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Real Housemoms

Easy Recipes for Busy Families

Three Olive Tapenade

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Three Olive Tapenade is delicious, full of amazing flavors, and very addicting! It’s a perfect make-ahead appetizer for any occasion!

three olive tapenade in a serving bowl with basil leaves for garnish

I LOVE olives!  I did not like green olives until I was pregnant with my son and I always craved them with cottage cheese. I know, it sounds very strange and pregnancy cravings sometimes come out of left field, but I loved it and ate it. A LOT. Now I eat every different type of olive by themselves and in various recipes. One of my favorites is this crazy easy Three Olive Tapenade! It’s right up there with deviled eggs for my must-have party bites.

THREE OLIVE TAPENADE
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What is Olive Tapenade?

  • Tapenade is a dish made up of finely chopped olives, capers, and olive oil. It’s a popular food in the south of Franch, where it’s usually spread on bread or sometimes used to stuff poultry.

Last year my brother and his family came out for Easter. I knew they loved olives as much as I do so I had to make them my favorite olive tapenade recipe.  They said it was the best tapenade they had ever had! Score one for me!! This tapenade was amazing on Club crackers and we polished off a large bowl.

ingredients to make three olive tapenade

How to Make Olive Tapenade

  1. Add olives, roasted red peppers, garlic, and capers to a food processor. Pulse until combined and still chunky.
  2. Add lemon juice olive oil, herbs, and seasoning. Pulse until combined with teeny tiny olive pieces.
  3. Transfer to a serving bowl and dig in!

Since then, I have made this olive tapenade recipe for practically all our family get-togethers, my girlfriend’s engagement party, and our housewarming party. Everyone raves about how good it is and I can’t count how many times I sent them the recipe. This best part about this recipe is that it’s so easy to change it up to a black olive tapenade, kalamata olive tapenade, or green olive tapenade just by using one type of olive instead of three!

olive tapenade in a dip bowl with basil leaves and a tortilla chip

Can’t get enough of olives? Me either!

tortilla chip that has been dipped in olive tapenade

Tools used to make this Three Olive Tapenade recipe

Food Processor: Slice, chop, and grate anything you need with this food processor. I’ve had this model for years and use it all the time. It’s a great workhorse in my kitchen and I’d recommend it to anyone!

Rubber Spatula: Rubber spatulas are one of those kitchen tools you don’t realize how much you use until they’re all dirty. This set of three spatulas in various sizes and shapes will make cooking everything from dinner to dessert a breeze.

Dip Bowl: These bowls are great for having on hand when company is coming over! Fill them with your favorite dip, nuts, olives, or any other small bites!

Three Olive Tapenade is delicious, full of amazing flavors, and very addicting! It's a perfect make-ahead appetizer for any occasion!
4.16 from 33 votes
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Three Olive Tapenade

Three Olive Tapenade is delicious, full of amazing flavors, and very addicting! It's a perfect make-ahead appetizer for any occasion!

Course Appetizer
Cuisine French
Prep Time 5 minutes
Servings 10
Calories 142 kcal
Author Aubrey @Real Housemoms

Ingredients

  • 7 ounces kalamata olives drained
  • 5.75 ounces green olives drained (with or without pimentos)
  • 6 ounces black olives drained
  • 2 tablespoons capers
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 roasted red bell pepper roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon parsley roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon basil roughly chopped
  • 3 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 5 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

  1. Put the olives, capers, garlic, and red pepper into a food processor.

  2. Pulse in1-second intervals 10 times and then scrape down the sides of the bowl.

  3. Add the herbs, lemon juice, and olive oil and pulse another 10 times or so, stopping in the middle to scrape down the sides of the bowl. You want the pieces to be 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch in size so you want to see all the colors of the olives and peppers.

  4. Transfer to a dip bowl and serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

  • All olives should be pitted!!
  • Measurements are for about 1 cup of each type of olive.
Nutrition Facts
Three Olive Tapenade
Amount Per Serving
Calories 142 Calories from Fat 135
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 15g 23%
Saturated Fat 2g 10%
Sodium 922mg 38%
Potassium 32mg 1%
Total Carbohydrates 2g 1%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Vitamin A 5.4%
Vitamin C 3.9%
Calcium 3.1%
Iron 2.2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

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Comments

  6. Can’t wait to try this, but……..do you really measure your fresh herbs in ounces? LOL! I have no idea how much 1/2 oz. of parsley or basil is – can you convert that to a measurement I can measure? Like teaspoons, etc.? Thanks!

    Reply

    • Sorry about that Nancy. I’m not sure why it was written with oz. but the recipe has been updated to reflect 1 tablespoon. Let us know what you think when you try it. 🙂

      Reply

  7. You know those beautiful little colored sweet peppers? I cut those into halves or thirds, stuff with cream cheese, and top with tapenade. Can’t wait to try this!

    Reply

  9. Thanks for your post. This is the only recipe I found that the finished product doesn’t look pulverized. I’ll be trying it tonight.

    Reply

  10. Thank you for the great recipe! I used to buy this when I lived in San Francisco. I can’t find it in Saint Louis so I’m really looking forward to making this. I add balsamic vinegar ( a tablespoon and an ounce or 2 of wine) and toss the tapenade with cheese tortellini or beef ravioli. Its a great inexpensive pot luck or salad or main course! It’s the best received vegetarian dish I ‘ve ever made.

    Reply

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