Easy Olive Tapenade Recipe

This easy Olive Tapenade recipe is the perfect blend of olives, capers and fresh lemon, garlic and herbs. It’s the perfect dip or entree topping.

What is Olive Tapenade?

Put simply, tapenade is a popular french spread consisting of olives, capers and anchovies that is pureed or finely chopped.

How is this Recipe Different?

One of the things I love most about cooking is taking a traditional dish and changing it slightly to make it work for you.

For this easy Tapenade Recipe, I made the following changes –

• Omitted the anchovies. I love them but my son can’t eat fish
• I used a majority of green and kalamata olives since they have a strong flavor, to make up for the lack of anchovies
• Instead of finely pureeing it, I left it a bit “chopped” because I think it works better as a topping on fish or chicken that way
• I added fresh basil for a bright, herb flavor
• A pinch of red peppers flakes gives it a little kick
• I didn’t add any salt since I find it salty enough from the capers and olives

How do you Use Olive Tapenade?

There are many ways to use this delicious spread –

• On top of crusty bread or crackers
• As a topping for grilled fish, chicken, pork or steak
• A dip for pita chips, flatbread or raw vegetables
• On top of deviled eggs
• Tossed with pasta

The tapenade has a very strong flavor, so only a dollop is needed to add great flavor to dishes.

Easy Olive Tapenade Recipe

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Easy Olive Tapenade

This easy Olive Tapenade recipe is the perfect blend of olives, capers and fresh lemon, garlic and herbs. It's the perfect dip or entree topping.

Course Appetizer, dip, sauce, spread

Cuisine French, Mediterranean

Keyword basil, capers, dip, garlic, olives, spread

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 0 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cup

Author Brynn McDowell, RD at The Domestic Dietitian

Ingredients

• 1 cup mixed olives, pitted
• 2 tbsp capers
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
• 4 basil leaves
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes

Instructions

• In a food processor, add the olives, capers, garlic, basil, lemon juice, olive oil and red pepper flakes
• Pulse until chopped

Notes

I use a mix of castelvetrano, kalamata and black olives but you can use any olives you prefer. I prefer the majority to be castelvetrano and kalamata with just a few black olives.