You'll love this delicious Artichoke and Olive Tapenade for it's tangy flavor and how easy it is to make! It's packed with flavor, yet the artichokes really elevate the flavor to be elegant yet very snackable, perfect for party season!
I love making this easy artichoke tapenade recipe for serving at holiday parties or to add a bit of pizzaz to a cheese board. It's tangy and delicious, and makes the perfect addition to an appetizer table or to use as a base for fancy canapes. . Tapenade is traditionally made with capers, olives and anchovies, but this version does away with the anchovies, makeing the recipe lighter and easy for scooping.
If you love tapenade and dips, you might want to make a tapenade 'flight' for guest to try. My Mushroom Tapenade is savory and delicious, while my Eggplant Olive Tapenade is both light and perfect for sharing.
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🫒Ingredients
- Marinated Jarred Artichoke Hearts: I like these as they're super flavorful, however you can also use a can of artichoke hearts if you wish.
- Green Olives: These have a deliciously briny olive flavor. Choose good quality larger green olives such as Nocarella (Castelvetrano olives) for the best flavor. If you do wish to use black olives, choose Kalamata olives.
- Capers: Make sure to choose the capers that are in brine, rather than the ones packed in salt.
- Fresh Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed is best1
- A clove of Garlic: or measure with your heart. Remember this is an uncooked dish though! More than two garlic cloves might overpower the tapenade!
- Olive Oil to taste: Good quality extra virgin olive oil for drizzling on top!
- Optional: Cracked Black Pepper: if you want a little spice.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
1. Drain all the ingredients then put into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for a minute or two.
2. I prefer quite a chunky tapenade like as shown, however you can pulse for longer if you wish for a finer tapenade.
Hint: The olives and capers are already salty, so I would not add any extra salt!
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
This artichoke olive tapenade is one of those recipes you can tinker with to make your own! Taste as you go though!
- A little cheesy -instead of adding parmesan cheese, add a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast.
- Red Peppers- Replace the artichoke with roasted red peppers. You can make your own by Roasting Red Peppers in the Air Fryer.
- Spicy- Add some red pepper flakes for a little spice
- Extra Lemony- zest a lemon and add to the mixture. You can also sprinkle some lemon zest on top.
- Herbs: Sprinkle herbs over to serve, such as finely chopped fresh parsley or chives.
- Pine Nuts: roast some pine nuts or cashew nuts and blitz a little before adding the rest of the ingredients.
🔪Equipment
You'll need a food processor or blender to make this tapenade recipe, or alternatively very finely chop all the ingredients before mixing together.
🫙Storage
As long as you don't add fresh herbs to this tapenade, it will last up to three weeks in an airtight container in the fridge. I wouldn't freeze this recipe however!
🥪Uses
Here are some yummy ways to use up extra tapenade:
- Sandwiches and Baguettes- use the tapenade as a spread on a crusty baguette or as a sandwich spread.
- Use to spread over puff pastry like with these Vegan Puff Pastry Pinwheels with Tapenade for an easy canape
- Serve with pita chips as a quick snack for your next party
Top tip
Make sure to drain any jarred or canned ingredients in this recipe before whizzing them up to become the tapenade.
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📖 Recipe
Easy Artichoke and Green Olive Tapenade
Equipment
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 160 g (⅔ cups) Artichokes (285 g bottle, marinated artichokes)
- 145 g (1 cups) Green Olives (without seeds)
- 50 g (⅓ cups) capers (in brine)
- 1 cloves garlic (or more! )
- 30 ml (2 tablespoon) fresh lemon juice (optional- taste to see)
- 30 ml (2 tablespoon) extra virgin olive oil
- 10 g (1½ tablespoon) fresh parsley (or chives to serve)
Instructions
- Drain the jar of artichokes as well as the olives and capers (if they came in brine) and add to a food processor along garlic. Pulse the food processor a few times.160 g Artichokes, 145 g Green Olives, 50 g capers, 1 cloves garlic
- Pulse until you have a thick paste. You can make it finer or rougher according to your personal preference.
- Add a little extra olive oil, taste to adjust seasonings.- add lemon juice or a little red wine vinegar to taste.30 ml extra virgin olive oil, 30 ml fresh lemon juice
- Serve immediately, or put into a container and preserve with a little oil over the top. It will keep in the fridge for 2 -3 weeks. To serve sprinkle over some fresh herbs.10 g fresh parsley
Notes
- Substitute the black olives for green olives (choose good quality pitted olives in either case as their flavor is noticeable!)
- Add some semi dried tomato paste for a tangy extra flavor.
- To lighten the flavors up- or to finish off the tapenade before serving as a dip, add some lemon juice.
- Stir in some fresh herbs just before serving: Fresh, basil, parsley or chives would add a bright contrast.
Maria says
Hello
Delicious recipe. Looking at your website, I could see lots of good food.
Thanks for sharing