If you love olives this Easy Olive Tapenade is for you. It’s full of olive flavour, vegan, gluten-free and has almost zero carbohydrates. As the name suggests it’s also really easy to make – just put all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until combined. 

What is an olive tapenade?

Olive tapenade is essentially an olive dip or spread. It originated in France in 1880 and is made from chopped or puréed olives, capers and anchovies. The word tapenade is the Provençal name for capers, hence why it’s called olive tapenade. 

How do you eat olive tapenade?

You can pretty much eat it the same way you would eat any other spread or dip. But just remember it has a really strong flavour so there are some things it may not go so well with. However it works really well slathered onto some really nice bread, or with crackers or veggie sticks dipped into it. You could also try cooking with it – add it to sauces or brush onto veggies before roasting.

What is in this easy olive tapenade recipe?

Of course olives – I’ve used a mix of kalamata and green olives. 

Keeping to tradition I’ve also used capers, but to make this dip vegan I’ve skipped the anchovies. Instead I added lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil and a good seasoning of black pepper. 

What sort of olives should I use?

I recommend kalamata olives as they’re big on flavour and are also a really nice deep purple colour. Green olives are also great to add a bit more depth flavour. I like a mix of kalamata and green with the majority (about two thirds) being kalamata. 

You could also use only kalamata skip the green olives altogether but I don’t suggest doing it the other way around. Using only green olives will give you a much different, more acidic flavour which is also less traditional.

Normal black olives would work too, but again the flavour will change as black olives a lot milder than kalamata.

If you can try and use pitted olives as this will save you so much time. It’s a good idea though to give each olive a little press when you’re measuring just in case there are any pesky stones left.

What kitchen tools do I need to make this easy olive tapenade?

A sieve to help with rinsing the olives and capers

A food processor or blender. I used my NutriBullet.

This easy olive tapenade is perfect for snacks and entrees particularly when you’re entertaining. Just whip up a batch in 10 minutes before your guests are due to arrive!

After some low carb crackers to serve with your tapenade? Try my Seed Crackers.