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For a 10-minute appetizer dip, sandwich spread, or pizza “sauce,” try this easy homemade Olive Tapenade. Customize this Mediterranean spread with any variety of briny olives.
If you love olives, you’ll love the salty, briny flavor of this tapenade spread. I love to eat it on fresh bread or toasted baguette slices, something with a neutral flavor profile that doesn’t compete with tapenade.
It’s delicious on a Mezze platter too (an appetizer board of Mediterranean fare). Pile fresh vegetables, olives, nuts, and pita chips, then add bowls of hummus or roasted eggplant dip to complete your Med Feast.
Table of Contents
Olive Tapenade Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Olives: Seek out mild olives that have been cured in brine. I love Kalamata and Lucques olives but picholines, Castelvetrano olives, Niçoise olives from France, black olives, and green olives are also great choices. Use one kind or a combination of a few of your favorites.
- Anchovies: These add a fantastic savory, umami flavor to dishes. However, if you don’t want to buy and handle anchovies, you can use anchovy paste. Enjoy the flavor and get used to the mental aspect of them without having to touch them. (Just like tomato paste in a tube, it keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator.)
- Capers: Buy them brine-packed or salt-packed. The salt-packed ones have a more mild (and I think preferable) flavor although I like both. If you forget to rinse them, however, the flavor can be overpowering at times.
- Garlic: Roasting garlic is optional. To roast the garlic, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the top off a bulb of garlic so the cloves are exposed. Set the bulb on a piece of foil large enough to wrap the bulb. Top the exposed cloves with olive oil and wrap the bulb tightly in foil. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until a knife slides easily into the middle of the bulb.
How to Make Olive Tapenade
- In a food processor, combine olives, anchovies, capers, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Pulse 2 to 3 times until coarsely chopped.
- Drizzle in olive oil and pulse a few more times until a chunky paste forms, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve at room temperature.
What is the best food processor?
For making smaller portions of Olive Tapenade, I like using my Cuisinart Mini Prep Food Processor, which is my favorite mini food processor. It’s small, powerful, and perfect for making dips and sauces. You can get it for $39.17 at Amazon, and I think it’s a great addition to any kitchen.
Olive Tapenade Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes about 3 cups tapenade total, enough for 6 (1/2-cup servings).
- Storage: Store leftovers in airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Olive tapenade is freezer friendly! Transfer to glass jars, leave ½ inch head space, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- More flavors: Switch up your fresh herbs to include fresh basil, fresh thyme, fresh parsley, Herbs de Provence, or sun-dried tomatoes.
- Serving suggestion: Serve tapenade with pita chips, crostini, crackers, or chunks of sturdy bread. This olive spread is also delicious on top of deviled eggs; just add small dollops and watch them disappear. It’s also perfect served with goat cheese.
- Kalamata aioli: In a food processor, add 1 cup pitted and drained Kalamata olives, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 clove garlic, 5 large basil leaves (or 10 small), and 1 cup mayonnaise. Process until well combined. Serve with bread chunks. Yields about 2 cups.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tapenade is made with olives and capers, then flavored with other herbs and spices. The dish is finished with plenty of olive oil to give it the desired consistency.
Olive tapenade has a briny, salty flavor from the olives. This version also contains anchovies which lend a strong umami (meaty/savory) flavor.
To put this homemade Olive Tapenade to terrific use, spread it on toasted baguette, enjoy with fresh vegetables, toss with pasta, stuff it inside roasted mushrooms, use it instead of your usual pizza sauce, share as part of a charcuterie board, add a scoop to a buddha bowl or salad, or slather it on a sandwich.
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Olive Tapenade Recipe
Equipment
- Food processor (I have this one from Breville and it's amazing!)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups pitted, brine-cured olives drained (see note 1)
- 1 teaspoon anchovy paste or 2 anchovy filets, minced (see note 2)
- 3 tablespoons capers rinsed (see note 3)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons parsley coarsely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic roasted if desired (see note 4)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine olives, anchovies, capers, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Pulse 2 to 3 times until coarsely chopped.
- Drizzle in olive oil and pulse a few more times until a chunky paste forms, scraping down the sides as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve at room temperature.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Olives: Seek out mild olives that have been cured in brine. I love Kalamata and Lucques olives but picholines and Niçoise olives are also great choices. Use one kind or a combination of a few of your favorites.
- Anchovies: These add a fantastic savory, umami flavor to dishes. However, if you don’t want to buy and handle anchovies, you can use anchovy paste. Enjoy the flavor and get used to the mental aspect of them without having to touch them.
- Capers: Buy them brine-packed or salt-packed. The salt-packed ones have a more mild (and I think preferable) flavor although I like both. If you forget to rinse them, however, the flavor can be overpowering at times.
- Garlic: Roasting garlic is optional. To roast the garlic, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the top off a bulb of garlic so the cloves are exposed. Set the bulb on a piece of foil large enough to wrap the bulb. Top the exposed cloves with olive oil and wrap the bulb tightly in foil. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until a knife slides easily in to the middle of the bulb.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 3 cups tapenade total, enough for 6 (1/2-cup servings).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
I would like to thank you for your recipe. I will just left the anchovies out because I don’t have any in my grocery cuboard. These people that calls other dirty names should stay off this page. They seriously have a personality problem. We are talking about food here, you know. God gave us the ability to produce some food to survive. Please stay off this page, we don’t need people like you!
Delicious!!!! How long should this last in the fridge?
Hi Tanya! I would say 4 days. It could be longer, but I like to follow CDC guidelines for leftovers which is 4 days (and there are no preservatives to extend its life). I hope this helps! Thanks! -Meggan
If you’re scared of handling some sardines or anchovies, I seriously doubt your culinary prowess. You sound like a scared bitch. Pass!
I wrote that post before I wen to culinary school. While there, I learned to break down whole rabbits, eat raw scallops, and do all sorts of other things I didn’t know I was capable of. People grow and change, Milton. YOU, however, will always be the bully who went on the internet and called a random stranger a scared bitch because she used to be afraid of anchovies. PASS! -Meggan
MIlton, you sound like a sexist bastard. Of course, your mother named you Milton so she obviously didn’t love you enough to be ashamed of you.
I just made this and it turned out very salty, even though I added no salt. I rinsed the capers but now I’m wondering if I should have also rinsed the olives -? Also, I was able to get 3 tablespoons of lemon juice out of only one lemon.
Hi Cindy, you can always add more lemon juice if something is too salty. You could definitely rinse the olives although I would probably not, but then again I love super salty food. And this is an inherently salty spread. I think you could try rinsing the olives next time, that might make it fit your taste preferences better. And it sounds like you found the juiciest lemon ever! -Meggan
I would leave out the anchovies to greatly decrease the salty taste in rhia recipe. It is still fantastic!
Nothing takes 5 minutes, but really good. You can adjust flavor as you go adding additional anchovie fillets. Highly recommend it.
Received my first food processor for Christmas and made this! Picky husband approved! Thanks for making it easy to follow and the helpful notes!
Can this be made ahead and stored? Wanting to add this to an antipasti table at my daughter’s wedding. I am looking for recipes that can me made a couple days before the big date.
Hi Michelle, yes! I would make this up to 3 days ahead. Anything with garlic, you have to be wary of botulism so I wouldn’t make it more than 3 days ahead. But you’ll be totally fine with 3 days. I hope this is helpful. Congrats to your daughter, I’m so happy for all of you! 🙂 If you need anything else please let me know.
Can’t wait to try this olive tapenade..,will serve w/pita chips & fresh veggies!!
Grazie mi amico!!
I did make it and it was delicious! I am going to make it again this weekend. It’s great with pita chips and vegetables, and the leftovers I mixed in with quinoa. I am going to try it without the anchovies next time. I am still looking for an easy substitute for the anchovies. Someone mentioned plum paste, but I have not seen the plum paste in my local stores. Is there anything else that would be a good substitute?
Sun dried tomatoes from a jar are a great addition – they have plenty of umami themselves. I sub out the oil for the oil from the jar as well sometimes.
I just made this!! It’s so good!! Keeper for sure 🙂