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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.
Just delicious! I put it over hot pasta mixed with arugula, cherry tomatoes and a store-cooked rotisserie chicken that I’d cut into bite size pieces. I had ‘thirds’ when it came to helpings, it was SO GOOD!!!
And easy too… all you need is a food processor, knife, and a measuring cup & spoon. Get everything ready in advance & it comes together quickly.
So good, the flavours are perfect – even straight out of the food processor. I cant wait for the flavours to meld together on my homemade bread.
Can I make this a day or two in advance and how long can be kept in the frig if there is leftovers? Thanks! Can’t wait to make this!
Hi Virginia, yes! Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container. – Meggan
I added 1 1/2 roasted red peppers and a few thin slices of red onion. Tastes fantastic! This product is so expensive to buy and very easy to make .
Hi Meggan,
I’ve been making tapenade for years and your recipe is very similar to mine. It’s a great recipe to increase and decrease certain things for personal taste ie I add basil rather than parsley and I love adding sundried tomatoes to mine as well. A tip for vegans if they like the ‘anchovy’ note is to add a tbsp of vegan fish sauce. It’s indistinguishable from the fishy kind (made from seaweed) and rounds out the tapenade flavour.
All the best for the festive season! This will be on our table 🙂
This is super easy and very good if you don’t add any salt. Olives anchovies and capers do not need added salt. I added a pinch and it ruined the first batch.
This is the way to win an olive lovers heart. So good.
Spectacular! I only had 1 T capers, but it’s still bright and briny and so delicious! I can’t wait to serve it on my Italian subs tonight. Thank you!
This was so good. Thank you!
I have about 3kgs of olives – a mixed bunch, small, large, black and green. My idea was to bottle them – have been doing it for years. This batch however is really not the greatest for bottling. If I make Tapenade, how do I ensure its going to last before I can give away to family and friends? Any advice would be appreciated!
Hi Deirdre, I am not an expert on canning, so I can’t give you specifics on what to do. However, I know you have to be very careful when canning with garlic. I would recommend freezing it after making it. Just be sure to leave some space at the top of the container because it will expand a bit. -Meggan