Easy Tapenade
This tapenade recipe tastes so fresh and comes together so easily! Serve this French olive spread with crackers, cheese plates or sandwiches.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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Olive lovers, tapenade is for you! Tapenade is an olive spread or dip hailing from the Provence region in France. It’s bold, zippy, briny and salty, though we’ll be sure to keep the salt level in check.
Served with crostini or crackers, tapenade is a wonderful appetizer with drinks. It offers some welcome contrast when served with creamy dips, like hummus or spinach artichoke dip. You can also spread it onto sandwiches, dollop it onto salads, and more. Tapenade will keep for a week or two in the fridge, so you’ll find many uses for it.
Tapenade is named after the Provençal word for capers, tapenas. Over the years, olives have become the predominant ingredient, and I used capers as a subtle accent. Similar olive spreads have been served in the Mediterranean for ages, which is why tapenade is a natural pairing with your favorite Mediterranean flavors.
Traditional tapenade also includes anchovies, but being vegetarian, I omitted them. This dip is loaded with complex flavor regardless, and it’s suitable for vegans and those with shellfish allergies as well.
To make this easy tapenade, you’ll need just a few basic ingredients and a food processor. It comes together in about 10 minutes with mostly pantry ingredients! You’ll need Castelvetrano and Kalamata olives, fresh parsley, capers, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. Let’s make some already.
The Best Olives for Tapenade
In France, you’ll find tapenades made entirely with black olives (typically Niçoise olives), or green olives, or a combination of the two. While it’s a matter of preference, I highly recommend a combination of green olives (specifically, Castelvetrano) and black (Niçoise or Kalamata, not the squeaky canned kind). You’ll find both of these varieties in well-stocked American grocery stores.
Castelvetrano olives are rich, buttery, fleshy and not too salty, as many olives can be. Kalamata olives pack more of a briny punch, which is why we’ll use half as much black olive as green. Then we’ll add just a tablespoon of drained capers. Keeping the salt level in check is key to a truly enjoyable, flavorful dip.
The Easiest Way to Pit Olives
After some experimentation, I’m pleased to report that I’ve found a very easy way to pit olives. Hooray!
Here’s how: Place a small handful of olives on a cutting board. Find a sturdy liquid measuring cup or jar with a wide base (I imagine a skillet would work, too). Press the base of the jar down over the olives until they break into pieces (see photo above). Now, you can remove the pits with ease.
Pitted Olive Safety Note
Even if you are using pre-pitted olives, check each one to ensure that it’s actually been pitted. It’s not unusual to find some olive pits along the way. It’s best to find the pits before they go into the food processor and break into smaller pieces. The pits are very hard and could break a tooth!
Watch How to Make Easy Tapenade
How to Serve Tapenade
Tapenade is a lovely appetizer with a glass of wine (especially a crisp rosé or sauvignon blanc) or a stiff gin or vodka-based cocktail (think gin and tonic or martini).
Tapenade has many uses, though. Here are some serving suggestions:
- Cheese plates: Serve tapenade in place of whole olives (or in addition to them, if you’re serving olive lovers).
- Salads: Whisk a dollop of tapenade into a vinaigrette or spoon it sparingly over tomato salad.
- Sandwiches: Tapenade is a great sandwich spread, especially with avocado, creamy cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers.
- Savory breakfasts: Tapenade would be nice on scrambled or fried eggs, with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh parsley or basil, and creamy cheese, such as goat cheese or feta.
- Or simply with crostini, crackers or crusty bread
Please let me know how your tapenade turns out in the comments! I love hearing how you serve my recipes.
Easy Tapenade
This tapenade recipe tastes so fresh and comes together so easily! Serve this French olive spread with crackers, crostini, cheese plates or on sandwiches. Recipe yields 1 ½ cups tapenade.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted*
- ½ cup Niçoise or Kalamata olives, pitted*
- ¼ cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley (thin stems are ok)
- 1 tablespoon drained capers
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- In the bowl of your food processor, combine all of the ingredients (pitted olives, parsley, capers, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice). Pulse briefly about 10 times, then scrape down the sides of the jar.
- Pulse 5 to 10 more times until well chopped, but not pureed, or until you reach your desired texture. Serve as desired. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
*Safety note/how to pit olives: Even if buying pitted olives, check to ensure each olive has actually been pitted (sometimes they sneak through). To pit olives with ease, place several olives on a cutting board, then press a sturdy, large liquid measuring cup or jar down over them. The olives will break into pieces, making it easy to remove the pits.
No food processor? Finely chop the solid ingredients by hand, then stir all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Yummy recipe!!!
I didn’t have flat parsley so i substituted with boxed lettuce. Though it would have been more flavourful with tangy parsley the boxed lettuce made it good. Thanks for all your yum and healthy recipes.
Thank you for your review, Annie! I’m happy you enjoyed this recipe and others.
Can this be canned? Like hot water bath?
Hi Vanessa, this recipe isn’t designed for canning. Sorry!
I only used the olives, garlic and evo!! AWESOME mixed into plain or garlic humus ang garlic parm pita crisps!! That’s my 10:00 snack!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Tisa! Thank you for your review.
This tapenade is just fabulous – so easy and delicious! I can’t wait to share it with my friends. Thank you also for the introduction to Castelvetrano olives. I could eat them right out of the jar.
Great to hear, Vicki! I appreciate your review.
Loved this recipe as did my book club! I pulsed the parsley & garlic first, then added the other ingredients. Thanks
Thank you for sharing, Jill!
Great recipe! This has become my morning meal; toasted sourdough English muffin slathered with the tapenade, then topped with my famous bruschetta salsa! Thanks for adding a delicious meal to my morning routine.
That’s great to hear, Ben! I appreciate your review.
Easy and wonderfully delicious. This is a perfect recipe!
Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you, Debbie!
Absolutely delicious, and I’ll be honest “, I don’t even like olives very much. I highly recommend this recipe as a sturdy appetizer.
I love tapenade and I’ve tried nay recipes and also using no recipe. This is by far the best tapenade I’ve ever had. Thankyou for this delicious recipe.
Your recipes never fail to be the best version of a dish!
I’ve made this Tapenade as a last minute appetizer with sliced baguette and everyone loves it. I will garnish it with some fresh thyme, oregano, and lemon peel. It so easy and so good! I have used many varieties of olives- kalamata with Bella di cerignola is my favorite combo.
I also have to say your Hummus recipe and Babaganoush recipe are my other never-fail go-tos! I’ve been asked by countless friends for the recipe and I direct them to your site. Delicious recipes, well created, tested, thank you!
HI Kate, Is it possible to freeze this tapenade? Thanks.
I don’t know if this would be a great option to freeze. If you try it, let me know!
Hi Kate
Thanks for this recipe, it turned out perfect, I added roasted cashews too
Cheers
Helen
Thank you for sharing how you made it, Helen! I appreciate your review.
Tried this today and boy I’m glad I found this recipe! Can’t find anything remotely close to this in our small town. Super easy to make and I actually did find all the ingredients I needed. Thank you so much for sharing! ( I love mixing it with humus.)
Just read your tapenade recipe and it looks amazing! I will make that today. I love to experiment with traditional recipes, so I thought, why not add chopped walnuts to the tapenade, and sun-dried tomatoes for a nice tart taste – or even a TBSP of fresh uncooked cranberries for tartness and color? Adding a wee salad tip — I discovered that brown Swiss button mushrooms and toasted sunflower seeds go hand in hand to create a beautifully rustic burst of flavor in a spinach salad. That combo is truly magical.
Just made this! It was my first time making olive tapenade as I just realized that I like olives lol. It came out amazing! Will definitely be using this recipe again! ^_^
I love to hear that, Tiffany! Thank you for your review.
This is a great recipe! I took the time and diced/minced everything by hand. I gave it away as a dinner host gift, without taking a picture. I had 3 different olive oils to choose from, so I used the one with the most citrusy flavor, and I hand squeezed the lemon juice. While it looked and tasted beyond terrific, next time I will mince more of the olives, as the hand-cut mixture fell apart a little too much while serving on a cracker. I printed this to my personal favorites folder, thanks!
Can I make it with cilantro instead of parsley or basil maybe? And omit the capers? I’m trying to use what I have existing in my fridge.
I don’t know if this would get you the results you are looking for. Sorry!
I’m about to make this recipe for the 5th time. Rave reviews every time! Each time I’ve made it, I’ve used half as many Castelvetrano olives as black olives. 1 cup Kalamata to 1/2 c Castelvetrano, It’s still great. The capers, garlic, parsley and fresh lemon juice really make the dish. I use a lot of your recipes, thanks.
Hi!
What can the parsley be substituted with?
This is best with parsley. But, you can omit if you prefer.
How could I make this a creamy tapenade? Just add Mayo?
I haven’t tried it. I love this as it is. Let me know what you think if you do!
This is a fabulous recipe! I had a mix of several different types of olives from Wegmans wonderful olive bar. It was a bit too salty because of the different types of olives in my mix. Next time I’m sticking with the castelventrano and nicoise.
I have made this 3 times so far!!! So easy and incredibly delicious!!! It goes well with everything you can imagine!!! Even on a spoon to your mouth!!! Seriously I put this on crackers, my broiled salmon, steamed broccoli!!!
Made this for a cottage weekend. Everyone loved it, including my 9 and 11 year-old granddaughters. Only problem? It was gone too quickly and I was asked to make at least a double batch the next time.
That’s great to hear, Connie!
I don’t know who is the better cook you or Cookie, but your tapenade and baba-ganoush recipes are amazing. Thanks a lot. I myself as a borderline BMI person with lousy appetite added some Estonian wild mushrooms, which at least for me made tapenade even tastier. Mara from Estonia.
This was perfection! I made enough to share and now I am getting credit as the best neighbor ever. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Love this, so easy, so delicious and so many ways to use over the week.
Super easy and delicious! Thank you for this recipe! Served with goat cheese and homemade crackers and bread.
This recipe for tapenade looks fabulous. Do you think it will work on grilled polenta slices?
You could try it.
I love this! So healthy, easy, and delicious!
I subbed parsley for cilantro and lemon juice for lime cause that’s what I had on hand and it turned out really good!
Wonderful to hear, Natasha!
Made this tapenade with feta-stuffed green olives (that I had in the fridge) and kalamatas and it turned out delicious! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Lauri! Thank you for your review.
It sounds delicious. I’m going to try this recipe for tapenade for a party
I’ve never had tapenade before, but this was delicious. I used generic black olives, didn’t use capers, and substituted the fresh parsley leaves for some dried parsley, thyme, and oregano. It still turned out great and I’ll be using this recipe again.
I’m excited you tried it, Sarah! Thank you for your review.
☆☆☆☆☆ I’ve now made this recipe 3 times, it’s so delicious and easy too This batch is for a girls weekend. The last time I made this, I walked into my kitchen and found the hubby eating it with a spoon.
I love to hear that, Mary! Thank you for your review.
This is my 4th time making this, followed this except left oil out of the last 3. This is amazing and I really appreciate you sharing. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Valerie! I appreciate your review.
Can you freeze Olive Tapenade?
I don’t know how well this would hold up, sorry!
Great, easy to follow instructions! I used a hand blender and was a bit more energetic with it: Olive puree has been born! No complaints as of yet from the peanut gallery.
Next time I might add some parmesan…..
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it, Kevin!
Hello! I just made the olive easy tapenade and it is wonderful! So thank you for the easy and tasty recipe! It really is wonderful and better than I expected! Be blessed! Sherie
Great to hear, Sherie! I appreciate your review.
WOW GREAT STUFF ‼️‼️
OMG….this recipe is heavenly! I doubled the recipe and used fresh tarragon and parsley from our garden. The flavors melded well when spread on homemade spelt/rye naan.
I brought this to a charcuterie potluck, along with a 4-month (i.e. young, not too sharp) pecorino and baguette – it was a hit. Usually tapenades are too pungent/salty for me, but with castelvetrano olives in the majority, it was a great balance of fresh and briny. Only issue was I found it too oily. Since I loved the combo of the tapenade + mild pecorino, I made it again last night (halved the olive oil this time, which was perfect) and used it as a pizza topping – baked the dough with olive oil and grated pecorino, then topped with heaps of tapenade – YUM!
I absolutely love this olive tapenade recipe! What is a serving size? How do I measure for a serving?
Hi Nina! You can find the serving size in the recipe header and nutrition facts.
Delicious! I had to substitute the lemon (did not have) with champagne vinegar otherwise exact recipe. Can’t wait for guest to try !
Thank you! It was really easy to do and so tasty. The flavor has so many layers, blooming one after another ♥
I’m delighted you enjoyed it!
Oh my goodness! First time making tapenade and this was just CRAZY good!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
You’re welcome, Patrick!
Just made my first batch. Both types of olives that I got came in brine, so despite draining them I ended up with a really salty product. I might give the olives a light rinse next time to knock that down.
This is an easy recipe to make and tastes delicious!
Great to hear, Eve!
Yummy! I always loved the olive mixtures I got on sandwiches in NY and Florida but couldn’t duplicate it. I made this, but in a 2nd batch, I skipped the capers and added my pickled crunchy cauliflower, red peppers, and carrots to the Greek Kalamata and Garlic stuffed Greek Green olives and oh my goodness both are incredible. Thank you!!
You’re welcome, Janis!
Love this recipe! Super easy and super delicious! After having traveled to France frequently for the past 50 years it also seems authentic. Today I discovered that I was out of capers, so I made it without them and it was still fantastic.(I upped the amount of garlic just a bit.)
That’s great to hear, Allison!
Could you use a blender if you don’t have a food processor? Thanks