Make your own delicious Kalamata olive tapenade with this quick and easy recipe. Made without anchovies, this vegan olive tapenade is a delicious option for people with fish allergies. It’s also dairy and gluten free and is perfect for catering to guests with various dietary requirements. And fresh homemade olive tapenade tastes so much better than store bought.
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What is olive tapenade?
Olive tapenade is essentially an olive spread. It originates from the Provence region in France and is usually made with black olives, capers and olive oil. Some recipes also include anchovies. Now popular around the world, you can find recipes using different types of olives (black, Kalamata or green olives), and even adding extra ingredients like sun dried tomatoes.
Ways to use olive tapenade
Tapenade has a delicious, salty and tangy flavour and is a delicious appetiser on its own with crostini or crunchy bread. There are so many other ways to use it too. It is perfect as a dip or in a sandwich. Use it on bruschetta or as a pizza base, add it to soup, pasta or even salad dressing. Olive tapenade is also a great addition to a cheese platter or grazing board.
Potential food allergens in olive tapenade
Why make your own allergy free olive tapenade? Olive tapenade is often a delicious option for people with food allergies, as traditional olive tapenade is dairy free and gluten free. However, many olive tapenade recipes contain anchovies (not suitable for fish allergies). Some variations are even made with pine nuts (not suitable for tree nut allergies). And store bought varieties may contain traces of allergens.
Luckily it is so easy to make your own, and it tastes so much better freshly home made too.
Ingredients
To make our allergy-friendly olive tapenade, you’ll need:
- 2 cloves of fresh garlic
- 1 cup of pitted Kalamata olives
- 2 Tablespoons capers, drained
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- extra chopped parsley to garnish
A note about pitted Kalamata olives
To make this recipe as easy as possible, we use already pitted Kalamata olives. If you use pre-pitted olives, please check them carefully to make sure that all of the hard pits have actually been removed. A stray pit can cause big problems, including broken teeth. Pips are also not great for your food processor.
If you are pitting your own olives, try squashing them with the base of a glass dish first to make the pips easier to remove. Or you could use a specially designed olive pitter tool.
Method
Coarsely chop the garlic and parsley, ensure that all olive pits are removed and squeeze the lemon juice.
Do you need a food processor to make olive tapenade?
Tapenade is easiest to make using a food processor. I either use the small bowl attachment on my Breville Kitchen Wizz processor, or if don’t want as much washing up I’ll just use my Bamix stick blender with the processor attachment.
No food processor? You can still make olive tapenade by hand chopping and mixing the ingredients, but your tapenade will have a coarsier, chunkier texture.
Using a food processor
Place the garlic, olives, capers, parsley and lemon juice in the food processor bowl and use short pulses to mince the ingredients. Do not over process or over blend. The mixture should be coarse and not a smooth puree.
Gradually add the olive oil and pulse again to mix, not blend. Add ground black pepper to taste, if desired.
Spoon the olive tapenade mixture into a serving bowl and garnish with some chopped fresh parsley.
Serve with your choice of gluten crunchy bread, crostini or crackers. Or use your vegan olive tapenade in your favourite recipe.
Recipe serves 6 (1/4 cup serving size).
Tapenade will keep in an air tight container for 5 days. Or you can freeze in an air tight container for up to 3 months to enjoy later.
#Tip: For even better flavour, prepare ahead and store the dip overnight in the fridge. Serve at room temperature for the best taste.
More allergy-friendly recipes
Olive tapenade can be a great alternative to pesto for people with nut or milk allergies. But if you are craving the true basil pesto taste, we have a dairy and nut free pesto recipe too.
Olive tapenade is great on a platter. You could serve with other dips like our dairy free French onion dip, lemon white bean dip or sesame free hummus without tahini.
You’ll also find lots more allergy-friendly recipes on our recipe page.
Allergy Free Olive Tapendade Without Anchovies (Vegan)
Equipment
- 1 food processor
- 1 chopping board
- 1 Sharp knife
- 1 Citrus juicer
- measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
- 2 Tablespoons capers, drained
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ground black pepper to taste (optional)
- extra chopped parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Coarsely chop the garlic and parsley, ensure that all olive pits are removed and squeeze the lemon juice.
- Place the garlic, olives, capers, parsley and lemon juice in the food processor bowl and use short pulses to mince the ingredients. Do not over process or over blend. The mixture should be coarse and not a smooth puree.
- Gradually add the olive oil and pulse again to mix, not blend. Add ground black pepper to taste, if desired.
- Spoon the olive tapenade mixture into a serving bowl and garnish with some chopped fresh parsley. Serve with your choice of gluten crunchy bread, crostini or crackers. Or use your vegan olive tapenade in your favourite recipe. Recipe serves 6 (1/4 cup serving size).
