixing the garlic into them as you chop. This works best with a large chef-type knife but I'm sure any other type of knife could work too.
- Go over the mixture again, chopping it more finely, until it's minced quite small.
- Add olive oil, parsley and thyme.
- Mash the mixture around well to make sure all the ingredients are well mixed together.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the flavours meld.
- As I mentioned above, eat this tapenade with crackers or breadsticks, toss it with pasta, put it on pizza or in a sandwich or stir it into a salad or soup.
Quick Olive Tapenade – with Black or Green Olives – Step-by-Step Instructions
Quick Olive Tapenade – with Black or Green Olives – Ingredients. *** Please note, I didn’t end up using the lemon – my tapenade was tangy enough. If you find yours could use a little brightening up, feel free to add a splash of lemon juice.
Mince 2 cloves of garlic on a large cutting board. Add 1 cup of pitted olives (black, green or a mix – I used half black and half green). Roughly chop the olives, mixing the garlic into them as you chop. This works best with a large chef-type knife but I’m sure any other type of knife could work too.
Go over the mixture again, chopping it more finely, until it’s minced quite small.
Add one tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley (or 1 teaspoon of fresh parsley, chopped), and 1/2 teaspoon of fresh thyme, chopped (or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme).
Mash the mixture around well to make sure all the ingredients are well mixed together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the flavours meld.
As I mentioned above, eat this tapenade with crackers or breadsticks, toss it with pasta, put it on pizza or in a sandwich or stir it into a salad or soup.
Enjoy! 🙂
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